India’s IAEA vote and Communalism.

The Samajwadi party and the leftists are acting like stupid band of school boys. The self-appointed messiahs of the Moslem community in India are criticizing the govt. over the Indian stand on the Iran nuclear issue. India has voted against Iran at the IAEA. In their bid to appease the Moslems in UP, West Bengal and Kerala they are ready to sacrifice national interests. If Iran develops nuclear arsenal, then there will be a constant threat to India’s security as there is always a chance of these weapons falling in the wrong hands. If India’s foreign policy is also painted in communal colors then I am sure that our future will be painted in black.

Jyllands-Posten: Muhammad Posters controversy.

A Danish newspaper published twelve posters portraying Prophet Muhammad on 10th Sept.2005. The posters are in bad taste and are far away from being any healthy satire. This has outraged Moslems all over the world as even depiction of Prophet Muhammad is blasphemous. This is not the first time that such things have happened in the west. Some designers had designed undergarments and customized toilet seats, which had the photos of Hindu gods and Goddesses. The Hindu community in Europe and US had lodged protest with the respective governments and urged them to take action. Some designers apologized for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus. I accept that freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right of people but we should also learn to act responsibly and not hurt any sentiments under the pretext of this right. Though I am totally against legal censoring of expressions and actions but some self censorship and restraint should definitely exercised by everybody and especially by the media.

“Flying Coffins”: Let them be for the Enemy.

The Aamir Khan starrer film Rang De Basanti is based on a Real life Incident of Flt Lt Abhijit Gadgil. He was a pilot with the IAF with an impeccable flying record. Abhijit died in a MIG-21 crash in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on September 17, 2001. In a letter that his family got days after the inquiry, the Air force officer blamed Abhijit for the crash. This enraged Abhijit’s family which has a tradition of serving the armed forces. His mother Mrs. Kavita Gadgil took an initiative to put up a relentless war against the establishment, his family maintained that the crash occurred due to a snag in the war-bird and not due to Pilot error as mentioned in the inquiry report. Their efforts finally paid off when the Defence ministry finally (and formally) accepted that the crash had not occurred due to Abhijit’s fault. Mrs. Gadgil has formed Abhijit Air Safety Foundation which campaigns for the safety of IAF pilots.


Aviation experts are divided over the actual reasons for the frequent crashes of the MIGs especially the MIG-21.

• Cheap Spare Parts – Russians have accused India of buying low grade spare parts from Ukraine and East European Countries. Indian experts countered this argument by accusing Russia of quoting exorbitant prices for the spares. Some opined that it was a desperate Russian attempt to save Mikoyan Gurevich (MIG) from getting a bad name.
• Bird Hits –Due to the expansion of cities, there are a lot of residential localities and even slums in the vicinity of the Air force Bases, this in turn increases the number of scavenger birds in the area. Maintaining a bird free environment is a major challenge for the IAF.
• Advanced Jet Trainer – The IAF has to train its freshly commissioned officers on the MIG-21s due to absence of the AJTs. There is a long felt need for an AJT without which there is a great rift between getting trained on subsonic trainers and handling a full fledged super-sonic Flying machine like the MIGs. India presently has subsonic Kirans and Intermediate Jet Trainers (IJTs) in its inventory.
• Design of MIG-21 - These are single engined aircrafts and world over the accident rates of this type of aircrafts are more. Some modifications have to be made in them to suit the Indian climatic conditions.

Whenever a MIG crashes there are some knee jerk reactions by the politicians and bureaucrats. Some call for immediate grounding of the MIG-21s, some term them as “flying coffins” and “Widow Makers”. Such reactions which demoralize the Men in Uniform should be avoided

The MIG-21s constitute a major chunk of IAF Flying machines, so grounding them abruptly is not a viable option. Some officers have even praised the MIG-21s for their airworthiness so an urgent and pertinent solution to this problem should be adopted.

• The spare parts that we import and the arms deals should be thoroughly scrutinized by the agencies.
• Airfield Environment Management Committees which have been setup by the government should recommend the steps to be taken to counter the Bird menace. These recommendations should be implemented strictly.
• India has inked a deal with the British Aerospace Systems (BAE) for purchase of 66 Hawk AJTs. This deal also includes training, transfer of technology and building of infrastructure. This was a much awaited decision that was taken. The AJTS should be commissioned and used for training without a delay.
• The IAF and the HAL should work together to solve all the pending issues and to make India a Super-Air-Power.

Paratha Vs Idli

I remember my school teacher asking my friend to describe India in Minimum words, his answer was” Unity in Diversity”. The teacher was really pleased to hear the answer and so were we. Now almost 10 years after that episode I realize that we had a false impression about our motherland.

Living in a so called cosmopolitan city of Bangalore I have realized that we heterogeneously live together but we are not united. Many north Indians don’t like the south Indians as according to them they have inedible food, they lack “taste” and they are not friendly. On the other hand south Indians feel that their culture has been contaminated because of the heavy influx of the “Outsiders”. The root cause for this issue is the difference between the two cultures. When these very people go abroad they fall in love with the alien culture there, to the extent that they start transforming themselves to be what the foreigners want them to be.

We are magnanimously tolerant to alien cultures but when it comes to adjusting to regional Indian cultures, we crib. Parathas and Idlis, both taste great, let us not argue which is better.