Picture of the Week #54


The beautiful Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai.  Can you believe it that this building was on fire in November 2008?

12 comments:

Nisha said...

When was it ? Before or after the incident?

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

This picture was taken in July 2010.

Mee said...

Every time I drive past it my heart breaks even now:(

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

Sadly our gov hasn't done a damn thing to ensure it doesn't happen again...

Mee said...

Not just to this epic structure but to also all of Bombay's people or for that matter any other city:(

Apathy! Our lives are only precious for our families. Not for the state or the GoI

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

Yes, it's all vote bank politics.

- gov won't secure border with bangladesh in spite of the huge security threat- only to build up a "vote bank"

- gov won't bring back POTA laws only to keep muslims happy.

- gov now even thinking of reducing the special powers that army has in kashmir, where even kids are little terrorists- army will become eunuchs if they do that.

India is a democracy in name only. it's very difficult to compete against banks and politicians know that only too well.

sry about the rant!

Mee said...

Some parts of your venting I completely endorse:)

Not "the little terrorists" part tho- I think a little differently

These are young kids- imagine being an 18yr old- and having seen only rioting and arson all your short life? what will u make of the place u live in? its an unhappy childhood they have seen. In a very young life they have seen so many deaths!Its not fair...

Look at the rest of India- our population is soon going to be abt 60% youth (below 18yrs age) - and what are they seeing daily? inequality? corruption? terrorism? rapes? nothing moves without oiling the system?- imagine the huge potboiler we are sitting on- and not enough jobs for our young! what will happen- either we will topple over and sink into civil war or goondaraj and dadagiri and local terrorism and crimes will up the ante- actually everyday I am more than amazed at our staying sane. There is a bigger hand taking are of our country right now!

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

Although it is true that youths in Kashmir have seen nothing but violence, they themselves, their parents and grandparents are to blame for that. Violence only begets violence. I have no sympathy for Kashmiris.

An unhappy or otherwise troubled childhood is no excuse for violent behaviour. What happened to parenting? What are the parents doing? What are they teaching their kids?

The police and army in Kashmir need to be given better equipment to handle the violent people of Kashmir- instead the gov is trying to disarm them- what a joke the gov is!

I bet if a shoot-at-sight order is used in Kashmir and the gov shows some "balls", the protests will stop.

It is true that nobody respects a pushover (which is what the gov is). People of Kashmir have no respect for gov and rightly so.

And yes, India is a miracle- it's a miracle that in spite of all its BIG problems, it's still functioning in a funny sort of way.

Mee said...

I wish it were so simple Neeraj-if parents were the only anchor that shape a child's future.

Man is a social animal and more often than not- its the outside influence that shapes a persons attitude and behavior than within folks at home. Home and parents can at best bring good values to bear- social behavior is completely cultivated by the society- which is where the neighbourhood, friends, policies, govt, crowds, all come to bear...

We perhaps had a more wholesome robust social world where we played games after school hours, studied to not come 1st in the class but becos we were told education is critical for the future, had tons of friends and cousins of friends who were friends too, all kinds of good influences came to bear on us- our servant and we grew up together- so he learnt English frm us and we learnt marathi frm him, our teachers, the doctors, the shop keepers, even the moogfali wala and vada pao wala all these windows of opportunities had good influence on us- a robust society is about that.

J&K certainly does not see this on a 'consistent basis' I'd imagine..

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

hmmm.. you're right.

i'm not sure if anyone has a solution to the kashmir problem. if giving them "independence" is the cost of peace then i hope that NEVER happens.

if india gives up kashmir, then it should be prepared to give up, arunachal, sikkim and other parts as well.

kashmirs want independence solely based on muslim majority... if we let that happen then pretty soon many indian states will start demanding the same (which they will do anyway when they become >50% muslim or christian). so india needs to crack down on kashmirs with an iron fist... like what china did with their muslim problem.

Mee said...

No straight forward answer to a complex situation unfortunately:(

Have written my thots here on my blog: http://meetravels.blogspot.com/

I think its the 4th blogpost from the top-if u have the time u can perhaps read it?:)

Neeraj | www.bharari.net said...

Interesting posts :)
Will comment soon...