Terror in Mumbai

Every time I looked at the TV, I could see more violence. Reports kept pouring in about more bodies being brought out and the counter terrorist operation continuing. I read the papers everyday and watched the news as much as possible to try and understand exactly what the people labelled as terrorists wanted from us?
As the operation eventually came to an end and all the hotels and Nariman House were declared safe, I realised that we had won something but lost something else. No it’s not the bodies of the Forces or Police or innocent civilians that I am talking about nor the lone captured terrorist or the others killed. The attacks were, as everyone agrees, minutely planned with extended recon operations conducted at all the locations. Some papers said that a couple of them had taken up jobs to get unlimited access to the hotels while others said that some had come in guests and stashed up on ammunition and supplies. Some said that there was immense local help and some said that our intelligence agencies have completely failed while still some more said that the police casualties could have been much less had they got proper equipment.
As the dust settles on the operation, questions have already started echoing in the halls of power. In spite of repeated attacks and the plethora of bomb blasts in this year alone, how can an operation of this scale have been successfully carried out with the RAW and IB not getting even a whiff? As heroes are celebrated and martyrs mourned, we carry on with life as usual. We might have stopped in front of the TV for a few seconds expressing anger for the wrong-doers and sorrow for those who sacrificed their lives but then moved on with our own lives. Those who are supposed to look after these things will do so, we assume. We have elected them for this purpose, haven’t we? Although this is true it doesn’t happen often enough. Once more, we blame them some more and move on with the exigencies of our own existence. What we do miss out here is the fact that the very thing we blame them for is practised by us almost every moment of our life.
This is one of my favourite phrases and I do not tire of saying it time and again, ‘everyone is looking for work till they get a job.’ An adaptation of the same is, ‘everyone is looking for education till get an admission.’ I, of course, substituted the key words once I got to college. The first one made a lot of sense when I was working and the second one, I see it every day. I admit I am guilty of the same crime at times myself. Be as it may, does that justify the sin of accepting this as a justification for our own misdeeds? Can we be lax in our own tasks and yet blame others when they are in theirs? Unbelievably, we do this with absolute ease…! We do this with the least bit of hesitation, every day, every hour, and every minute! Sometimes I feel that hypocrisy is so much a part of human life that it doesn’t even register anymore. We hardly, if ever, practise what we preach. As our survival instincts have guided us throughout evolution, hypocrisy too, has been embedded in our psyche to the point where we never notice our own but always notice others. We conveniently do the easiest thing; take the easiest route when we are in a fix but never fail to preach the difficult path to others. We expect others to walk the high moral ground whereas we try to slyly slip through the shortcut hoping no one notices.
Do I sound like one of those preachers myself? Maybe…maybe not. In some ways I have, more often than not, chosen the more difficult path in search of something that even I could not put my finger on. Countless days and months spent floating in a sea of existential questions and thoughts had driven me almost to a point of, as my friends referred to it, madness. Life, existence, purpose, meaning…and a lot more. Eventually work drowned it to an extent and time taught me a few lessons. There is a beautiful song by Pearl Jam called Drifting which sort of sums up this state of mind.

The suitcoats say there is money to be made...
They get so damn excited, but I guess it's their way.
My road, it may be lonely just because it's not paved...
It's good for drifting, drifting away.

I think this piece has become too much of a rambling by now. So like I said earlier, in the course of the attacks in Mumbai, we won something but lost something else. The biggest difference in these attacks is that the majority of people killed or trapped or taken as hostage were not the common man. The majority were rich, famous and wielded a lot of monetary as well as political clout. These attacks have shaken a, till now, mostly insulated segment of our population. The conscious search for British and American nationals pulled in the rest of the world as they watched in horror and wondered what was going to happen. The terrorists had planned on a couple of days of siege and their recon operations ensured that they could easily move around the building while our rescue teams had very little idea about the layouts till much later.
Although the siege is now over, we have lost a lot. Lives have been lost, property ravaged and the biggest calamity of all, faith has been shaken once again. Our faith in the political and intelligence mechanisms are shaken time and again but this once, will surely reach the very top. We are a country of fools. I say fools because in the not too distant future, we will surely forget about all this and once again become zombies who will believe the venom spewed by the politicians.
What we have won in these attacks is solidarity. As I watched the news today I saw that people from all walks of life were converging in South Mumbai. When asked by the reporters, most could not give a reason for being there. The anguish of those who had fallen, of those who had lost a loved one was being shared by these people. Once again the residents of the Maximum City wanted to show the world that they will not lose their ability to stand up again. Time and again, they have fallen and every time, they have stood back up and carried on. Today people standing there said that those who had saved Mumbai were not all from Maharashtra. The now famous Marathi Manoos, did not and could not have brought this incident to a close all by himself.
What we won today is the solidarity of Mumbaikars in denouncing the separatist political agenda. When the British left India, they left behind a legacy that has been very effectively adapted and utilised by our politicians, the strategy of divide-and-rule. I say we are fools because in spite of all the progress and growth, we so easily fall prey to this one technique that we become blind to reason and common sense. This is the fact that scares me because I know that soon the memories of this horror will fade away and we will once again go back to being the common man with hardly any common sense. We will once again go back to being the ladder using which the politicians of our country will travel lower and lower into the filth of separatism, and we will continue with our existence till then next bomb explodes.

-Baikunth Nath Sinha

ACM 22

THROW THE STARS

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."
There is something very special in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can become aware of that gift, we gain through the strength of our visions the power to shape the future.We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our stars wisely and well, the world will be blessed.

-Chinmayee Pradhan

ACM 22

(Source: internet)

MY VIEWS ABOUT JOINING NICMAR

At the onset I would like to admit that it is extremely exciting to write something about your own self. Given this opportunity I would like to share my honest views about joining NICMAR after having worked for a period of three years.

Immediately after completing my graduation from N.I.T Silchar, I started my career as a Graduate Engineer Trainee in Hindustan Construction Company Ltd., being selected through campus placements. After successfully completing the training period of 1 year, I was absorbed as a Site Engineer looking after execution. Subsequently I went on to become a Contracts Engineer at the prestigious Bandra-Worli Sea Link Project in Mumbai. While working at site I observed the application of some management aspects to construction activities in order to improve the productivity. These aspects were not covered in our Undergraduate Programme. Thus I realized the importance of getting myself acquainted with these management aspects in order to keep pace with the ever changing face of Construction Industry.

Keeping this in view, the next thing was to look for an Institute to suit my requirements and the search ended with NICMAR as it offered tailor-made courses for today’s Industry. But the decision to leave the job after a duration of three years wasn’t an easy one. I had to choose between working with the existing profile in a reputed Organization and joining a full time Post Graduate Programme. But with the help and support of family and friends alike I could get over the dilemma.

Now after completing 1 trimester here I strongly believe that I made the right decision. Being in NICMAR I have had the opportunity to interact with students coming from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. Their enriching knowledge and experience have helped me to look at situations from a fresher perspective, keeping aside my earlier perceptions.

Further, deeply knowledgeable faculty carrying rich experience from various facets of the industry make NICMAR a befitting place to be in, to gain knowledge about the various aspects of Construction Management. Their valuable inputs and suggestions have helped me analyze and reach suitable inferences about some of the practical problems that I faced during my professional tenure.

NICMAR also provides a tremendous platform for students to bring out their hidden creative talents and try something new which they wouldn’t have done earlier in their careers. NICMAR showcases the true balance between academic and extra-curricular activities with a whole lot of students activity going on the campus throughout the year like the functioning of various clubs such as the Newspaper Club, Movie Club, Adventure Club to name a few.

Also the opportunity given to me by the students to work as one of their Summer Internship coordinators has been an experience worth mentioning. All in all I would say I am privileged to be a part of this illustrious Institute.

-Satyajit Debroy

ACM 22

BUTTERFLIES

I am a mere exhibitionist with bad grammar, spelling mistakes and of course a distressful sense of sentence construction. Despite all that, here is a little piece that I shall wait for you to react on.

These butterflies hover in mid air around my head. They flap their tiny wings into gusts of wind, sometimes even tiny whorl like cyclones that appear and disappear just as fast as their simple flapping. What do they wonder, I sometimes think, when their tiny, fragile wings flap and disturb the wind around them? Do they know the havoc they cause to my heart with their little game – chasing, flying, diving, rising like little mad children running around in a green, boundless garden with large mounds of grass and pits of sand that look so ordinary to me and you? Well sometimes I guess it does not matter to them where and how they fly, what they fly to and back, but flying itself that ignites their souls and inspire them to being all that energy from within, as they slowly wrap their wings close to their bodies and then let them slice the air as they open again, only to ask for more from these gently creatures. Every stroke that they make to stay up for an infinitesimal amount of time in air requires more and more effort each new time. Oh! The agony of their mindless games that escapes all reason and logic, all justifiably explanations and theories – why, why, why do they do it and why don’t they ask me to join in and fly around with them? You might say to me – fool – you don’t have wings, and without wings, how can u even dream of flying? But that itself my dear, is the reason why you are so very wrong. Only because you cannot see or feel my wings, you do not entitle yourself to tell me that I cannot dream – even if it as about flying. In fact sometimes, I wonder why you don’t pay heed to the call of those yellow butterflies. Can’t you listen to their cries, can’t you feel the little gusts of wind breaking on you skin and almost trying to hold you – trying to lift you with them and telling you – hey come fly with us. Don’t you now realise why those butterflies they fly? Even as you walk through the garden, don’t you stop to ponder why the butterflies don’t run away from you, why they surround you and keep flapping all around? They are not afraid of you, as you may think, they are just carrying on with their game and even they are confused when you refuse to join them. The reason why they flap, the reason why they play, the reason why they don’t fly away is because they want you to fly. They want you to find your wings, open them, and not feel afraid or shameful, but spread them as much as you can and jump. Jump with them and fly. And at this point, even god wonders why you stand there with your wings spread open, free from morals and prejudice, free from all that bounds you to your so-called life, and simply refuse to fly

-Rajat Sodhi

One of the best pieces from Baikunth's blog