this year

Kicha, you had told a few points that I wanted to convey. But I wouldn't say that my year wasn't dramatic. It was largely uneventful, but a few incidents have really touched my heart. The year began with suffering for me. I had a bout of severe cold, coupled with wheezing. To add to the mix, I was supposed to sing in the midnight mass at church. I decided to endure it through. Somehow managed to get through the first day of the year sans complications. A few major incidents that taught me about life were the Gujarat riots, Cricket World Cup and Invasion of Iraq. Each of this incident taught me a different outlook on life. The Gujarat Riots taught me about preciousness of human life. This photo is a stark reminder of its preciousness. I am not blaming anyone here but the riots are a blemish to Indian secularism. The unacceptable fact is that the perpetuators of the horrifying incidents during the dark days of the riots were people like you and me. They were not terrorists who were trained by a foreign power. They were just ordinary common people like you and me. This is what frightens me. A terrorist is a person who believes in some ideological doctrines (whether it is right or worng is another matter). Thier policy of terrorism is summed by Lenin's words,"The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize." Simple and crisp. It is easy to understand them. But violence by ordinary people is unacceptable. Amidst all this, India's performance in the world cup gave me great joy. Though we were beaten by Australia, I can feel proud that it took the best team in the world to beat us. Australia's performance was as expected. I think the last year has been really good for India in the sports arena, in hockey, chess, tennis, athletics... I believe this blog also took shape during the fag days of February amidst the riots and cricket. Though a few came to know of it by the begining of March, the blog was in its incubation much earlier than that. It has provided to be a wise investment in terms of time. I guess everyone would agree to that. The invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies was another major incident. I feel it is just an act of desperation by the US. A classic case of high school bullyism by Bush. Fortunately it did not escalate into a major war. I had mae by views on the war in several of my earlier posts. So I need not reiterate all those once more. Other than the above mentioned incidents, there were several other small incidents that had shaped my life in 2003. I may be posting them here or in Quod scripsi, scripsi later. Sri had asked last week on how the past year has been, personally and professionally. I guess this answers a few aspects of the past year. Professionally, I can't say much. Maybe, you can read it in Quod scripsi, scripsi later on. I think plans for the new year warrants another post, which will be posted later.