INS Mumbai Dreams

10

Now this is a real exclusive, I think. No, not the story, but being the only woman for miles around as the INS Mumbai makes its way out of Larnaca harbour. Okay not the only female- since in Naval lingo, the INS Mumbai, accompanying frigates INS Brahmputra and Betwa and the tanker ship INS Shakti are all females. But you get what I mean. This great resplendent warship is headed for Beirut, on another mission to evacuate Indians out of what seems to be a continually worsening situation there. As journalists, the trip is a boon to us too- as the sea route from Cyprus remains the only safe route in and out of Lebanon. The other option, to take the perilous road trip from Damascus, on highways pummeled by Israeli airstrikes. The crew of the Mumbai is a very happy lot. They were crossing the Suez....

A walk in war zone

10

The security expert I spoke to before heading out to the South Beirut area called Dahyeh had two bits of advice. Don't go there without contacting a senior Hezbollah leader. And wear sturdy shoes. My colleagues- Prabal Pratap Singh from Channel 7 and cameraman Surendra Mandral and I did both- and felt quite prepared. But nothing really prepared us for the destruction in Dahyeh. In the south of Lebanon Israeli forces are engaged in pitched battles with the Hezbollah- but there's been no resistance in Dahyeh- as wave upon wave of aerial bombardment has hit this area just 20 minutes from Beirut proper. This suburb- sort of like Gurgaon or Vashi, right at the south of the capital of Lebanon- is completely controlled by the Hezbollah. It didn't surprise me that our car driver George didn't want to go- it was only after we convinced him that....

Cyprus chronicles

10

A wise man once said - if you see a building on fire with dozens of people rushing out, and few crazy men fighting to get in - chances are the crazy one are the journalists. Maybe the man wasn't wise after all - just a journalist himself (or herself)! And as I sit here in Cyprus's Larnaka port, watching hundreds of tired exhausted evacuees file in - I really wonder just how crazy we must be to even try to head to Lebanon in the middle of what seems like probable war. At every point we are begging airlines officials, diplomats, immigration officials, ship captains to take us on board as they go on their missions to evacuate American, French, Greek, Turkish, and Italian citizens. Surprisingly, India is the only Asian country to mobilise its Navy to evacuate its citizens. And....

Pakistan needs our help on terror not the other way around

189

Mumbai's terror Tuesday, serves to convince us - if that was needed, that terror is not going away, that those that targeted commuters on the western local line, will also have Delhi's metro, Kolkata's Dum Dum airport, Bangalore's tech city, Pune's campuses, etc etc. on their scanner too. Everyday, terror groups are finding new ways to hit innocent civilians. Yet our responses don't ever change- they don't even begin to take a new tack. So day one after the blasts- officials commend Mumbaikars for their bravery, on day two they talk about stepped up security measures, day three you hear about some suspects - some inkling of the terror network involved and by day five and six - we are told its all been planned "across the border" and the ISI helped those responsible for the attacks. Forget what security agencies say- that all the suspects so....