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Honour the award Terrorists’ targets |
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Weapons in orbit Use space for peaceful purposes DEFENCE Minister Pranab Mukherjee has added his voice to the call for keeping weapons out of space. He has stressed the need to strengthen the legal frameworks for peaceful uses but that is easier said than done. The spur for his remarks was the recent anti-satellite test by the Chinese, which already earned a host of condemnations and expressions of “serious concern” by leaders all over the world.
Resurgence of Russia
Staff-room triangle
Spare me the terror word The making of serial killers Delhi Durbar
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Honour the award MONDAY’S much-awaited award by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal allocating 419 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water to Tamil Nadu and 270 tmc ft to Karnataka annually needs to be implemented by the two states in a friendly and peaceful manner. As the tribunal has given its final verdict after 570 sittings in 17 years, it should be given the attention and respect it deserves. It has carefully studied the extensive data given by both states and also heard their counsels. Expectedly, the award has evoked mixed reactions. While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has welcomed the award, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has said that his government would file a review petition before the tribunal. He also said that the issue would be placed before an all-party meeting to be held on Tuesday. Karnataka is entitled to seek a review of the award but it should be done in a peaceful manner. According to preliminary reports, thousands of farmers in Karnataka have blocked roads, burned tyres and stopped trains in protest against the award. Farmers came out on the streets in Mandya, Mysore, Hassan and Chamrajnagar districts. The state highways linking Bangalore with Mysore, Chamrajnagar and Hassan have also been affected. As things could go out of hand, violence must be abjured at any cost. The communal violence during the Karnataka bandh sponsored by the Bangarappa government in June 1991 in protest against the tribunal’s interim award is still fresh in people’s memory. Unfortunately, the Cauvery issue has been embroiled in endless legal battles and politicking because of Karnataka’s one-upmanship and intransigent attitude towards the Centre and Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery River Authority under the Prime Minister’s chairmanship, set up by the Centre on the Supreme Court’s directive, has hardly taken any step to resolve the dispute. Thus, Monday’s award gives an opportunity to both states to make peace and resolve the issue once and for all. Karnataka should not do anything that would work against the interests of the 80-lakh farmers in both states. |
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Terrorists’ targets IT seems terrorists are desperately trying to sabotage the peace efforts being made by India and Pakistan. A major terrorist strike has the potential to derail the dialogue process as had happened in the past. The arrest of four suspected militants in New Delhi and seizure of a huge cache of explosives and a revolver from them on Sunday should be seen against this backdrop. The overpowering of these suspected terrorists was the fourth such incident reported from the national Capital during the last few weeks. The latest arrest, however, has greater significance as it came following the receipt of a letter by the Station Master of Old Delhi railway station, purportedly sent by three terrorist outfits —Al-Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiyaba — warning of attacks at prominent places in the country. There was also a threat to spring a surprise on Republic Day. Three of the four terrorist suspects taken into custody on Sunday belong to Jammu and Kashmir. Only one was a Pakistani national. But they all had their training in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which provided fresh proof, if at all it was needed, that terrorist training camps continue to function in areas under Pakistan’s control, despite Islamabad’s promise to the contrary. That these camps remain intact has been proved beyond a shadow of doubt. This is a serious matter, particularly when India and Pakistan have also set up a joint terrorism mechanism. A close look at the antecedents of the arrested militants reveals that terrorist outfits now prefer locals as their recruits. The local recruits mostly come from Hyderabad, Mumbai and towns in Gujarat. They are taken to Pakistan via Bangladesh and Iran for training and brainwashing purposes. The increasing presence of locals in the terrorists’ ranks may be aimed at hoodwinking the security forces. There is need to find out how they are successful in misleading the gullible public. The emergence of the local factor calls for a new strategy to foil the designs of the enemies of the nation. |
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Weapons in orbit DEFENCE Minister Pranab Mukherjee has added his voice to the call for keeping weapons out of space. He has stressed the need to strengthen the legal frameworks for peaceful uses but that is easier said than done. The spur for his remarks was the recent anti-satellite test by the Chinese, which already earned a host of condemnations and expressions of “serious concern” by leaders all over the world. The very fact that the Chinese went ahead with the test, and are none the worse for it, goes to show just how fragile any international legal regime can be. Power is still measured by the barrel of a gun, and if it can reach into outer space, all the better. But that is all the more reason why nations need to come together to make a determined effort to prevent the weaponisation of space. Once the genie is out of the bottle, as in the case with nuclear weapons, it will be very difficult to draw him back. Satellites are costly creations, very expensive to build and launch. They are also very vulnerable in space. The United States shot down one of its own satellites a few years ago using not a ballistic missile, like the Chinese, but an advanced laser. But as the Chinese have demonstrated, you do not need very advanced technology. A powerful missile with the right propulsion technologies and guidance systems can do the job. With missile defence systems still a serious item on the agenda of countries like the US, not to mention India where there is renewed interest, outer space is already a potential battlefield. Orbiting radar stations and “kill-vehicles” to intercept the missile are becoming a reality. Reagan’s vision of Star Wars is quite old, and it is not that difficult to envision lasers and missile launchers in space. Modern warfare is already increasingly dependent on satellite-based assets for navigation and a host of other purposes. One can see why the Chinese went ahead with the test. It is a useful ability to possess and demonstrate. All the more reason for a cease-and-desist call. |
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Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away. — Isaac Watts
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Resurgence of Russia
THE much needed “multi-vector” infusion into the Indian foreign policy was witnessed recently. At the joint Press conference with Russian President Putin, Dr Manmohan Singh noted that “Russia remains indispensable to the core of India’s foreign policy interests” and “we seek a comprehensive re-engagement that would impart a new momentum and carry our strategic partnership to new heights.” Indeed, the Russian entourage, many of whom preceded Mr Putin’s arrival, spent the entire week tapping areas of opportunity in India’s thriving economy. Indo-Russian relations, epitomised by the flourishing military component, were augmented with a slew of decisions on co-production, transfer of technology and off-the-shelf purchases of finished platforms. The existing Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation programme, which is to last until 2010, lists up to 200 projects worth around $18 billion. In this segment of the strategic sector, therefore, India seems to have finally firmed up its decision in the matter. India’s inclusion in GLONASS, the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System, projected to include 24 satellites in orbit by 2009, will pave the way to a net-centric capability to India’s conventional and strategic forces. It may suffice to say that collaboration with Russia’s military-industrial complex can elevate India’s “strategic enclaves” — DRDO, ISRO, and DAE — to hitherto unseen levels of military-technical capabilities. It is in the economic sphere, however, that relations between the two have remained relatively perfunctory. Indian policy makers and industry have been unable to fully discern the implications of Russian economic resurgence, and the opportunities it provides to India’s own economic development. Moreover, the “rapid restoration of Russia’s autonomy in its foreign affairs” implies that a well-crafted bilateral economic foundation will ineluctably translate to mutually beneficial political cooperation, given the broad convergence of Indo-Russian national interests, hardly an unwelcome development. At the outset, it may be instructive to note Russia’s current macroeconomic status. “Russia’s GDP in 2006 crossed $1 trillion, with the federal government retaining a $75 billion fiscal surplus”, which makes it the 10th largest economy. Mr Dmitry Medvedev, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister, who represented Moscow at the 2007 World Economic Forum, remarked that “our economy is quite capable of reaching sixth place within two years, outdoing Italy, France and Britain.” As Jim O’Neil, head of global economics research at Goldman Sachs, recently pointed out, “Russia has contributed as much to global growth as India in the past five years.” Such overwhelming macroeconomic achievements cannot be ignored. During the recent summit meetings, the Indo-Russian agreement on using the Rs 4,500-crore rupee credit fund in joint ventures in India is a welcome development. Two joint ventures, a $700-million project to develop a medium-sized dual-use transport aircraft and a 40,000 tonnes a year titanium dioxide project in Orissa, would finally deploy the hitherto unutilised funds in a collaborative manner. On the prospects of Indo-Russia energy cooperation, it is instructive to note the comments by Mr Dmitry Medvedev, arguably the most influential leader after Mr Putin, in Moscow last month: “Like the Russian state, Gazprom looks at India with deep respect as a nation with which we have long traditional ties and would like to further augment them,” he told foreign correspondents. “We are ready to forge an energy partnership with India and not only with the involvement of Gazprom, but also other Russian energy majors. However, India has to cover its part of the road,” he said. Arguably, an important element of this would involve transcending the conventional paradigm of supplier-buyer relations toward a comprehensive energy partnership. The ONGC-Rosneft accord promises to evaluate joint opportunities in both upstream and downstream sectors as well as initiate a mechanism for asset-swapping and joint bidding for assets in Russia, India and third countries. But as Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Russia's Alfa Bank, commented, the inclusion of the ONGC in Russian upstream projects would be politically driven, since Rosneft has no pressing need for the Indian company's money or technology, and it would take a significant downstream offer from India to justify some of these opportunities. On the gas front, the ONGC last year signed an agreement with Gazprom for cooperation in projects in Russia and India. A team from Gazprom will visit India soon to discuss forms of participation in various projects. Over the past year, Russian energy dialogue with all its partners has focused on dispelling the notion that energy security is solely an importer’s dilemma. Dr Manmohan Singh has acknowledged the notion that energy security is a two-way street - security of supply is as vital as security of demand. Now this logic, if adopted by New Delhi, will significantly enhance the quality of energy discourse that will soon commence with their Russian interlocutors. At a fundamental level, however, New Delhi must come to terms with new Russia and accept the commercial realism that is the driving force behind Russia’s foreign, economic and energy policies. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reaffirmed this emphasis on realism in an article when he states that the current international system “devalues commitments based on ideological and cultural affinity”. Bluntly put, Russia is neither willing nor capable of subsidising India’s economic climb. Specifically, the economic rationale behind Russia’s energy strategy as it pertains to the hydrocarbon sector is becoming clear. A few months ago, Arkady Dvorkovich, head of the Kremlin’s economic staff, enunciated Russia's long-term goal of using the energy sector as a driver of growth in the manufacturing sector. “We want the energy sector to be the driver of growth in machine building; we want to process raw materials on Russia’s territory; we want to export not only raw materials but finished goods as well,” he said. New Delhi would also have to account for the accompanying leverage that Russia today possesses in its energy dealings. Flush with funds, Gazprom, which is now the world’s largest hydrocarbon company, has shown itself capable of acquiring any technical expertise by sub-contracting, thus avoiding the need to give away stakes in hydrocarbon projects. Finally, nuclear energy cooperation with Russia is an area that too is poised for unprecedented growth, an opportunity that first arose in 2005, when New Delhi began its seminal negotiations with Washington to remove obstacles in India’s entry into the global nuclear regime. While conclusion of the final India-US bilateral nuclear agreement is pending, India’s eligibility to conduct nuclear commerce is no longer in doubt. What New Delhi will need to do very soon, however, is articulate its nuclear energy strategy and prepare itself for extracting the best possible bargain from the major nuclear technology and nuclear-fuel-rich states in its envisaged $100 billion expansion. Suffice it to say, the prevailing geopolitical pluralism enables such a strategy to be implemented while the strategic imperative for diversification demands it. The latest announcement of Russian participation in the expansion of four additional nuclear power plants at Koodankulam is a happy augury for ending India’s nuclear isolation. The last few months have seen Russia immerse itself further into the global economic system, to the astonishment of most observers. The Indian elephant has tentatively begun to sniff the geo-economic trail of the Russian bear. It would be tragic if India’s economic and security managers and its infamous bureaucratic obduracy failed to exploit the opportunity at
hand.
The writer, a product of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, is an international relations and strategic affairs analyst based in New Delhi
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Staff-room triangle
OUR electronics class of twenty was abuzz with excitement. Three new faculty members had just joined. Kadambini Patel was dainty and petite, while Bhadresh Patel (not related to her) was melancholic and surly. The perfect antidote to the two Gujjus was the dashing Samir Kapoor. Kad, Bad and Sam, we immediately christened them. Soon we were pairing off Kad with Sam : her Saurashtra good looks with his Greco-Punjabi handsomeness made an irresistible combination. Bad ended up the unwanted bone in the succulent kebab. Staff room masala chai sessions and practicals in the lab - Cupid obligingly threw Kad and Sam together. She giggled and simpered in his presence but he was sober and gentle at all times. Bad sulked his way through the semi-conductors. My classmates — Giriraj, Bhakti and Tejal — drew “love circuits” with in-built resistors and capacitors to depict this budding faculty romance. On Rakshabandhan day, we kept a close watch on both male wrists for a clue as to where Kad’s real affections lay. Tejal’s hypothesis was simple. ‘’Kad would tie a Rakhi on one male wrist. The other male hand would tie a mangalsutra on her pretty neck before Diwali.’’ But since both Sam and Bad landed up with multiple rakhis each, Tejal’s theory floundered for lack of irrefutable evidence. In time, we passed out of college. I left the city to pursue a career. I assumed that Sam and Kad would have tied the knot while Bad would have chosen a homely Patel girl from Mehsana. On one of my rare visits home, I happened to visit the university area and nostalgia took me to the gates of my old college. I was satisfied to see that peacocks still roamed free in the grounds. Classes were over and the parking lot was busy. Kad emerged in a pink chiffon sari and high heels, married-woman jewellery firmly in place, and waited under the shelter of a tree. For whom ? I wondered. Bad came out from the Principal’s office and smiled at her. Both walked off to a white Zen parked nearby and zipped away. “Patels are the King” said a chauvinistic, if ungrammatical slogan on the car. Next, Sam sauntered down the corridor, followed by a gaggle of first year students, mostly female. He said ‘bye’ to them and made his way to the adjacent Pharmacy College parking. He strided towards a tall, striking Punjaban in a peach-orange salwar-kameez. She was waiting beside a Maruti Swift, a pile of thick books resting on the bonnet. “Sahil te Simran de Mummy-Pappa di gaddi” proclaimed the car sticker. A cheerful chimpanzee had his paws vacuum-glued to the glass from within. I felt curiously let down. Real life can be rather dull!n |
Spare me the terror word SO it was back to terror, terror, terror last week. The “terrorist” Hizbollah was trying to destroy the “democratically elected government” of Fouad Siniora in Lebanon. The “terrorist” Hamas government cannot rule Palestine. Iranian “terrorists” in Iraq are going to be gunned down by US troops. My favourite line of the week came from the “security source” – just how one becomes a “security source” remains a mystery to me – who announced: “Terrorists are always looking for new ways to strike terror... There is no end of the possibilities where terrorists can try to cause terror to the public.” Well, you could have fooled me. Lebanon is as good a place as any to find out what a load of old tosh the “terror” merchants talk. For here it is that the hydra-headed monster of Iran is supposedly stalking the streets of Beirut, staging a coup against Mr Siniora and his ministers. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, is the man Israel spent all last summer trying – vainly, of course – to kill, his black-bearded, turbaned appearance on Hizbollah’s own TV station a source of fury to both Ehud Olmert and - nowadays - to Siniora’s men in government. Now it’s true that Nasrallah – an intelligent, former military commander of Hizbollah in southern Lebanon – is developing a rather odd cult of personality. His massive features tower over the Beirut airport highway, a giant hand waving at motorists in both directions. And these days, you can buy Hizbollah T-shirts and Nasrallah key chains. But somehow “terror” is not quite the word that comes to mind. This is partly because the tens of thousands of Shia Muslims whom Hizbollah represents are staging a social revolution rather than a coup, a mass uprising of the poor who have traditionally been ignored by the great and the good of Lebanese society. The men in their tent city downtown are a powerful symbol in Lebanon. They are smoking their hooker pipes and playing cards and sleeping rough next to the shining new city which Rafiq Hariri rebuilt from the ruins of Beirut – a city to impress foreigners but one in which the south Lebanese poor could not afford to buy a cup of coffee. Hariri’s theory – or at least this is how he explained it to me before his murder – was that if the centre of Beirut was reconstructed, the money which it generated would trickle down to the rest of Lebanon. But it didn’t trickle. The bright lights of downtown Beirut were enjoyed by the rich and purchased by the Saudis and admired by the likes of Jacques Chirac but they were not for the Shia. For them, Hizbollah provided the social services and the economic foundation of its part of Lebanon as well as the military spearhead to strike at Israel and demand the return of Shebaa Farms. The Lebanese government may have its troops mixed in with the new UN force in the south but no one doubts that Hizbollah remain in their villages, as powerful and as influential as ever. Harirism, it seems, failed and now Hariri’s old friend Siniora – who, by the way, was never elected (he was appointed to the prime minister’s job although you’d never know if from watching Western television) – has returned from Paris with millions of dollars to sit once more in his little “green zone”, surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers and, outside the gates of his serail, by the poor of southern Lebanon and the suburbs of Beirut. Hizbollah’s electoral partners are also interesting. General Michel Aoun – whom the Americans have not yet got round to calling a “terrorist” – is the Christian leader who allows Nasrallah to claim that the opposition is non-sectarian. Aoun’s supporters were involved in pitched battles with Samir Geagea’s Phalangists last week and what was striking was how poor many of Aoun’s Christian supporters also appeared to be. Indeed, Aoun was himself born in the same southern slums of Beirut which is Hizbollah’s power base and his constant refrain – that the government is corrupt – is beginning to take hold among the disenfranchised Christian communities in the east of Beirut. The fact that Aoun is also a little cracked does not change this. Even when this week he produced a doctored photograph supposedly showing an armed Phalangist on the streets – the image was of a Hizbollah gunman, originally taken during last summer’s war but stuck on to a photograph of crowds on a north Beirut roadway – his loyal supporters did not desert him. Nestling beside their tents in central Beirut are canvas homes containing Lebanese communists – how friendly the old hammer and sickle seems these days – and a host of lesser groups which may or may not come under Syria’s patronage. Of course, the crisis in Lebanon is also about Iran and Syria, especially Iran’s determination to damage or destroy any Middle East government which has earned America’s friendship. In the growing, overheated drama being played out between Washington and Tehran (and Israel, of course), Lebanon is another board game for the two sides to use. America thus lined up to defend Lebanon’s democracy – though it didn’t care a damn about it when Israel bombarded the country last summer – while Iran continues to support Hizbollah whose government ministers resigned last year, provoking the current crisis. Nasrallah is said to have been personally shocked by the extent of the violence and hatred manifested in last week’s miniature civil war in which both Sunni and Shia Muslims used guns against each other for the first time. But they too emerged from the slums to do battle with their co-religionists and I rather suspect that – when this latest conflict is over – there will have to be a serious evaluation of the explosive nature of Lebanon’s poverty belts, a re-examination of a country whose super-wealthy launder the money which never reaches the poor, whose French restaurants and Italian designer shops are for the princes of the Gulf, whose government – however democratically elected (and Washington still doesn’t seem to understand that sectarian politics mean that Lebanon cannot have a normal democracy) – seems so out of touch with its largest religious community. But as the story of Lebanon continues, please spare me the word “terrorist”.
By arrangement with
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The making of serial killers WITH more and more bone-chilling details about the grisly activities of Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli tumbling out of D-5 in Noida, shocked Indians are asking: what is happening in this country? The Western world has investigated different kinds of serial killings and can claim to have got some insight into the physiological and psychological causes behind such horrifying cases. They are thus able to detect patterns in a given crime that point to a larger case, while in our country, a serial killer comes to light only when he is being interrogated for involvement in a relatively lesser crime. We just stumble upon such killers. Whether it is Darbara Singh of Jalandhar, who targeted children of migrant labourers as vengeance for a past experience, paedophile Sanjeev Kumar, who only chose children of Rajasthani community in Ludhiana for sodomising and killing, or the latest Nithari killings, the cops have no training to spot the tell-tale patterns early so as to save lives. John Dunning, a prolific crime reporter, has accumulated research on the subject and penned several books. In Carnal Crimes, he relates how “Take off your clothes”, the four words said in a whispered but firm tone by the ‘Devil’s Moor Murderer’ in Germany in 1981, froze his victims, all young girls aged between 16 and 20, and became part of the sinister folklore of serial killers. He did not kill all his victims. He wanted abject surrender. He raped them in the car and left many alive but naked on the roads. But those who resisted were brutally murdered with a double-edged knife, with stab injuries ranging from 35 to 57 found in over a dozen of the victims. Dunning found one common trait in most serial killers. They were impotent or not able to ejaculate any semen. The cops of that country knew they had a serial killer to find when they found a victim was raped but there were no stains of semen. What makes it scary is that the serial killer required a stronger stimulation, which would come from torturing his victims. The impotency factor has come out strongly in the case of Pandher and Koli too. By their own reported admissions, they were fighting impotency. That explains the emboweling of victims too. Sanjeev Kumar, a serial sodomist of Ludhiana, who sexually abused and murdered boys of age 8 to 12, was also impotent. The victim, after being caught by police not as a serial killer but just on suspicion of loitering around, admitted his failure to maintain a healthy sex life with his wife. He targeted boys after his wife had deserted him. Attempts have been made to read into the mind of a serial killer. Caroll Edward Cole, a serial killer in Dallas, United States, offered tips to researchers as he was one of the few who were struggling with their own selves. Many serial killers hope their life would improve after the fulfillment of desire, be it rape, murder, killing, cannibalising. Though the act gives them some kind of “relaxation” for some time, the desperation to do it again returns. Michael Newton in his book on the same serial killer Cole, who mainly killed women including prostitutes and ate their flesh, writes that the killer told him, “ I thought my life was going to improve, I was sadly mistaken. Neither at home nor at school. I was getting meaner and meaner, fighting all the time in a way to hurt or maim, and my thoughts were not the ideas of an innocent child, believe me.” Towards the end, Cole had killed so many people that he could not even remember the names of his victims. He had no mental illnesses, and was aware that he was committing morally abhorrent acts. He killed little boys that reminded him of a schoolyard bully who taunted him for having a girl’s name. He later expanded his modus operandi to include young brown haired girls that looked like his abusive mother. The author narrates, “When Cole was five years old his mother forced him to accompany her on extramarital excursions in his father’s absence, using torture to extract a pledge of silence, making him a bruised accomplice to her own adultery. As he grew older, Cole was forced to dress in frilly skirts and petticoats for the amusement of his mother’s friends, dispensing tea and coffee at sadistic “parties” where the women gathered to make sport of “mama’s little girl.” It would take researchers a long time to find out exactly what made serial killers out of Pandher and Koli. There have been arguments, given mainly by their friends and family members, that they too were so polite and well-behaved that the charges of such nature were hard to believe. But then serial killers have been known to be polite and nice to the victims and their families giving them the rudest shock of their lives. |
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Delhi Durbar Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had made waves with a photograph he took using a news-cameraman’s Nikon at a function in the Capital last month. A tabloid had published the photo by giving him credit, and the expectation was that a little payment would also be on the way. Almost a month later, at a function organised by the Northern Railways showcasing the journey from the steam engine to the electric locomotive, the photographer of the tabloid happened to come face to face with Lalu. Lalu immediately asked the photo journalist about the promised payment for using his photograph. Taken unawares and somewhat sheepish, the photographer immediately got in touch with his paper’s headquarters and was promised that the cheque remitting the honorarium would soon reach the man credited with turning around the Railways. ...on the other hand There is always a flip side to everything. The month-long show by the Northern Railways was extended for a few more days as the family members of the Railways minister had not seen it. And the show was at the doorsteps of Lalu’s residence – Safdarjung railway station. Five steam engines, the black beauties of a bygone era, chugged away in their majestic style much to the applause of the audience which included the Railway minister’s daughter and school children. A railway official remarked that the function cost the railways more than what it had earned in a month when Delhi-ites savoured the black beauties. Divided Left The war of words between the CPM and its other Left allies in West Bengal has intensified, especially after the controversy over the allotment of “fertile” agricultural land to the Tatas in Singur. In fact, Forward Bloc leader Kamal Guha, who is very strong in North Bengal, has openly criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. If that was not enough, RSP leaders C P Goswami and Devabrata Banerjee, after a meeting with CPM Chief Prakash Karat in Delhi, had at a press conference observed that all the Left allies – CPI, FB and RSP – are waging an ideological war against the CPM. Action man Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the “Grameen Bank” thereby empowering the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh, appears to be a reluctant politician. However, if the circumstances compelled him, then he would not shy away from politics in his country. During a recent trip to the Capital, in an interface with captains of industry, he disclosed he was not excited about becoming the President of Bangladesh as it was only a decorative post with no power. He was not comfortable with any office or post where he would not have anything to do, he said.
Contributed by R Suryamurthy,
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God cannot be won over through rites or deeds. Learning also cannot help in comprehending him. The four Vedas and the 18 Puranas have also failed to reveal his mystery. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; Selfish desires are the roads they tavel. When the Self is confused with body, Mind, and senses, they point out, he seems To enjoy pleasure and suffer sorrow.
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