In an Uncertain World

Once I was walking across chicken market and saw how they kept chickens in that market. Hundreds of roosters and hens packed tightly in wire-meshed cages, packed tightly like worms in a belly, peaking at each other, fighting for breathing space. The whole cage giving off a horrible stench, stench of terrified, feathered flesh. Above the rooster coops sat a butcher, showing off the flesh and organs of chopped up chickens, his knife still coated with dark blood. The chickens below just watch the blood and the remains of one among them. Each chicken helplessly saw the butchering waiting for their turn. They know they are next. Yet they do not rebel. They do not even try to get out of the coop.

The same very thing is done with us in our country. Observe the roads when you get time in crowded city. Observe those people who are not as privileged as us. Take a rickshaw driver, a chauffeur, a daily wage worker. They have one routine each day that s working for their masters. They don’t know what booming economy is they don’t know what politics is all about they don’t know what terrorism is, they even don’t know what change we want to bring about. For them it’s only about those bread and butter for them and their family. They are caught in that rooster cage, they won’t rebel, and they won’t even try to get out of it even if they are exploited only because by doing so they lose their bread.

They are just too afraid and in a way helpless just like those roosters. Never before in human history have so few owned so too many. A handful of men in our country have trained remaining 99 per cent which are as strong, as talented, and as intelligent in every way to exist n perpetual servitude; servitude so strong that you can put the key of his emancipation in a man’s hands and he will throw it back at you with a curse. It s not their fault, my family has been working for upliftment of such man and believe me they even don’t know what a good life is. They see at us and don’t have the feeling of fellow country man but they curse us and believe that it’s because of people like them we are suffering.

I have to questions to ask to all the readers, who created this rooster coop and why it is working so effectively
For me the answer is our SAB CHALTA HAI attitude, with whatever injustice we face we won’t speak up, we won’t rebel and it’s this attitude that has created this rooster coop.

Second question is can we as a country break free from this rooster coop. yes we can but we need bold steps, we need that change, yes in our political and judiciary system but before that in our own mind set. We need to stand up in our own life’s and try to remove this inequality on our daily basis, this inequality among society is eating our country away and we need to stand up and become a white tiger as described by Arvind adiga in his book.
(inspired by the book WHITE TIGER)

Terror attacks are not new to our country, well this was different. No i am not talking about the modus operandi, or the courage of the terrorist. it is something that probably has brought such a huge outburst from everyone. Although the attacks were brutal but we have found one new anti-terror weapon from the whole event that took place. well confused let me clear it up.

yesterday on television i saw several number of celebraties and business tycons shouting on highest decibel of their voice With not a crease out of place in their well cut and possibly outrageously expensive outfits these people implored government to act against terror. Accusing them of failing them and of course "their" country. I could see a angst and a sense of restlessness in their voices which i have never observed before.

One need to sit back and think for a minute, why this very attack has created such a huge outburst. Have you ever heard about a minister being sacked for a terrorist attack in india? never!! than whats so different this time.
Elite India(Top of the pyramid) has for the first time been shaken out of its slumber as terror has attacked what were so far its impenetrable citadels.

Taj mahal and oberios were well insulated from what was wrong with india untill wednesday night. It is such hotels that corporate biggies and big celebrities sipping expensive coffees and eating lavishing meals ridiculed the real India; an India they were squeamish to be part of.
Fake sympathy for terror victims in Delhi or Ahmedababad or Bangalore mixed well with the cocktails in the secure environs of the Taj and the Oberoi.
It is here that corporate bodies meet to discuss that big business deals forgetting what turmoil a middle class person goes through each day outside that wall. it is here that film producers with suitcases full of cash lured overpaid actors to act appear in their soulless films.

suddenly those places were in hands of people mad with terror, instead of soothing music there were gun shots. This was not meant for such places isn't it? Terror is traditionally linked with crowded market place, buses, trains, railway stations which would hardly effect our elite group of india. So no wonder the elite are enraged. Suddenly terrorism isn't just a dinner table conversation.

All of them are coming out and screaming on television, news paper, blogs and whatever place they can. yesterday was reading Miss Shobha de blog where she wrote "enough is enough". also news channels like NDTV running shows with this tagline. well it was enough a lot before terrorism shattered south mumbai. It was enough when bombs went off in hospitals in Ahmedabad, it was enough when in busy markets in Delhi, Diwali shopping turned into a gory dance of death.

Today terror has new target that is- Prosperity. those who were untouched by its dreadfullness are its direct targets today.

Where was this elitist angst when a brave bus conductor lost his eyes saving others in Delhi? Or those who have had their legs amputated after the blasts in Ahmedabad? Did elite India find the shrillness in their voices to demand what they are asking for now? Was a fund set-up to support government in fighting terror?

We are now ironically a lot safer, because we are irrelevant in this war. Our blood means little. The new targets are the top of the pyramid who were hardly bothered about what happened in real india. Sometimes it has to hurt where it really does. I am not saying what happened in mumbai was good. But if it would have again taken place as the old terror attacks this also would have gone unnoticed. The angst of the elite is our greatest ally in the fight to save our country, not some pointless candles that flicker away meaninglessly.

So for me this new anguish and anger among the hyocrates will force government to do something and it will prove to be a weapon for us against terror.

I was curiously watching the news today as to what is in store in future. there were three headlines that struck me, "Pak threatens warlike situation, may relocate army to indian borders if tension rises". "U.S worried over rising tension between india and pak", " Country outraged, wants soft PM to take harsh measures, enough is enough"

Yesterday the city of dreams fell prey to yet another terrorist mayhem, which this time appeared to be carried out much more brutally with sheer impunity and daredevilry, unlike anything witnessed before.

The politicians, so called future bearers of our country once again appeals to mumbaiker to stand up and go about their life’s as nothing has happened in name of the spirit of the city. Burdened with history of terrorist attacks and mafia wars Mumbai has always been a soft target, situation has always been like ticking bomb ready to explode, but even after so many attacks nothing seems to have changed.

In the end every time the spirit of city is appreciated, but by doing so we are just insulating and hiding the fact that our impotent government is incapable to protect citizens in their own cites. This is just helpless resignation that pulls out every mumbaiker out into streets in face of imminent terror and anarchy.

If Wednesday night attacks are closely observed than we will find that there is dramatic change in modus operandi in operations of terrorists, this points quite obviously at the glaring loopholes that plague our intelligence system. No one in their worst nightmares would have imagined terrorist in hotels, streets, stations with hand grenades and AK 47. Just stop and think how grave is the situation and where this all can lead to.

Who is to blame for this? that terrorist today have gone so far, and we as a country, as a citizen, as a government rely on the SPIRIT of the city, instead of uniting and doing something against it.

One would expect the system to be on additional guard as far as Mumbai is concerned, given the city's volatile history. But then, maybe, the agencies too depended on the 'spirit of Mumbai' to bail them through

We are all guilty. When 24 hour television news shows a dead body 60 times in the space of an hour, one death begins to look like a hundred. When the National Security Advisor says in an interview that there will be more bomb blasts, he helps heighten a siege mentality and a culture of fear. When the police fixes a target first ("This is HUJI" or "This is IM") and then proceeds to catch individuals who best fit the profile of their preconceived target, they often lose sight of the real criminal. When politicians convert our society into a lynch mob against Muslims, they forget Tony Blair's wise words, which it is the communities that catch the "terrorists" and the police will never get the "terrorist" if it alienates the community.

Be it a media, police, politician our we citizens, we just run around to cure the symptoms and playing blame games on each other, forgetting to address the real cause of the epidemic of terrorism and in the end for every person here “SAAB CHALTA HAI”.

I know by sitting and writing here I cant make much difference to situation, but this has really disturbed my mind as to until when this ‘saab chalta hai” attitude will live in most of our minds. Some day we need to get up from this sleep and face it, I hope that day comes soon.

Banks rate down... No surprise there, given the evidence that US market interest rates are higher than intended and a slowdown is gathering pace.
Is the world saved? Can now US relax?
Probably not. The main challenges remain, and the risks are sufficiently worrying that even if one tries to disregard recession, this is a pretty good time to allow oneself a bit of scary hyperbole.
My own personal view is that things may well go quite well next year for US. However, there is a sufficient risk they will go badly or very badly.
At the outset, it should be said that whether things go well or not, the US economy seems to have reached a turning point, with an end to an era of rising house prices, rising borrowing, strong consumer spending, a deteriorating trade deficit and relaxed bank attitudes to lending.
Those had to end at some point and they have probably now done so. No problem there.

However, there are two reasons for US to worry that the turning point US has arrived at may result in significant problems.
First, there is a risk that a small degree of incipient inflation has been allowed to creep into the economy, which will make it hard to manage the changes occurring.
It's not obvious yet, but with inflation starting this difficult period just above target, and with energy and food prices rising fast, US can't dismiss it.

But secondly, even if inflation is not a problem, US might be in for a difficult period. The Bank of England will have more room to cut interest rates, but lower interest rates are not a very powerful lever against certain forces. It can be hard for the Bank to engineer a controlled slowdown.
Once falling house prices take hold and consumers decide to save, there may be nothing monetary policy can do to get them spending again. In fact the best proof of that is that monetary policy has struggled to contain the boom in house prices enjoyed over the last few years. If households believe they need to save, to repair their personal balance sheets, there will be little point in trying to get consumers out into the shops again.
Now this raises the risk that even with more interest rate cuts, the economy can run out of steam, and then get itself into a downward spiral. A slowdown causes job losses, which causes more slowdown and more job losses.
economist, Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, made the point that we should regard the words "vicious circle" as a pretty good definition of what a recession is. Once it takes hold it can be hard to stop, as the Japanese found out when their own share and property price bubble burst in the early 90s.
This is where the credit crunch and the difficulties of the banks come in.

But credit problems may well end up being an accelerant, transforming the economic drama of an inevitable house price correction into a full-blown crisis. If the banks are unable to lend, the economy will probably slow more than it needs to for the various imbalances to correct.
If things do go into a tailspin we have no idea how deep or how long they could last. If confidence collapses, there is no good economic model to tell when it will be restored. That's the apocalypse scenario US need to worry about.

Now for the good news.
Things might go actually quite well.
The economy has momentum, companies in general are profitable and so have a little cushion to fall back on, the labour market has not yet suffered (and even if it does, unemployment may not rise because there is a large supply of migrant workers who may choose to move to other more successful economies instead).
Inflation may not turn out to be a problem and interest rate cuts may put a floor under the housing market, the credit crunch and the slowdown.
And it might be that a gentle fall in the value of the pound allows the economy to steam ahead, built on exports rather than on domestic consumer spending.
It doesn't all have to go wrong.
Does that mean US economy recession is just a mith? Well, I've tended to use the earthquake analogy. If you live on a fault line, you should be wary of the horror of an earthquake, even if there may not be one.
And in the economy right now, US can hope for the best but need to prepare for the worst.