Some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them.
Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.
Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.

Something's rotten in the state of Washington DC! Looks like Uncle Sam choked on his pretzel when he saw a clear mandate in the recent elections in India. There cannot be any other reason for Hillary Clinton's U-turn on the Pakistan policy, can it? Some people learn from their mistakes. Others are doomed to repeat them. What say, Uncle Sam?

A seed while growing makes no sound.
A tree while falling makes a huge noise.

Destruction is always Noisy
Creation is always Quiet

This is the power of silence

Talking of Prabhakaran and LTTE, I must admit that it is a bit hard to accept that one of the terror groups that I grew up hearing about has become defunct. And then again, there is a nagging doubt. Is it really? Or we are all conveniently assuming that it is? The doubts begin with the death of the slain leader. Was it really Prabhakaran's body that was found or his dummy's? And who knows if his followered will just disappear in the night or resurface again like the Taliban did in another part of the world? Can we afford to be jubilant?

So the SL government claims that Prabhakaran is dead while a pro-LTTE site claims that he is alive.

Pakistan government claims that their will rules SWAT and Taliban says they control SWAT.

Some days I wonder why we even watch news. :-)

So the verdict is out! Am I glad about the election results? Well, I am not exactly crazy about the Congress. Agreed, I prefer them to the hard-liner BJP or the “Left” which perhaps is called “Left” because they aren’t “right” about anything under the sun. :-)

But at the end of the day, a politician is a politician who will pamper you till the election is over and then forget all about it. So should any one of us be glad that one more lot has come into power to mint money?

That said, I do have a soft corner for Manmohan Singh – and that despite the fact that I am not very happy about the foreigner who is running the show from behind the scene. Alright, some of you will say that though the rest of the government is run by Indians, those who put their country ahead of their personal agenda of amassing wealth can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So what’s wrong if the foreigner is controlling the show? You got a point.

So back to Manmohan Singh! I am not sure why I am for that guy – is it his gentle grandfatherly demeanor or a squeaky clean politician image (God knows that’s rare in India!) or maybe his superior financial brain. I have always placed a premium on brain-power. Whatever it is, I am glad he is back in the saddle.

Normally I wouldn’t have watched Arnab Goswami and Rajdeep Sardesai dissecting the results or throwing hard questions at BJP and Left leaders after the results were out. But I am right now in a Southern city where Hindi and English channels are so few and far between that I have to make a note of the channel number on a piece of paper. Oh, and there isn’t any History Channel or Travel and Living channel on the hotel cable network.

So I watched Rajnath Singh declare that the election results took the NDA by surprise. I watched the ticker proclaim that the Left was routed in Kerala and West Bengal (must confess I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw it!). I watched as Mayawati put forth her conspiracy theory as the reason for her party’s poor show in UP and I watched “Rahul Baba” as he went on and on about the power of youth.

Ah, the Rahul Factor! I was too young when Rajiv Gandhi was the PM to be reminded of him when I saw Rahul facing the journos today. The word Bofors (have I spelt it right?) kept popping into my mind even as I thought to myself ‘this guy looks honest, at least he is speaking frankly’. Whether he will stand by his words, only time will tell but as far as I am concerned I am not counting on it. At least I will be saved from the disappointment.

Well, if there’s any silver lining – it is that at least there is a clear mandate and not the “supporting from outside” crap that happens all the time. Thank God for small mercies! :-)

Are there any coincidences in this world? If not, then I don’t know how on the exact same day that the election results were out, Star Movies aired a very relevant movie -“Lions for Lambs” starring Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.

It raises a few basic and hence, disturbing questions – about politics, war and the state that the world has got into. True, India isn’t sending her troops to fight wars on foreign soil but there are some aspects relevant to India. Why don’t we do something about the rotting system than just complaining about it? How different are we from the ostriches when we really believe that we can lead peaceful secure lives when the terror is already at our doorstep? Are those of us who are trying to change the world the crazies or those who refuse to believe that something needs to be done to repair the world? Is there any solution to the fanatical medieval belief system that is out to gobble up the whole world? Is violence the only answer to violence?

The world has become a complicated place – there are complicated questions forcing the answers to be equally, if not more, complicated. Or is it that have we forgotten to look for simple answers?

One of the last shots before the movie ended were those of a cemetery – with rows and rows of graves – of soldiers. My mind went back to an afternoon in Pune a couple of years back. I was zooming towards the bus-stand to catch a bus to Mumbai – holding onto the rikshaw seat for dear life. I am not sure why but the vehicle stopped at a point and looking out I saw one such cemetery. Taken aback by its expanse, I wondered and found out that it contained graves of soldiers who died in World War – I am not sure which one though the world has seen only 2 so far.

It was fleeting but I remember wondering about those who must have passed on long before I came into this world – in fact long before it was their time to go. For at least some of them, this land must have been a foreign one. Did they die a painful death or were at least some of them lucky enough to not notice that they were breathing their last?

I asked the rikshaw driver if one could go inside the cemetery. He mumbled something about the timing and the vehicle moved on. I haven’t been able to go back since but that cemetery has remained in a corner of my mind.