We Have Always Been At War And Have Just Refused To Acknowledge It

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“Enough Is Enough”, we can’t take this anymore, no more words and no more promises. We want action. This seems to be the mood of the nation at the present moment, people are slowly beginning to realize that the political system with which they have lived with for the past few decades is completely incapable of solving the basic problems of the country. While there has been some development and growth in cities like Delhi, the security infrastructure of the country leaves much to be desired. The 26^th November Mumbai terror attacks have been compared to the September 11^th World Trade Center attacks in New York, with the Taj and Oberoi hotels being compared to the twin towers. The United States of America however took serious action against the attacks on them and established a new administrative unit that has maintained security in the country for the past 7 years.The Poll above asks you a similar question, do you think that 26/11/2008 will be a turning point for India ?

“Now that it has been established that the terrorists landed in Mumbai through the sea route, it is certain that the operation had been well-planned in advance and a number of warnings about the attacks had been ignored. We quote Admiral Arun Prakash, the former chief of Naval Staff in an excerpt from his article on the reason behind these attacks and how the government has not yet learnt from it’s previous mistakes.

No set of people could have walked off a merchant ship in Sassoon Docks or stepped out of a dinghy at Machhlimar Nagar and launched these attacks. This operation called for reconnaissance, logistics, communications, local support and perhaps even rehearsals; all requiring time. The number of persons involved, directly or indirectly, could easily run into dozens if not a hundred. It speaks of the abysmal depths plumbed by our police and intelligence apparatus that they failed to hear an underworld rumor or a whisper on the airwaves, or obtain any sort of warning at all. But that seems to be now par for the course in India. Soon after the July 2006 serial train blasts in Mumbai, which resulted in over 500 dead and injured, I attended a high level inter-ministry meeting to discuss this issue. After presentations, discussions and brain-storming lasting a couple of hours, a final question was asked by the Cabinet Secretary: what urgent remedial and precautionary measures should we take to prevent recurrence of such incidents? after a pregnant silence, the sole suggestion that came was voiced by a junior functionary:”We must give the SHOs at the thana level more and better quality walkie-talkie sets.” I was shaken to the core because of the pedestrian and worm’s eye perspective that it demonstrated; not high-technology, not intelligence, not weapons, but walkie-talkies! And this was in 2006, after the nation had been experiencing bomb blasts or terrorist attacks with monotonous regularity in the wake of the horrifying 1993 Mumbai carnage. The score today, of course, stands much higher.

What we have been facing for many years now, and continue to face, is an “asymmetric war“, waged by a ruthless and imaginative intelligence agency. This war has many dimensions; aiding separatism and insurgency, attacking our economy by pumping in fake currency, inciting communal violence, and undermining the morale and cohesion of the armed forces (often through the instrumentality of the Indian media) are some other facets of this multi-pronged assault by the Pak Inter-Services Intelligence agency on the hapless Indian State. Like ostriches with heads buried deep in sand, we have refused to acknowledge this asymmetric war. And full responsibility for this situation must be accepted by Indian politicians of all hues, who in their ruthless quest for votes and political one-upmanship have systematically undermined every instrument of state, and rendered the nation vulnerable” (Read here for more).

It is certain that the ISI is more of a terrorist organization than an Intelligence agency and they surely have the information necessary to weed out all kinds of terrorism from the world. The US, UK, Israel and India should together pressurize Pakistan to get the ISI to reveal all it’s secrets. The Indian government cannot let this go on and let a country like Pakistan, which was recently termed as an “International Migraine” by former US Secretary Of State Madelaine Albright (read here), go scot free yet again. It’s time to face the war and act like a country of 1 Billion+ Indians.

Reasons To Smile During Recession Time

They say that “excess of anything is harmful” and that “whatever goes up must come down“. So, if you apply these wise sayings to the economic boom that the world witnessed for the past few years it would seem that the current economic recession is just a correction and would prove to be good for the economy in the long run. As per this article on TIME, the recession has taught many a U.S. company one important fact: the boom had larded corporate muscle with fat. Now, in working off the fat, businessmen are finding some of the benefits of adversity. These go far beyond merely trimming payrolls and such obvious economies as light, telephone and office-supply bills.

As per the Economist, “central banks must stop recessions from turning into deep depressions. But it may be wrong to prevent them altogether”. Wrong to prevent a recession? Why? Because recessions are a natural and necessary part of the business cycle. So you might as well consider yourself to be lucky to be alive in this era which has witnessed both the ends of a business cycle, super-boom and super-bust. While it’s very easy to be happy during boom times, let’s see how one can feel the same during recession times as well:

On The Business Front

1. Undervalued stocks and bonds: It’s a bad to time for the market and it’s possible stocks in general will go down more this year. So don’t panic but smile because times like these are perfect opportunities for long-term investors to pick some good values company by company.
2. Lower interest rates: It seems likely that if the Reserve Banks of many countries lower the federal funds target interest rate, opportunities are available for those with good credit ratings to borrow cash as needed.
3. Falling house prices: Well, at the moment, there are more people trying to sell homes then there are buyers. This inequity between supply and demand means that in order to sell houses, prices must fall.
4. A more down to earth US of A: America has been living way beyond its means for years: A recession will cut back revenues at all levels of government and cutbacks will encourage balanced budgeting.
5. A wake up call to short-time investors: A recession will wake up short-term investors playing the market. In bull markets traders ride the rising tide, gaining false confidence that they’re financial geniuses. Downturns bruise egos but encourage rational long-term strategies.
6. Correction in CEO Salaries: It is believed that CEO compensation today is about five hundred times the salaries of workers, compared with about 40 times a generation ago. The recession would help to correct this wide disparity.

On The Personal Front

1. Global warming will slow down or even stop: Since people would have less money than before they would drive and fly less thus bringing down the level of global warming.
2. World population will drop: Raising a child involves a lot of expenditure so couples would think harder before deciding to have a child. Thus may lead to temporary decline in World population.
3. People will finally lose weight and pay attention to their health: Since consumerism would decrease and people would pay more attention to their savings, they would eat healthier foods and take to various forms of exercise that don’t cost much, thus becoming healthier.
4. Roads will be less congested: With high unemployment and no money for vacations, roads will be clearer, with fewer traffic jams.
5. More educated population: During recession time, people tend to go to school. Maybe just community college, distance learning, or freebie classes, but people will learn all sorts of new stuff.
6. More time to invest in yourself: When the economy is down and the growth opportunities are less people invest a lot of time in themselves. As Six Apart CEO Chris Alden says “When you don’t know where else to invest, you invest in yourself.” . During recession time people blog more and try to learn stuff that they’ve been yearning to learn for a long time.

Sources: 8 Benefits to a Recession or Down Market, 17 reasons America needs a recession, Top 10 Benefits of Global Recession

Introducing Kristin McGee: The Queen Yogini Of The West

Desiring to teach yoga to the world, he is said to have fallen from heaven into the open palms of a woman.

So goes the famous phrase describing Lord Patanjali, the founder of Yoga. Yoga is one of the most ancient sciences of the world which possibly dates back to 3300 B.C. It was designed for the purpose of cultivating a steady mind and a healthy body. It is believed that during the Golden Ages (a period known as Satya Yuga in Hinduism) every individual had the knowledge of yoga and people used to live for centuries together. All the great sages and warriors of the Indian epics were master yogis who had perfect control over their mind and body.

That is hardly the case in the 21^st century. The world today is dogged by poverty, disease, addictions and poor health. People today find it difficult to spare some time for themselves, let alone sparing time for their loved ones.

Things are however changing for the better as more and more people realise the importance of being healthy, because “good health is the one thing that money can’t buy“. The lost art of yoga is slowly making a comeback thanks to some great people who have been blessed with complete knowledge of this science. In India, yoga has been revived due to the efforts of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (and his Art Of living Foundation) and Swami Ramdev whose free yoga sessions on Television have managed to create a cult following of millions around the country.

In the west however it is rare to find any sort of “cult following“. Yoga is alive and kicking in the United States Of America, Europe, Mexico, Latin America and many other countries today, thanks to the efforts of a number of people, who have devoted their lives to spread the knowledge of yoga among the people of their country. One such great person is the master yogini, Kristen McGee.

Kristin grew up in Pocatello, Idaho and moved to New York City in 1994 to pursue a career in acting. Today however she is a fitness celebrity. “Oops“, did we say celebrity. Well, she is a celebrity but she gives that term a whole new meaning as she has none of the negative qualities that one associates with famous people. Kristin discovered yoga, while attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Kristin claims that she was hooked to Yoga after her very first session and could do a headstand in her very second class. After a long stint at studying yoga with some of the America’s finest instructors, Kristin created her own style that was an instant hit for its upbeat, refreshingly hip approach.

Kristin’s yoga workouts known as Power Yoga are highly intensive, power packed workouts that would make your gym sessions feel like a piece of cake (Power Yoga is said to be the secret behind SRK’s six packs and Kareena Kapoor’s zero size figure). Kristin is well-known for her MTV Power Yoga DVD and more recently her own Power Yoga DVD. While most yoga gurus devote their attention towards training the adults, Kristin teaches yoga to both kids and adults. She is very famous for her yoga workouts with young boys and girls and has even hosted programs for pregnant women. Her yoga workouts are a lot of fun and are highly recommended for the young people.

A yoga and pilates instructor since 1996, Kristin has also provided special yoga classes for athletes who participated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City, Utah. She has made numerous appearances in books, videos, commercials, TV shows and news spots, including Sex and the City, the CBS Morning show and CNN Headline News. Kristin has also been featured in national print and television campaigns for MTV and Lady Foot Locker Yoga, has served as consultant to the Nike Goddess web site and currently is a contributing editor to Fit Yoga Magazine. If you haven’t seen Kristin in action before then checkout a brief preview of her Power Yoga DVD below.

We would soon be publishing an exclusive interview with Kristin McGee right here on DelhiPlanet, so stay tuned. If you wish to know more about Kristin or you wish to buy any of her videos then visit www.kristinmcgee.com.