The devastation as a result of the earthquake in the Kashmir region may well prove to be an opportunity on the national scale, where two countries can unite despite conflict and history. In the vision for humanity, insignificance will be seen for what it really is.
On an individual level too, there is an opportunity to rise to the wants of the needy, do ones bit. To donate money, to send blankets, old clothes. A more direct way is to go there. To be part of the efforts. To get ones hand dirty in helping the survivors. To aid and assist the Lifesavers, for they too need assistance. One could help themselves as well. To open ones heart and mind to the concept of sewa, that is, slefless service.
This is what I feel I too should do. I am currently confirmed for a Malasian Airlines flight on the 20th of November. A little under 6 weeks to go. I could quite possibly pre-pone that to two weeks away, fly straight to Delhi and make my way to the Indian north west.
As usual, though, there are BUTS…quite a few…how do I get there – landslides cover many roads. What will I do once there? Who will I stay with? I hope for an influx of foreigners, but what if that doesn’t happen? Is it safe? There are many questions here in Sydney as well: do I have enough money saved for the remainder of the trip? Will my parents be convinced of my safety? There are many hurdles, but then, there were many on the path to this point.
To get where I am, the seed was planted a while ago, and soon, with time, the idea manifested to an action, and now the last 6 months of my life centred around this Trip. Could I possible add an extra, completely unforeseen, exciting, redeeming, dimension to an already amazing plan? I certainly hope so. Like those who remain trapped under the rubble across the two countries, my fate may well be decided in the next 24- 48 hours.
Stay tuned…
Monday, October 10, 2005
Sunday, October 09, 2005
An opportunity
On 8 October 2005 a massive earthquake has struck India and Pakistan. The epicentre, seems to be in Pakistan, with POK - Pakistan Occupied Kashmir - taking the larger share of the damage, both in terms of lives and physical structures.
In this calamity, lies a distinct opportunity like no other. In cooperation, the two countries have the chance to develop enormous good will and faith. Already India's PM, Manmohan Singh, and Pervez Mushareff, the Prez of Pakistan, have spoken on the issue and authorised commication at all levels of the goevernment machine. This is a promising start, but no doubt much will need to be resolved.
For example, the issue of whose territory Kashmis belongs to, will come to a head during reconstruction efforts. Which country foots the bill development? Who has the authority to approve and disapprove buildings. These things will certainly test both nations and it is up to the leaderships of both to determine once and for all what the status of Kashmir will be.
In this calamity, lies a distinct opportunity like no other. In cooperation, the two countries have the chance to develop enormous good will and faith. Already India's PM, Manmohan Singh, and Pervez Mushareff, the Prez of Pakistan, have spoken on the issue and authorised commication at all levels of the goevernment machine. This is a promising start, but no doubt much will need to be resolved.
For example, the issue of whose territory Kashmis belongs to, will come to a head during reconstruction efforts. Which country foots the bill development? Who has the authority to approve and disapprove buildings. These things will certainly test both nations and it is up to the leaderships of both to determine once and for all what the status of Kashmir will be.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
A picture tells a thousand words...
...or so the saying goes, but one that I trully believe in. Recently I updated some of my links and more than some reference sites where one can find different pics, of different things, in different places.
I began this visual festish through the SMH, at work in the mornings. Its one of the first things I open to when I get in. It fills me with imagination through the multitude of different images which then lead to different thoughts, giving a differnt perspective of what Its all about.
Then there was this afternoon. Time magazine had a thing on the top 100 internet sites, and one category belonged to blogs. So I checked it out, finding the best picture blog to be Chromasia. It blew me away. The pictures are amazing, and theres a new one each day. Check it out if you have the time...
About an hour ago, while browsing Lonely Planet, I came across their pic site, Lonely PLanet Images (it never struck me to think a trvael guide company may actually have pics of the attractions visted: duh!) Brilliant piece of work. The database for their pictures is second to none. Under a search for "India" alone, it came back with approximately 6000 pics...thats decent...and I wasn't waiting forever. Each picture comes with a brief discription, the photographer as well as the location. Well woth visiting.
So give your eyes a feast, and let your imagination wander...the best thing you'll do in some time...
I began this visual festish through the SMH, at work in the mornings. Its one of the first things I open to when I get in. It fills me with imagination through the multitude of different images which then lead to different thoughts, giving a differnt perspective of what Its all about.
Then there was this afternoon. Time magazine had a thing on the top 100 internet sites, and one category belonged to blogs. So I checked it out, finding the best picture blog to be Chromasia. It blew me away. The pictures are amazing, and theres a new one each day. Check it out if you have the time...
About an hour ago, while browsing Lonely Planet, I came across their pic site, Lonely PLanet Images (it never struck me to think a trvael guide company may actually have pics of the attractions visted: duh!) Brilliant piece of work. The database for their pictures is second to none. Under a search for "India" alone, it came back with approximately 6000 pics...thats decent...and I wasn't waiting forever. Each picture comes with a brief discription, the photographer as well as the location. Well woth visiting.
So give your eyes a feast, and let your imagination wander...the best thing you'll do in some time...
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
The Blame Game...
Nice little commentary on the New Orleans situation...
...courtesy of Non-Sequitor, of course.
...courtesy of Non-Sequitor, of course.
Indian Railways: Part II
With great glee and enthusiasm, I issue an apology to Indian Railways. My faithful readers have emailed in hordes to inform me the site works. And so I too gave IR another chance and they did not let me down.
So it may well have been my computer at home or that the site may have been temporarily experiencing difficulties. But it works and query was satisfied.
Thank you to my faithful followers for saving me from the habit of ignorance to the guidance of knowledge…
So it may well have been my computer at home or that the site may have been temporarily experiencing difficulties. But it works and query was satisfied.
Thank you to my faithful followers for saving me from the habit of ignorance to the guidance of knowledge…
Monday, October 03, 2005
Indian Railways (damn then!!!!)
So I thought I would finally sit down and do something about this trip of mine, and at least try and figure out where I'm going, when I get there, where I stay, what deodarant I use to fit in with the locals...
My major form of transport between cities will be train. They're a reliable (most of the times - this last time when I went to India, my train arrived in Delhi from Cal only 6 hours late; in 01, we were hangin out at Agra station for about 4 hours doing not much), efficient, cheap, not-so-clean, cheap, form of travel, where its quite easy to chat to a villian, who's probably trying to rip you off, or a business man on a business trip, who's probably trying to rip you off...
In anycase, I began by going to http://www.indianrail.gov.in. Now if you want a word of advice, heres a couple. Don't go to this site! It took me forever to load, and once it did, the links of the pages led to nothing. Had I not actually been on a train in India, this really would not inspire any confidence in their trains. So I've given up on the webiste. In this day and age, I'm actually trying to find someone who may be coming from India in the next couple of months, so that I can use the hard copy - yes a 300 page book with all the times of every single train going from the one remote part of the country to another. But the website can't.
My major form of transport between cities will be train. They're a reliable (most of the times - this last time when I went to India, my train arrived in Delhi from Cal only 6 hours late; in 01, we were hangin out at Agra station for about 4 hours doing not much), efficient, cheap, not-so-clean, cheap, form of travel, where its quite easy to chat to a villian, who's probably trying to rip you off, or a business man on a business trip, who's probably trying to rip you off...
In anycase, I began by going to http://www.indianrail.gov.in. Now if you want a word of advice, heres a couple. Don't go to this site! It took me forever to load, and once it did, the links of the pages led to nothing. Had I not actually been on a train in India, this really would not inspire any confidence in their trains. So I've given up on the webiste. In this day and age, I'm actually trying to find someone who may be coming from India in the next couple of months, so that I can use the hard copy - yes a 300 page book with all the times of every single train going from the one remote part of the country to another. But the website can't.
NRL Grand Final 2005
Sitting high in the perch of level 6, we zoomed in below to view the biggest game of the year, by a couple of the most unlikely teams to be there. Wests Tigers and North Queensland Cowboys. The Tigers were working of a shoe-string budget - or so the saying goes - and came out on top to defeat some of their more fancied rivals.
The Cowboys were smacked 50 - 6 less than 3 weeks ago, and then came back, with an unchanged line up, to beat Melbourne and Parramatta. The Eels were also minor premiers.
So this game then, was supposed to be a tad unpredictable. How could the Tigers handle the big game pressure? What if the little moments didn't fal their way, as it did when they played Brisbane and the Dragons? These aspects did show in their game in the first 20 minutes. Scott Prince and the Tigers team seemed distracted, and disorganised. They weren't going forward, and their kicks went straight to the man. Accordingly the Cowboys took advantage and scored first.
Again, this was not part of the usual game plan for the Tigers. But they stuck it out, and scored through an error by the Cowboys. Scoring a try proved to be the magnet for their concentration. They realised they were in a Grand Final and played accordingly. From then, till half time, the arm wrestle was slowly falling the way of the Tigers.
After half time the Tigers scored immediately, and that would have killed of any team. Yet the Cowboys tried again, and brought it back to a six point difference. In what was probably a mental blow, the Tigers hit straight back and kept the difference to 12.
Eventually the final score was 30 - 16, and a fairy tale was written. I found the whole thing surreal. The crowd, in their noise reminded me I was there, but it almost didn't seem to happen, or what was happening was merely the show after numerous practices.
It was great to be there, though, and having been to many Grand Finals and struggling to recall what happened in what, this one will definately stand out.
The Cowboys were smacked 50 - 6 less than 3 weeks ago, and then came back, with an unchanged line up, to beat Melbourne and Parramatta. The Eels were also minor premiers.
So this game then, was supposed to be a tad unpredictable. How could the Tigers handle the big game pressure? What if the little moments didn't fal their way, as it did when they played Brisbane and the Dragons? These aspects did show in their game in the first 20 minutes. Scott Prince and the Tigers team seemed distracted, and disorganised. They weren't going forward, and their kicks went straight to the man. Accordingly the Cowboys took advantage and scored first.
Again, this was not part of the usual game plan for the Tigers. But they stuck it out, and scored through an error by the Cowboys. Scoring a try proved to be the magnet for their concentration. They realised they were in a Grand Final and played accordingly. From then, till half time, the arm wrestle was slowly falling the way of the Tigers.
After half time the Tigers scored immediately, and that would have killed of any team. Yet the Cowboys tried again, and brought it back to a six point difference. In what was probably a mental blow, the Tigers hit straight back and kept the difference to 12.
Eventually the final score was 30 - 16, and a fairy tale was written. I found the whole thing surreal. The crowd, in their noise reminded me I was there, but it almost didn't seem to happen, or what was happening was merely the show after numerous practices.
It was great to be there, though, and having been to many Grand Finals and struggling to recall what happened in what, this one will definately stand out.
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