Spy pigeons.

On a lighter note, this news piece:

Pak ‘spy’ pigeon caught on border, police suspect ISI hand.

Police suspect that the pigeon, which landed in Indian territory, may be on “special mission of spying” and might have been pushed by Pakistan intelligence agency ISI.

The pigeon is being kept in an air conditioned room which is being guarded by policemen. A medical examination of the bird was carried out by the doctor from the state animal husbandry department.

After the recent killing of two Pakistan-based terrorists in a gunbattle in Gurdaspur district, special instructions were issued to border inhabitants to report anything suspicious to the police, the SHO said.

Chahal said he has been asked by his seniors not to leave the police station or to proceed on leave until the fate of pigeon was decided.

The number ’303-6284620′ was written in red on the pigeon’s feathers along with a rubber stamp – Islamabad Wazirabad-Pakistan.

Chahal said they suspected that the pigeon must have landed on Indian soil from Pakistan with a message, which has not be traced so far.

The SHO said that Pakistani pigeon are easily recognisable as they have a “different look”.

“There are five to six families on Indo-Pak border village that have keen interest in keeping pigeons in their houses. They have told us about the difference between Indian and Pakistani birds,” he said.

It could be true, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it is funny as hell.

And if it is true, charge the damn pigeon, I say.

The success that was Kargil.

This is quite the quote of the day. Pervez Musharraf (on the Kargil war) :

Terming Kargil as a “big success”, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said India agreed to discuss Kashmir only because of that war in 1999.

“Yes, indeed, it was a big success because it had (an) impact even on the attitudes of the Indian side. How did we start discussing the Kashmir dispute? How was it that the Indians agreed that we will discuss Kashmir and there must be a negotiated settlement? Before this there was no such thing at all,” Musharraf said in an interview to Karan Thapar in his ‘Devil’s Advocate’ programme.

This hereby joins the list of other successes like the 1971 war, I presume. I still claim the Kargil War as an Indian success, as it brought Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to the kitchen. I am not being a chauvinist, instead, as a true feminist, I believe that every female should and can cook as well as any male.

*****

A few years down the line Mr. Musharraf makes a visit to India, still claiming that he was close to solving the Kashmir dispute, when in power. We are expected to believe this, just for the record.

He is sitting down for an interview with, of all people, Miss Barkha Dutt. Miss Dutt is, by this time in the future, also hated by dogs and cats in India, after having sent a legal notice to a stray dog for barking at night.

Anyway, Mr. Musharraf takes a break to visit the restroom and returns back to his seat, all relieved.

Mr. Musharraf : So where were we ? Oh yes, the ISI and military have always been strictly under the control of the government. You see, we still don’t know what a government is, which could be the cause of this confusion.

Miss Dutt : Um hmm. So you claim that the ISI is …. okay hold on .. be still ..

She then cautiously proceeds and in a swift action, kicks Mr. Musharraf in the cro*ch. As expected, Mr. Musharraf is down on his knees, reeling in pain and is barely able to find his voice.

Mr. Musharraf : What the hell was that ? I didn’t do anything, it was all the ISI ! Why did you have to kick me in the b***s ???

Miss Dutt : Oh no, I do not blame you. It’s just that your fly is open.

Miss Dutt : But you should appreciate that it was the kick which got you to discuss that part. So the kick was a success, if you think about it.

After this gesture, Miss Dutt is then forgiven by all the people of India.

.. until her next appearance on television, that is.

Disclaimer.

When the attack is on India …

Prologue : You might not find much about Pakistan, Al Qaeda, ISI, USA, war or Kashmir in this post.

If I would have written on Day 0, I would have blasted the terrorists.

If I would have written on Day 1, I would have blasted the politicians. (I cannot think of even *one single* politician who has made sense).

If I would have written on Day 2, I would have blasted the media. (I don’t even want to go down this path else I might beat the Mahabharata for the longest epic. And this is not at all funny, it is just the sorry state of our media)

And by Day 3, I wasn’t sure why it was still going on. 

This tells some pretty bad things about three of the four pillars of democracy, the fourth being judiciary, who I hope come into the picture, not for the terrorists, but for the remaining pillars.

I must admit I refrained from penning down by after thoughts because frankly, I wasn’t really sure what to make out of the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. News articles, blogs, people and friends (thank you for your time and opinions if you were one of the people I called or pinged to ask about your thoughts) everyone had their strong thoughts, but I still found something missing. And I don’t even know what was missing, just that it did not make complete sense to me. The more I thought and bigger the picture I tried to see, the closer I got to admitting that the situation and any solution was beyond my reach, at which point neighbour-bashing seemed easiest and really lucrative.

But the most interesting incident came about when I spoke to a friend on chat asking if he had any after-thoughts and his reply was :

not really its nothing extra ordinary which should be taken note of

Now don’t rush to the comments button. If you think carefully, we are *just* one incident away from this attack being *different*. The key here is, obviously, to keep this attack *different*.

Without understanding the problem in its *entirety*, no solution can be complete. As much as we would all like to disagree at this point, a big part of the problem still lies with ourselves, the problem being  generalizations being thrown around left, right and center. Think over it. Seriously.

And to end, is a really simple fact.

When an attack is on India, only an Indian can save us.

And I do not see many of those once this news dies out.

P.S. : It is easy to speculate in the comfort of our apartments so we might agree that we were seriously lacking in infrastructure, using existing infrastructure, planning and execution. But I would never have the courage to point any finger at the police or armed forces, who inspite of their infrastructural limitations, inspite of taking orders from incompetent leaders, inspite of not being in the best position to start with; were, are and will always zoom far ahead of everyone else when it comes to patriotism.

Thanks Siddharth.