So here is India’s most cringe-worthy cliche – The spirit of Mumbai.

This concept, screamed up to the heavens by nearly all media houses and TV news anchors, has lost its sheen. It is beginning to resemble some sort of creepy badge that is affixed to those unfortunate innocents who suffer a terrorist attack, whether they want it or not. And it really needs to end immediately.

I have friends and family in Mumbai. I don’t want them to be ‘proud, defiant and bold’, stepping out of their homes the very next day after a terrorist attack to go back to school/college/work etc in the ‘spirit of Mumbai’.

I think I would just prefer them to be safe and not have to live in fear.

For the lakhs of daily wage earners in the city it’s either work or starve – a stark choice that does not allow for any leeway.

It’s not like being in the middle of the blasts is like being at a concert or an anti-corruption fast where participation in the event announces its success.

They are not asked for permission before they are attacked. And the next day, they have go to work -whether they really want to or not. Mumbaikars have to get on with their lives and they have no choice in the matter.

Equally grating is the coverage of the event. There is jazzy new-age music played over cuts of bloody bodies, flaming ruins and charred buildings. Loud roll-overs announce the death toll, snappy sound bytes intersperse the images before they cut to news anchors who, literally, scream out the news in lung-wrenching gusto with one adjective every three words on average.

Is it too much to ask that the news be covered in a simple sombre manner which reflects the fact that 17 innocents have been murdered? Is it too much to ask that information is put out without resorting to conspiracy theories, blame-games or even self-congratulatory phrases? And does anyone really care what unique angle each channel takes to cover the event? Just give us the facts and we will appreciate it.

Meanwhile once again we wait to see if we can figure out who committed the attack and make our feeble attempts to catch those responsible.

But those in Mumbai don’t seem optimistic on that outcome.

- Vinayak Hegde

9:50 am: As we await Mamata’s historic win in Bengal, an interesting election tidbit from there:

One of the earliest elections in South Asia brought to power Gopala, a military commander, who was elected the first Buddhist king of Bengal in the eighth century – in  750 AD in Gaur (now in the Malda district in Bengal) to be precise according to a famous Buddhist historian Taranatha (1575-1634).

Gopala was the founder of the famous Pala empire of yore.

9:40 am: For all of you who were missing tables on this page, here goes our first one. In TN, Amma has reasons to cheer, folks, and here is why:

9:30 am: An interesting Tamil Nadu factoid: The first assembly elections involving Tamil Nadu (in the Madras State as it was known then) threw up a hung assembly.

The Congress party, the leading party in the state then, could only win 152 of the 375 seats.

They were forced to turn to that towering figure in Indian politics, C Rajagopalachari (who later refused to stand for a by-election and had to be nominated by the governor).

The wily legend managed to lure back T Prakasam, a key figure, and engineer a series of re-alignments of the various political parties and the independents. When the vote  of confidence came, Rajaji won it by 200 votes to 151. Click here for the latest party position

9:23 am: We are not calling Tamil Nadu yet. But ADMK and allies are pulling ahead at the moment, with early leads putting them ahead in 47 out of the 70 seats.

9:20 am: The Bengal elections it is safe to say is in TMC’s bag. Mamata and her allies are ahead in 112 seats, with the Left heading for a rout with just 49 seats against their name.

9:14 am: Assam seems headed the Congress way. Tarun Gogoi looks set to lead his party to a third term in power if early leads are indications. Congress and allies are ahead in 21 out of the 26 seats for which data is in. The Asom Gana Parishad its closest competitor is leading in only three seats. Click here for the latest party positions in all the states

9:03 am: Tamil Nadu is another state where a close fight might be in the offing. Early leads have the ADMK and allies ahead in six seats and DMK and allies ahead in four.Click here for the latest party positions in all the states

8:58 am: 20-7 for the TMC now. Let us reiterate that these are only leads. But the trend seems to point to a Left rout in West Bengal and an end to their 34-year-long stint in power.

A brief pen-sketch of Mamata, the Chief Minister to be: The 56-year-old single woman lives with her mother. The Lok Sabha lists her permanent address as  30-B, Harish Chatterjee Street,Kolkata-700 026 West BengalTels. (033) 24753000.

The daughter of a teacher, she holds a MA, BEd and LLB, and also was trained in work education.

She is known for her fiery temper and frugal lifestyle.

A battle-hardened poll veteran, she certainly is. CPM acolytes famously fractured her skull leaving her hospitalised for many months. As she told Jim Yardley of the New York Times, “They have attacked me many times. From my belly to my back to my eyes, I’m covered in these things (scars).’

8:49 am: Early indications are that Kerala is in for a keen fight. It is a dead heat there with both the UDF and the LDF leading in 58 constituencies each. The two biggies CPI (M) and the Congress have fielded 84 and 81 candidates in the fray respectively. Either of the fronts will need a 71-seat tally to gain a clear majority in the 140-seat assembly. Click here for the latest party positions

8:43 am: TMC and allies have begun to pull ahead in West Bengal. Mamata’s combine is now ahead in 10 out of the 15 constituencies for which leads are in. Mamata spent Thursday working on her paintings. Preparations for a huge victory celebration were also underway at her residence with loudspeakers and the rest of the paraphernalia already assembled. Click here for the latest party positions.

8:40 am: The action is hotting up in Kerala. Now it is neck and neck with both the UDF and the LDF leading in 40 constituencies each.

8: 29 am: It is 36-27 in favour of the UDF (the Congress Front) in Kerala now. Left Front are leading in two constituencies in West Bengal. DMK continues to be ahead in the only seat for which leads are available in Tamil Nadu.

8:22 am: More leads from Kerala. The tally is 25 for UDF and 17 for LDF.  DMK is leading in the only seat for which data is available at the moment from TN.

8.10 am: First leads pour in from Kerala. Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan leads in Malampuzha for over 1000 votes. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan leading in Thalassery with over 3000 votes. UDF is leading in five seats.

8 am: The six-week wait for who will rule Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal ends today. Counting of votes for Assembly elections began at 8 am in 839 halls spread over in the five states involving 43,982 personnel.

Ahead of counting

Record turnout

It has been one of the biggest elections in recent times.

Big because Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the two most important states among the five awaiting the verdicts on Friday, have recorded their highest polling percentages in 60 years.

Big because all analysts are predicting a win (at long last) for Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance, who they say will sweep the ruling Left Front out of power for the first time in 34 years.

And big, well, because when over 215 million people get together to decide their future, you can’t call the event anything but big…

Some interesting facts from the polling data shared by the election commission ahead of the results.

Home is where their heart is

For the first time 4,639 overseas voters, out of the 8,820 who had registered, exercised their franchise in the Kerala elections.

Women power

Women yet again turned out to be more eager voters than men.

“I am very happy to tell you like Bihar, women turned out in larger number than men in Kerala, Puducherry, West Bengal and (in) almost equal (numbers) in Tamil Nadu,” Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi revealed in New Delhi.

And when it came to the actual percentages, it was not just Tamil Nadu and West Bengal that recorded high numbers.

They were in the high seventies and above throughout - with Tamil Nadu recording 78.8%, West Bengal 84.46%, Kerala 75.12%, Puducherry 85.57% and Assam 76.04%.

Money power

The Election Commission revealed that over Rs 74.27 crore in unaccounted money had been seized during the elections.

Tamil Nadu led the way with over Rs 60.1 crore being recovered from the state.

In Assam, Rs 5.20 crore was seized.

Raids in West Bengal yielded Rs 8.35 crore and those in Kerala Rs 62 lakh.

Eleven cases of ‘paid news’ were also being investigated by the commission.

The actual counting

The Chief Election Commissioner has said that the vote counting will take place in 839 halls – 234 of them in Tamil Nadu, 312 in West Bengal, 142 in Assam, 140 in Kerala, and 11 in Puducherry.

An elaborate three-tier security cordon has been put in place for the counting, set to begin at 8 am.

43,982 officials and nearly 17,700 central security personnel will be involved in the process.

Exit Poll predictions: Here is how the various exit polls called the elections

Mobile number portability

Okay, as of Thursday we will all have the means to switch mobile phone operators without having to lose our precious 10-digits.

But is this the real deal we as cell phone users really sought?

Before you pop a vein in outrage and accuse me of whining against a much-needed “progressive” law, consider that as an Indian mobile phone user you still can’t keep the same number living in another state in the country.

Consider that you still pay substantially high amounts to get new SIMs and are otherwise charged a lot more under “roaming” charges, when in fact you are still only roaming well within the confines of your own country.

We call ourselves united, a nation of one, and yet we are forced to pay to get new SIM connections just because we choose to move to live in another part of this good green nation.

I don’t want to offend any pro-Telangana, anti-Telangana or neutrals with this hypothetical example, but consider that if tomorrow they do decide to partition Andhra Pradesh into two or more numbers, and decide to call it two states, then bigger contentious issues aside, would I have to then pay roaming charges travelling from Visakhapatnam to say Hyderabad?

Idea Mobile Number Portability: ‘Lift’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to flag off the nationwide rollout of number portability on Thursday. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal claims that this move would increase competition among providers, “enhance” choice among consumers and force telecom providers to “improve the quality of their services”.

I really wonder if portability would do all that. Because much of the mobile phone users I know are more than content with sticking with one mobile service operator.

How many people do you really know are eager to switch from A to V? They are virtually the same. The rates are almost the same. The service, barring minor differences, is the same and yet we are supposed to get excited about this paltry new reform set to be unveiled?

This just sounds like another pretentious move to keep the public content with moderately improved services.

And despite the comforting fact that V and A do allow me as a user to shut their ridiculous promotional offers on call and messages within a month or two of me harassing their staff and raising a “Do Not Disturb” complaint at their office, I still get weird automated calls from husky sounding women singing vernacular songs that gloat up some random company or offer.

Yes, I’m a mobile phone user and I’m still deeply disturbed by the service I receive. Now here’s an Idea, sirji: How about we get mobile numbers and SIMs that follow us wherever we choose to move to within India? How about a real ban on unsolicited texts and calls from all those companies whose products I don’t need?

Ashwin Sriram

It would have been the perfect retort to the mob flooding social networking sites demanding answers from the NDTV Group Editor, mocking her with Twitter hashtags like #Barkhagate and crying out for more coverage on the tapes.

The debate that the NDTV proudly said was unedited, however, just showed up the cracks in Television debates as we know it in India.

The loudest one (Barkha, in this instance) interrupted the rest; her sentences were so long that you forgot how it began before it ended; and more than one person spoke up when uncomfortable questions came up.

Read the rest of the entry

Ayodhya

The Allahabad High Court rules that the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three parts to be distributed among the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the party for ‘Ram Lalla.’

Live updates on the verdict:

1:03 am: Ayodhya verdict taken positively as leaders appeal for calm

00: 17 am: Mixed reaction to Ayodhya verdict in Pakistan

00:12 am: @awaaz_neeche – kalmadi can heave a sign of relief, today ppl forgot kalmadi bashing thanx 2 ayodhya verdict. N from 2morow india vs aus test series.

11:59 pm: Police zeal draw flak from Hyderabad residents

11: 27 pm: Ayodhya: Judge refers 274 books, 798 judgements in 5,238 pages

11:05 pm: Sangh Parivar invites Muslims to build temple

10:48 pm: Ayodhya verdict opens a new chapter for national integration: BJP

10:30 pm: @sidvee -  If Lalit Modi had been in charge of this Ayodhya verdict, Shankar Mahadevan would have been performing by now

10:00 pm: The decision has opened up a ‘chance for reconciliation’ between Hindus and Muslims of India, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Thursday after the verdict (Read More)

9:45 pm: The Ayodhya verdict has been hailed as a “mature” decision by Bollywood celebrities who have urged their fans to maintain peace. (Read More)

6.14 pm: What the judges said: Here is a gist of the text of the verdict by  the three judges

6.07  pm: ‘Babri mosque was built at Ram birthplace’: More details on the verdict

6.01 pm: We should all welcome the judgement, says Congress

5.58 pm: UP Chief Minister Mayawati appeals for calm

5.53 pm:  The RSS says the Allahabad High Court verdict  should not been seen as anybody’s victory or defeat.

5.44 pm: Chaos at media centre after the Ayodhya verdict

5.41 pm: Allahabad High Court website crashes

5.30 pm: Meet the  three judges – two Hindus and a Muslim – of the  Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court who authored the long-awaited verdict on the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi dispute

5.28 pm: Verdict opens up ‘chance for reconciliation’: Muslim panel member

5.22 pm: Sunni Wakf board lawyer to appeal against Ayodhya verdict

5.11 pm: Ayodhya land to be divided in three. Click here for the story

5.10 pm: Ayodhya verdict –  Babri Committee disappointed, will move SC

5.08 pm: Accept the verdict: Litigant Hashim Ansari

5.06 pm: Will study the Judgment and then react, says  Law Minister

5.05 pm: Ram idols existed on site, says Allahabad High Court

5.00 pm: The initial confusion that was unleashed was unbelievable. TV channels being allowed to telecast images of over-the-top lawyers flaunting victory signs was also uncalled for. Couldn’t the government have ensured that at least this didn’t happen? What do you think? Leave your comments below

4.58: The ownership of the disputed site is to be divided into three parts: the site of the Ramlala idol to Lord Ram, Nirmohi Akhara gets Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara, Sunni Wakf Board gets the rest:  TOI

4.56: Nirmohi Akahara gets Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara

4.54: Disputed land divided into three parts:  The Allahabad High Court rules that the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three parts to be distributed among the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the party for ‘Ram Lalla’, say lawyers.

4.52 pm: Division of the land to start in three months: 1/3 for temple, 1/3 for Sunni Wakf Board, claim to third part not known yet, says counsel for Hindu Mahasabha

4.46 pm: Judges have suggested a three-way division of the 40m x 27m disputed land: Ravi Shankar Prasad, lawyer and BJP leader

4.43 pm: Sunni Central Board’s suit dismissed, claims lawyer of Hindu Maha Sabha

4.42 pm: Court accepts that the disputed land is Ram Janmabhoomi, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

4.41 pm: Ayodhya verdict out, judgement runs to 8,000 pages

4.36 pm: Chaos outside court as lawyers hold individual press briefings

4.31 pm: Lawyers brief media outside court

4.30 pm: Aaj Tak says: Court Gates are opened and copy of the order is likely to be read out soon

4.25 pm: The Allahabad High Court’s ruling on Thursday will address three questions: whether the disputed spot was Rama’s birthplace; whether the mosque was built after the demolition of a temple; and if the mosque was built in accordance with the tenets of Islam. The primer on the dispute can be found here

4.23 pm: Ayodhya: Judges to give three separate judgements

4.20 pm: The Ayodhya dispute centres around a piece of land 40m x 27m. The High Court verdict will decide who owns it

4.16 pm: BJP core group to meet after Ayodhya verdict

4.15 pm: Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss Ayodhya Verdict

4.12 pm: Hundreds of journalists gather outside court

4.09 pm: 51-member body to deliberate on the Ayodhya Verdict

3.43 pm: Media to be briefed at the DC’s office

3.36 pm: Petitioners to be brought to media centre to brief the media

3.28 pm: BJP meet at 6 pm

3.22 pm: Roads around the High Court building sealed

3.18 pm: Lucknow Bench declared ‘no access zone’

3.14 pm: Judges to give three separate judgements. Details here

3.10 pm: Justice Dharamveer Sharma, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice SU Khan to deliver verdict

3.02 pm: 3-Judge bench to deliver verdict

2.55 pm: Verdict will be given to media from DC’s office: Lucknow DM

2.45 pm: Maintain peace and tranquility: Chidambaram

Tweet on Ayodhya -  @Rumsii The way we respond to the Ayodhya verdict 2dy wud determine how mature the Indian youngistan is. I hope we keep our secularism unhurt.

2.35 pm: Full verdict to be available on Allahabad High Court website:www.allahabadhighcourt.in and  www.rjbm.nic.in

Tweet on Ayodhya - @sagarikaghose No Ayodhya discussions or polemic on CNN IBN. We don’t believe in raising temperatures for TRPs.

2.31 pm: 2000 paramilitary forces on vigil

2.26 pm: Cabinet Committee on Security to meet at 5 pm today

Tweet on Ayodhya @vaibhavmeh Minutes left in ayodhya verdict…jus hoping my countrymen will keep up the oath which they use to take

2.22 pm: 22 Uttar Pradesh areas under air surveillance

2.18 pm: Tight security arrangements in Rajasthan

2.16 pm: Bollywood appeals people to maintain calm

2.14 pm: Tight security in Karnataka ahead of Ayodhya verdict

Tweet on Ayodhya -  @vikaspgoel 1992 to 2010 ; Bombay to Mumbai . Let’s prove that it’s more than just a name change , we have grown up. #Ayodhya

2.10 pm: 1,19,000 policemen have been deployed in UP

2.05 pm:  Security forces mobilised

Tweet on Ayodhya -  @reachsundar #Ayodhya verdict on #Flintstones 50th anniversary…Coincidence or a hint to us that we gonna go back to the caves if we fight – - – again!!

2.00 pm: Sonia, Chidambaram appeal for peace

On Thursday, the BBC has put up images of the Commonwealth Games village that will make any self-respecting Indian’s head bow in shame.

Doesn’t it makes us all wonder why the government went chasing after the rights of a Games that evokes such little passion in the first place? After all, this was no Olympics, no Asian Games, no FIFA World Cup, no T20 World Cup even.

The less said about the planning too, the better.

Funds were released late, despite us winning the bid in 2003. And once they were cleared, no proper organisational structure was put in place.

Whatever happened to that very Indian trait – the need to weave an intricate bureaucratic web ALWAYS? Our babus and ministers display an undying love for it when there is little need. At a time when we needed a clearly thought out hierarchy the most, though, almost no effort was made.

Instead, we kept it simple. Our idea of a successful organising committee was having Suresh Kalmadi at the helm. Does more need to be said?

The Delhi government and various lower-level committees that were involved in this massive non-exercise shouldn’t also be forgotten. Their list of failures are so long that it even winds its way via the doorsteps of India’s legendary metro man E Sreedharan, whose team was given such a tight deadline that they found themselves dealing with a sad mishap that claimed lives.

Sitting at the head of this ruinous extravaganza was a Prime Minister, who kept a studious distance from this all. The rest of the world might call him wise, but what was the wisdom in his approach of considered silence till today?

Worst of all, we couldn’t even cobble together a decent bunch of spokesmen when the shit hit the ceiling.

Oops! Dangerous word that – the ceiling. But I am getting away from my point. Couldn’t we at least spot our Lalit Bhanots and shield them from the world media and the microphones then?

Since it is the queen’s games, let me end by posing the moot question once again – why at all did we have to get into this right royal mess?

The lesson we Indians must learn at least now is to avoid such attempts at advertisement in future.

Yes, in incredible India, bribes can be taken and given; corners can be cut; deadlines can be missed and power can be abused – but not on the world stage, please.

R Rajesh Kumar

First of all let’s get the facts right – all Malayalis do not speak with a ‘Mallu’ accent.

Secondly, those of us who do speak with an accent, speak with a very distinctive one, thaang you very much – and we don’t appreciate it when people mix it up with someone else’s.

And thirdly, in these days of Lolakutty and the whole global village mania, it’s high time the “Northies” got their facts right.

What got me on this myth busting mission? The new Idea advertisement.

I don’t have issues with the ad – It is corny, sappy and spells out its message in so much detail that any kindergarten student will get it.

What I do have a problem with is how the Malayali is made to say ‘Ram, Ram’. Listen to it on YouTube and tell me if you’ve ever heard a Malayali speak like that. A Tamilian perhaps, but not a true blue Malayali.

It’s high time that everyone who is not a south Indian realised something – we are not all Madrasis, people.

And considering there is no Madras anymore, officially speaking, maybe those north of our four borders need to be sent back to school! Brush up on that geography!

I’d like to know how a Punjabi would feel if I said he was no different from a Bihari. If I said they spoke the same language, came from the same area and looked alike, too. There would be civil war – that’s what would happen.

Coming back to the ad, I’d like to know how the ad execs do their research? Do they just throw a dart at the map of South India, pick a state to mock, and then look to the office clown to come up with inspiring lines? Or do they have a research team that actually does what it is paid to do?

I highly doubt that.  And my proof:  Another television ad that talks about how you can get your local channels wherever you go.

It shows a Tamil speaking man setting off for a new job – and the local channels that follow him? Those that show Kathakali and Mohiniyattam!

There’s no excuse for such blatant errors. An accent may be confused by tone-deaf people, but facts like Kathakali is a dance form from Kerala? Any high school student will tell you that.

My advice to ad execs – if you can’t invest in a good research team, then do invest in a good computer with internet access. Google is the only way forward for you.

And to the rest of you, Malayalis say Ram the same way a Punjabi or a Lucknowi would.

What we may not say the same way is: Waatch it misterr. Next time will be yourr laast time!

 Surya Praphulla Kumar

More articles by Surya Praphulla Kumar: Fashion police: Vidya Balan confuses us! | Single in the city | ‘Dork’ is dorky, but not fun

Shah Rukh Khan in Fauji

If Shah Rukh Khan had been born ten years later, would he have got a chance to play Fauji’s Abhimanyu Rai, the TV role that took him closer to superstardom?

More importantly, would Fauji have even been made now, when all you see on TV are weeping bahus, scheming in-laws and talent shows where the talented rarely win?

If you are among those who wonder why a nation that lapped up classics like a Tamas and a Hum Log now insists only on watching endless family dramas, you might find your answer in Venita Coelho’s new book.

Soap! Writing and Surviving Television in India is tagged “A Handbook For Aspiring Writers”. But you don’t need to be an aspiring writer to enjoy this one.

Venita’s insights into the history of Indian television, peppered with her own experiences – from being a “runner around” at UTV during the Doordarshan days to being the Vice President at Sony Entertainment Television – make this book a priceless read.

Stories on family politics, she says, will never go out of fashion because they are what Indians have loved most down the ages, right from the time of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

And though we follow the Western structure of story telling in the movies, where there is a beginning, a middle and an end, Television is where the Indian structure of story-telling is alive and well. Our great narratives, like the Panchatantra, never end: One story leads to another, Arabian Nights style.

The book traces the evolution of the Indian soap and explains why despite the red tape and the bureaucracy, the Doordarshan era was the golden age for fiction-based shows. It speaks of TV bosses  who were sacked while they were choosing dessert during lunch hour, of program heads with no creative bone and no Hindi, of burnouts and impossible deadlines.

For aspiring TV writers, Soap is a book like no other.

With live examples, Venita explains how to work your story, how to sell your story to the channel, how to sustain the pressures of having a daily show on air and how to use flowcharts, graphics and power point presentations to track characters, family trees and the plot.

The book goes right down to the basics: it tells you how to copyright your idea, how to deal with the health hazards of being a writer (carpal tunnel, a bad back…) and even how to demand – and get – the money a channel owes you!

A must-read for anyone interested in the strange world that is Indian television.

Interview with Venita Coelho: The woman who ran away from Television

Soap! Writing and Surviving Television in India is published by Harper Collins.  Buy a copy here

Sarita Ravindranath

Violence on the streets in Kashmir

A friend of mine made an interesting observation on Facebook the other day.

“Parliament suspended after two UP farmers were shot by police, 58 and counting in Kashmir,” she said.

My first thought was – “That is true, but practically everything matters more than Kashmir.”

To me (and I suspect to a lot of other people as well) Kashmir is just something I watch on the news channel for 15 minutes before moving on to watch Indian Idol. I guess you could call it viewer fatigue.

Oh don’t get all angry at my lack of sentiment.

I know I should care about Kashmir…and Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chinese oppression, global warming, animal extinction, Greenpeace, Maoists and even the whales that Japan insists on butchering.

But right now what I really care about is dinner. It has an immediate connection (I am hungry), I am familiar with it (I eat a lot) and I know exactly how to solve the issue (the Dominos downstairs beckons me). That is everything Kashmir is not.

It’s too far away for any connection ( I am in Chennai), I am totally unfamiliar with it thanks to decades of censorship (Free press? Don’t make me laugh!) and when it seems Kashmiris themselves have no idea how to solve their issues,  what do they really expect me to do about it?

And most importantly – the only Kashmiri I ever met never spoke about Kashmir, is currently back in Kashmir and still not very talkative or in touch.

They say all that the young of Kashmir have ever seen is oppression and terror.

Well, all I have ever known is – Kashmiris are treasonous separatists, Pakistani puppets and always out on the roads throwing stones like barbarians.

Of course this is not the truth. Words like military rule, POTA, judicial murder, rape, theft, human indignity and others fight for space in my mind. But first impressions are everything.

What I should be reading are Kashmiri pamphlets handed out by my local chapter of “Free Kashmir,” frankly informing me about
the latest atrocities this nation has committed.

I should be listening to soulful ‘freedom’ songs composed by angst-ridden Kashmiris. 

I should be watching a Kashmiri movie about their plight. A movie made by Kashmiris,  not a bad Bollywood version.

I should leave the theatre so moved that my wallet loosens and I make a donation into “Free Kashmir Fund” box, helpfully placed outside the theatre along with “I support Kashmir” buttons and stickers. Kashmir needs a better, bigger campaign – one that doesn’t dishonour her name.

Ninety-five per cent of India is too far away from the valley and 90 per cent  of our people don’t care because they don’t know.

There is a difference between political movements and anarchy – a small difference.

After all, if you can get enough people to care, you change the world.

Vinayak Hegde