Pakistan and its perceived existential threat from India or is it that it needs India for its existence

It would not be an exaggeration to say that despite an independent existence for past 67 years Pakistan continues to see India as an existential threat. The two countries stand at different platforms today in the gamut of world affairs. Ever since Pakistan became an idea and consequently a reality, it has seen India as a threat to its existence but it is also a bigger fact that it needs a perceived threat from India for its very existence today . Pakistan is a country supposedly created for Indian muslims. What could be a bigger irony for a nation created on an identity of religion alone that it could not even keep itself together for 25 years. With creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the very ideology behind Pakistan ceased to exist. It blamed India for the loss of its eastern part not realizing that it never did justice to the Bengali Pakistanis. Pakistani text books continue to hide the truth and blame the Hindu Baniya (merchants) for “Sakut e Dhaka” or fall of Dhaka.  More than 40 years later not much has changed , even today many Pakistanis believe that India carried out 26/11 attacks itself and there are ‘analysts’ in Pakistan who believe that 9/11 attacks were a handiwork of USA so that it could attack Saddam Hussein. Knowing that it cannot defeat India in a direct war, it resorted to covert war (read terrorism).

Be it giving support to Khalistan movement or Kashmir separatists, Pakistan has always tried to bleed India. It helped USA to set up Taliban in order to help arrest the Russian influence in Afghanistan all through the late 70s and 80s. After Russia’s withdrawal from Afghanistan it used them against India.  It even supported Taliban who have taken Afghanistan to dark-age but now the same Taliban is destroying it.  Now it is realizing that it has achieved nothing but only self-destruction and a tarnished global image as well. All because it wanted to ‘settle’ some score with India, wanted to bleed India by thousand cuts. Pakistani establishment need to re-think its attitude towards India. Pakistan cannot claim to be frontline state by fighting against terrorists on its western borders if it breeds terrorists on its eastern borders. Else the results would only worsen with time.The fact of the matter is that Pakistan has failed terribly at evolving a national identity. Pakistan has ceased to exist in many areas in FATA and Baluchistan. Shias are being killed for being shia, sunnis( ahmadis) are being targeted for not being the right kind of muslim. Christians are being targeted with blasphemy laws. The plight of Hazaras is not even discussed in the media because no one seems to care for them. Hindu girls are kidnapped and forced into marrying muslims. The only thing that seems to bring Pakistanis( well most of them ) is hatred towards  India. It was not surprising to see Hamid Gul blaming India for the attack on the army school in Peshawar.

 It needs India to survive else everybody has allegiances which are more towards religion and sects and religions don't need countries to survive. Pakistan needs a huge shift in its orientation towards terrorism. If TTP is a terrorist group them Laskar is a terrorist group too else the time is not far when there would be similar attacks in Pakistani Punjab too. Extremist ideologies do not leave any room for others. We should not be too hopeful that much is going to change in Pakistan  in its attitude towards India because now it is at a point where it needs India to survive , hatred towards India.

India's Rape Problem : Why India needs to shed its notions of masculinity

As has been the trend for the past two years after the rape of a paramedical trainee  in New Delhi on December, 16 2012 ,the net sphere was quick to respond to the Uber rape case. The news channels were abuzz with their usual taglines " The Biggest debate of all time" . For Indian Electronic media everyday brings one such news where they can bring superlative adjectives to their best use.  All  the channels covered the incident with elaborate reporting in their panel discussions with participants from the women rights groups , legal experts and of course the political commentators.

The debates were replete with the usual cliches but what caught my attention was the point raised by a lady that it is time that India should discard its notions of masculinity. Men in India seem to celebrate being a man just for being born as one. A more conscious look at the 'masala' movies of Bollywood would suggest the same. From the 'dabangs (Influential men ) 'of UP to the 'Bhais (Mafias )' of Mumbai all seem to have one thing in common, The ultra solid screen presence complete with choicest swear words from Hindi. Without uttering those no man is considered man enough. The movies from the south are not an exception to this trend in fact it is the Telugu movies ,the script writers resort to when they want the 'masala' that will make the cinema goers whistle and applaud. The promos of the latest release of Ajay Devgun feature this dialogue " She appears whenever I unzip my pants" is an evidence of the same .Movies are said to be a refelction of society .

  IF INDIA IS REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT ITS WOMEN THESE PATHETIC CELEBRATIONS OF MASCULINITY MUST STOP.

The boys while growing up in India realize this early that they have got to walk the walk and talk the talk that a 'man' does. This is specially true for the badlands of western UP and Haryana.  On the contrary the girls realize this even earlier and most seem to give a tacit acceptance of the trend and develop a strong sense of security . They learn the difficult art of decoding the male gaze very early if life. I do not want to suggest that this is the only reason behind India's rape menace. There have to be many factors behind it. It is time that we learn to value our women. There seem to be truth in the argument that some men in India just cannot accept the rising status of women. Violence against them becomes as easier way to establish their  self conceived notions of superiority. I feel incompetent to suggest any solutions but do feel that the need of the hour is a big change in the way we look at women in India. We do not need 'feminists' in this country the way the west defines it , all we need is giving the Indian women their right place in the society.But that is going to require a big change in Indian men . Do we want women who want to be paid for their duties as a mother like many women want the western countries. Will Indian women ever demand so , the answer is NO . Indian women are one of the most compassionate in this world and most 'Selfless' as well . It is time we value them not just in words but in our actions as well . They can find many alternatives in this world but going by the reputation Indian men have not many ( from the rest of the world ) will 'tolerate' us. 

Sanskrit Vs German and India

Two centuries of British rule over India have certainly left a deep imprint on Indian psyche. It could be seen even during the national struggle where a so called nationalist leader like Jawaharlal went on to say that he is British by education and it was true. Many so called nationalist leaders with their Oxford backgrounds seemed to shun the very impression that Indian education could have some positives as well . Today the convent educated girls are the most sought after in the Indian matrimonial ads and unfortunately it is seen as the only certificate required for being 'cultured' among many wannabe elites of Indian society. Yet they still want a girl " Grihakarya Daksha " meaning adept at managing house chores. Recent controversy of German vs Sanskrit was marked by many jokes doing the rounds in the Indian net sphere targeting Sanskrit  bolster the impression that Indians are yet to understand the antiquity and greatness of Sanskrit. German may have many advantages to offer its students.

English language is a part of Germanic language family of European languages and that way it is German which can be said to be the mother of English. The Indian Foreign services officers give priority to German because only then they get priority to work in English speaking countries. Our Foreign secretary is a German speaker. First modern Europeans to show interest in India were German like Max Mueller and it was his study that made the ground work for the Aryan theory. Though Nazi Germany's claims to Aryan roots were complete bogus. Probably they just stole this word from Sanskrit which means someone from noble family and has been used in India for thousands of years unlike Nazi Germany where it made a sudden appearance. Keeping history aside ,Germany is one of the most sought after countries for pursuing higher education courses and engineering in particular. Knowledge of German may be very useful for those Students. But I was left aghast at the stupidity of some Delhi Radio jockeys using Sanskrit for jokes not realizing that it is Sanskrit which binds us together. A language much older than Greek and Latin. To this day many East Asian languages like Burmese, Cambodian, Thai, Malay and  Indonesian Bahasa show unmistakable imprint of Sanskrit . A languages that predates early christian and Judaism era by a  thousand years.  It is a classical language , a language whose influence continues to extend beyond the time when it is no longer spoken colloquially. Sanskrit and Geeta should not be used for political mileage. The previous government may have had its reason to teach German as the third language in Indian schools but it is our responsibility to make students familiar our future generations with our past. The antiquity of India's civilization and richness of its culture has many admirers. History should not be tweaked for political reasons but history should not be untold as well for the reason that no country can survive being cutoff from its identity and past . The ministry's decision to teach Sanskrit is correct.