The siege within

4

I asked a few people in a small group who Ajmal Amir Kasab was. They looked at me in wonderment and surprise, even perceivable amusement as if saying: "Are you a crazy lunatic guy, or what.," I prodded them, deliberately provocative, feigning the status of an ignoramus. Sighing with egregious exasperation, one of them said: "The captured terrorist who brutally massacred innocent commuters at CST railway terminus and slaughtered our valiant cops on the horrendous night of 26/11 in Mumbai". I clapped in genuine appreciation-seriously. They thought I was sarcastically mocking them so the response was a mere mute silence. Then I asked them: "Who is Tukaram Omble?" This time they looked stunned, expressionless, but perceptibly challenged. They easily guessed he was a 26/11 victim or an unknown daring character but were visibly unsure of specific details . Some took wild shots in the dark while others were honest....

Understanding the real Mrs Gandhi

2

I was all of ten years old when my father woke me up early on a chilly winter morning. Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi was going to be driving down Poona's ( Pune now) Ganesh Khind Road in an open car to the state guest-house Raj Bhavan during her visit to the pensioner's paradise . We excitedly hurried to get ready faster than we would to catch our school-bus, to ensure that we did not miss that precious moment. Just a few weeks before we had sat nervously huddled in dark rooms as ominous sirens wailed and every sound of a distant engine in the night sky appeared as that of an enemy aircraft on a fateful mission. But that was all over now in less than two weeks. India had decisively won the war against traditional adversary Pakistan. East Pakistan was truly liberated and we had at last scored....