Indian Summers, snapshot

We live in a country where people are 'taught' to learn and preach the things that the Government wants. This of course keeps us in the dark, away from the truth and we blindly believe what we are shown, but the lamenting part is that this is the only way to keep ablaze the flame of patriotism. Sounds uncanny, but truth is sometimes an acid tongue.

Gandhi, well known as Mahatma, along with Nehru was in fact a blind ideologist. So strident their ideologies were, that the price was paid by India in the form of Partition and millions of life in the carnage that followed. Ironically, in 1942 Gandhi gave up the ideology of non-violence and ordered his followers to do what it takes to annoy the Brits. Alex Von Tunzelmann in her book Indian Summers puts together all these events and evidences lined up around the clandestine amour between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten which helps the reader understand the missing links in the story of Indian Imperial days.
The beauty of the book becomes eloquent as it begins with a terrifyingly catchy paragraph,
"In the beginning there were two nations. One was vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organised and culturally unified, which dominated a mass swathe of earth. The other was an underdeveloped, semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its illiterate, diseased and stinking masses. The first nation was India. The second was England."
The Indian history is no less than a typical soap opera, spilling upto the brim with betrayal, emotional moments, provoking dialogues followed by their heinous consequences and what not. The most famous of all examples is the provoking statement delivered by Nehru against jinnah, which provoked the latter, who had given up politics and was liveing a solitary life in London, to return to Indian politics, shattering the Indian movement to the worst possible extent.
Very few people know, rather very few people are told, that Jinnah was the icon of Hindu Muslim unity when he came into politics. Further few people know that it was Gandhi's obduracy that ushered Muslim leaders to believe that India will be unsafe for Muslims. Had gandhi paid heed to the dissent of followers and fellow countrymen and tried to curb it, then India'd have been in a different positon today.
We live in a country where speaking against gandhi and nehru, and speaking for Jinnah is a punishable offence. So I cannot write more on this topic.
The book mentions the most hillarious acts of buffoonery commited by Louis Mounbatten, the last Viceroy of India. His Quixotic milliary expeditions are perhaps the most enjoyable part in the book.
Further it reveals the reason why it took us so long to gain independece, rather took the brits so long to give up the land. Indian independence movement was an utter failure. just like the 1857 uprising, we never had a common cause to unite us. We were always divided, as we are now.
In addition to the narration of Indian history the book reads the ugly politics that hovered the british crown. The writer accessed the imperial archives to spoon out the most detailed descriptions of events that took place. Further she requested access to the love letters exchanged between Nehru and Edwina Mountabatten from both the Mountbatten and the Nehru descendents but was denied.

Amazing act by Pakistan

As a fiendish gesture to India, if latest reports by Intelligence agencies are to be believed, the Pakistani agencies are offering double salary to terrorists in kashmir. Ironically entire Pakistan is suffering from an economic crisis wherein citizens are being asked to cut down their expenditures.
Austerity drive, a term adopted by our Govt., that was recently declared pejorative by media pointing it out as meaningless and a mere charade, is now the law in Pakistan. The inside story came into light during Sania Shoaib marriage for which they were dragged to court for not being Austere. Humorous news started flooding Indian TV channels, denuding the Pakistan economy to its scantiest garments, as Pakistani people watched in despair.
The inflation rates have shot up as high as 22.35% in 2008 and this year stabilised to 13%. But inflation is not a mere index of economy. If we look into other data we will find our neighbours in hard time. Still they continue aiding terror activities in Kashmir.
Incredibly the salaries have been raised from 5000/- per month to 8-10K per month. A rare act by any employer...