Sunday, November 30, 2008

My thoughts

Among the million views and suggestions floating around, this might be just another solution to the present "terror-struck" india's problems but I think its worth a try. What do you guys/gals say about it??

Terror strikes in India is not a new problem and I think we will always be aimed at because of the face we show to the world. We are a bunch of confused lot...billions of leaves flowing down a stream, no one knows what and where its heading and what to do when the next waterfall comes!

In this situation, I think the most generic solution to India's defence related problems is building a more disciplined and responsible India. Indians, as we all, are busy blaming government, intelligence, politicians, terrorists etc etc for the latest terror strikes in India. We believe that building a stronger intelligence network will help us fight against terrorists, having a proactive-less corrupt government will help us take bolder steps. But if you look at all major terror strikes, each attack has been innovatively different from the previous one. We all know that destroying anything is far easier than protecting it and when it comes to a huge country like India, there are million gaps from where the attackers can crawl in. How many crevasses will you gaurd??? No matter how alert we are, there will always be one guy who will help the guys on the other side in their motives and they will outsmart us!!Playing the role of a normal Indian, we are blaming government for intelligence failure, army for not protecting us and terrorists for targetting us...but what are we doing to ensure it doesnt happen again!!

I stronly feel that besides beefing up our current system, we should always be prepared for anything. We can follow the footsteps of Israel and let each and every Indian attend at least one year of military training. This training should teach us "crisis-management", should aim at making us mentally tougher and be more disciplined, should aim at teaching basic first-aid and do's and dont's. The military training though will steal one year from every one's career but that can be compensated by making changes to the education system or by including this training in education system etc etc. To begin with we can make the training voluntary and see the results and later make it mandatory.
@ Mr. Arjun Singh- Quota can be raised for such trained proffessionals.

Getting a military training will have multiple benefits. First of all we'll be mentally tough and more prepared for any kind of mishap. We will learn to be more responsible, responsible for everything from throwing a polythene bag on the road to casting a vote! We will be more disciplined, disciplined enough to drive in lane and not to jump lines! Basically India will be better than what it is today....a floor full of spilled beans!!
Just imagine how many of our dear friends who lost their lives in this mishap could have saved their as well as other lives if they had a better sense of "crisis-management". With due respect to the ones who lost their lives, I would like to quote an example. Many of the people on the 6th floor of Taj, lost their lives bcoz their rooms were set on fire and they were waiting for the fire-engines. You can easily recollect their pictures-standing at window and waving to people outside, calling for help!! Was it not possible for them to climb down the building through the windows using their curtains and bed-sheets. Some people did that and they are alive. Basically, when a mishap takes place, most of us panic and this training will do nothing but teach us how to maintain our calm and think for the best solution. Also when the guys on the other side know that we are more prepared for them, they will have to think twice before turning their eyes on our field.

I also think that this training might make many of us more disciplined and responsible in life which will indirectly solve many other problems like pollution, corruption and "feeling of indifference"!!

Currently India and we Indians are seen as sitting ducks, anybody comes and knocks us down! Not only external agents but the internal agencies also do the same, where lawmakers play with law, politicians and public servants play with public and we we are just indifferent to everything. "Sab chalta hai, atleast I am not getting directly affected!!" is an Indian personality trait. I think the only way we can improve is to imbibe discipline at the very grass-root level.

Last but not the least, if we groom our fighting spirit, even if we won't succeed in struggles or fights in our day to day life, at least we'll ensure that we don't go down without a fight!!

I feel that its easier said than done but its worth a try!! One or few of us can't make the difference which India needs, instead a radical change is important!

3 comments:

Dr.Namyata Pathak said...

We have most definitely become sitting ducks - all generations after the late 70's. Our grandfathers fought the British, our fathers struggled to bring India to become one of the G8 economies. We are reaping the benefits of this - our preoccupation with movies and playing poker every weekend spells doom.

Luckily, we arent blind and in this new state of wakefulness, we need to look at our own shortcomings before blaming the terrorists, our politicians, the state of Pakistan and the police.

I stand by the idea of military training. Its not just the physical fitness but the discipline that needs to be cultivated. As rightly pointed out, let us learn from Israel - the little powerful country who cannot be messed with. Let us draft a letter signed by all willing Indians to ensure that civilian military training sees the light of the day. Let us not just talk about it and forget this time.

If we understand the international scenario behind this event... its shocking. Please read international media reports and their perception. Particularly find out what China has to say. America wants peace between Indo-Pak -y? because it cares abt us? Forget it. China hasnt even condemned the attacks. NO Chinese media reports the event either. Nepal is reun by Maoist govt (read Chinese). There is no Tibet. China want to devour Arunachal. Russia has become increasingly hostile. UK is the buddy of the US. Sri Lanka is itself diseased with LTTE.

IN SHORT
WE ARE ALONE IN THIS. LET US BUILD OUR INTERNAL STRENGTH SUCH THAT NO ONE MESSES WITH US HENCEFORTH. THAT BEGINS WITH YOU ...

Unknown said...

Rightly said that we Indians have become sitting ducks, n even the idea of military training might be the right alarm for youngistaan to wake up. But is that all for us. We might wake up today but what about the people who takes the ultimate decision at such a crisis situation. Can anybody get them trained for not ruling their oppositions but to take right decisions for the people who rely on them, if not completely but to a large extent.
You say not to blame our government but then who is resposible for our martyers who have devoted their lives just because of the bad quality of so called "life saving jackets ". I dont think a common man is responsible for their lives but it is only the poor government of our country to blame at.
The military training might start with a lot of hoo hallah but after few years I am so sure it will fade. People will do it just for the sake of collecting a certificate so that relaxation at various stages can be achieved.

Thus, the best way to achieve peace is indivivual's self realization their internal strength and only that can do wonders nothing else.

blunder's pride said...

Dear friend

I agree with you about the importance of military training and discipline thing. And if i think of my school and college days there is something called as NCC which i feel was meant for the same, to impart discpline. But it had somewhat lost its importance in the curriculam. So by making some smaller changes in academic curriculam and making it necessery for everybody to go through NCC and NSS training this can be acheived. but for that to happen it must have some academic weight in the curriculm and not just an optional thing as we all know how much importance we give to optional things.