Overwhelmed

There is so much going through my head right now! There is so much to think about, there is so much to feel about, there is so much to write about that I am actually overwhelmed and am not sure where to start. I guess putting this down itself has been not so easy. Anyways, with the headlines everywhere oscillating between the two Bomb blasts in Hyderabad and the discovery of several more throughout the city, I guess it is important to get your bearings right.

What is the objective of Terror?

The US Department of Defense defines Terrorism as
"the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives."

The League of Nations Convention (1937) defines Terrorism as
“All criminal acts directed against a State along with intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public.”

The European Union in 2002 defined "terrorism" as any act which results in
"destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country."

Section 3 of our own POTA defines a "Terrorist Act" as
"an act done by using weapons and explosive substances or other methods in a manner as to cause or likely to cause death or injuries to any person or persons or loss or damage to property or disruption of essential supplies and services, etc., with intent to threaten the unity or integrity of India or to strike terror in any section of the people."

The underlying theme in all these definitions in different words is "fear", "intimidation", "instability" and "terror" which more or less mean the same end result. A scared and broken down society. Let me ask myself this one question. After the blasts in Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai and now in Hyderabad, do I as an individual feel any of these? The answer is a big NO! I in fact feel very angry and hurt. Deeply. But terrorized? Definitely no. Now does my answer reflect the sentiments of the society, the larger population and the government. I would venture a YES.

What this is doing is uniting the different segments of our large social puzzle. We now have all leaders of the society and our political framework united in one voice. The voice which says we have had enough. We will strike back if we have to. Unfortunate incidents like these acts of "cowardice" unite us more than breaking us down or destabilize us.

I am venturing another guess. I say that the intelligence bodies in our country have a very good idea of who has done it. For what purpose they are not coming out in the open is best known to them. However, I am sure when the timing is right we will all know. Maybe it is time we pull out a leaf from the US Book on anti-terrorism.

Moving on to other things on my mind...

Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix; his first double whammy of consecutive wins at this very demanding track. Raikkonen came in a close second. It is quite heartening to note that Kimi now wants to finish races than foolishly challenge for more points against a strong opponent. Massa's and Raikkonen's rivalry is more fun to watch when they are equals on the track. Lewis is showing signs of crumbling under pressure. At least his tyre did! Alonso's Joy couldn't have been any more when he saw Lewis's car limping on his left when he overtook him. The fight for the 2007 Championship is so close that each one the remaining races is going to be crucial for these four drivers. To ensure that I don't miss out on any of the action I have subscribed to a Tata Sky connection couple of days back.

Moving onto cricket: The BCCI & ICL circus is heading nowhere. It is time to ask the Indian Cricket Players again. Do they represent the BCCI or the interest of Cricket and India. I only hope the Government steps in and creates another independent body which is regulated by the Parliament on the lines of the IIMs. It may not be very efficient but it will not be as one-sided as the BCCI.

India scraped through the second one day. Quite reminiscent of the beginning of the test series where they horribly lost the first test and nearly lost the second and then went on to win the series. A trend maybe? Les hope so.