26/11

 Yes, 26/11 is absolutely unique. Yes, as a citizen of India, it matters hugely to me. Yet, despite the commendable letter by the Prime Minister himself, i would not dare to write about the constitutional relevance of the day, though I may most humbly state that once I had tried to include the 'Preamble' in the Additional English syllabus. 

Sure it was a rough draft. Ah, the expression 'rough draft'! That itself is the reason why I choose not to touch the theme. To justify my reluctance, let me first quote: "As Babasaheb Ambedkar rises ever higher as a symbol of the self-respect of India’s oppressed and as the hope of an egalitarian India, the Brahminical forces (and the Sangh Parivar) have intensified their claim that Ambedkar was not the one who wrote the Indian Constitution. According to them, the real credit must go to the legal and constitutional expert BN Rau."

Such is the beginning of an article published this afternoon. The article debunks BN Rau's contribution as a 'rough draft'. If a 'rough draft' is going to incur viscerally casteist raw wrath in the India of 2025, it is better to keep quiet, right?!?

Instead let me talk of the 26/11 attack, a wound that seems to have healed as there is hardly any reference to it now. Oh, yes, let me talk of the bravery of Tukaram Omble. No, I do not know his caste. Lucky me! That is because i want to hugely praise  this wonderful police officer who literally martyred himself in his brave attempt to capture Kasab who then was a walking AK-47!

At Girgaum Chowpatty, this dutiful police officer faced some forty bullets from the closest range of Kasab's machine gun. Yet he did not leave holding tight either the terrorist or his AK-47. Because of his commitment and bravery, Kasab could be caught alive, and the entire terrorist plot could thus be unearthed. Please accept my eternal gratitude, Omble Sir's family!

Well, given such sacrifices and honest attempts which fill my eyes with tears, i hope that we would survive, and despite the conscious propagandist twists and turns to all sorts of narratives!

Pratima@"Extreme liberty," argued Plato, "leads to the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery." Hope the "Gen Z" in Delhi (in its worries over the vitiated 'atmosphere') and in VIT, Bhopal (destroying public property, given the 'dis-ease') remembers such wisdom!

Quote of the idea:                                                     There is a "cult of ignorance", noted Issac Asimov, stemming from the idea that "democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge".

Word of the day: diatribe                                          A diatribe is a viciously bitter and brutal verbal attack by a zealot against someone or a way of thinking, most often without any proof or a logical argument.