Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The valley and beyond



The valley and beyond

Indo-Pak tension

I fail to understand how tension with Pakistan will be escalated if India does or does not do something. The tension is already stretched to such levels we are theoretically on the threshold of war with each other. That a conventional war is not just across this threshold is also a truth.

In the circumstance India raising the issue of Baluchistan or giving arms aid to Afghanistan are all par for the course. The pseudo intellectuals will talk of escalating tension…The nitwit that I am I fail to understand this tension. Or is it that I understand it much better than some others?

It was during those teen days when I lived in a house surrounded by coconut trees, not very far from the sea in Kerala. The winds during the monsoon days coming in from the sea were very strong…so strong that mangoes from trees in the nieighbours’ house more than a hundred meters away were flown into our courtyard. Yes, the coconut trees swayed dangerously. To prevent coconuts and the coconut trees from falling on the house, steel wires were tied to the top of such trees and pulled in a direction away from the house and fastened to stakes. The tension created on the wire was to ensure that when and if the tree fell it was away from the house. So a bit of high tension is not always bad. The result depends on the direction and the force of tension (if ever there is such a thing).

So I say let the tension escalate, let the storms blow… the idea is to keep the house safe.
 
Stone throwing

My wife is in the habit of colleting at least one stone from a new place we visit. But our search for a stone around the White House in Wash DC, was futile. We did not find one in the vicinity.

Our best strategy to defeat the stone throwers in the Valley is to remove all stones from the valley. Besides putting an end to stone throwing we can also enter the Guinness records for the first stone-less valley in the world.

We can instead introduce a scheme in which a sum can be paid for the stones delivered at collection centers established at various places all over the valley. We can fix the price by category and weight…that will not be a problem. With this scheme we can generate employment in valley while getting rid of the stones!

Two birds with one stone (or many stones?), shall we say?

I am not being funny. When situation gets out of hand we can find solutions only outside the box!!!

Sedition anybody?

Sedition, of course, is not the same as seduction. But of late in India there are charges slapped on all and sundry for sedition and seduction. The refrain is that some people are attempting seduction through sedition. A few days back it worked the other way. People were being seduced towards sedition.

While sedition is an offence under sec 124A of the IPC seduction, if practiced outside the confines of workplace may or may not constitute an offence. The degree of penalty depends on the tools and methods used for seduction. But if seduction is use as an instrument for sedition, it can be construed as an offence under sec 124A of the IPC.

In the annals of Indian history we can find many instances where seduction and sedition have been used as instruments of state (monarchies were also a form of state). Some such acts were condemned some were condoned. Some were even applauded.

Even today some of these acts are condemned, condoned or applauded…it just that we the people do not get to know who does which for what!