Puneet's Page

Today, I attended the Old Students Reunion at St. Stephen's College. And I attended every single such reunion for the last ten years. Each year, when I go back, the experience is of being transformed many years into the past, when I was less than 20 years of age, and not only studied in St. Stephen's but practically lived a good part of the day there.  Today, like every other time, memories came flooding by.  Of Rev. Rajpal conducting the morning assembly for the 1st year students, and reading excerpts from the Bible in his booming baritone voice and a clipped Cambridge accent.  Of teachers - Bhatnagar Sa'ab  - MSB to most, Dr Popli who resembled Prof. Calculus - now no more. Mathur Sa'ab trying to convince our 'blocked' minds that Differential Calculus was actually very easy. And Dwivedi sa'ab and his ' beedis ' Of chemistry practicals being conducted by us - budding scientists, in dirty lab coats with gaping holes created by careless hand...

Last week, terrorists virtually destroyed the Taj Mahal Hotel, an iconic structure and the pride of Mumbai. They simply came by boats up to nearby Cuffe Parade area and walked in.. This time it was the Taj Mahal Hotel. I cannot think of a good reason why not the Taj Mahal next time? Or India's nuclear installations or the Army Headquarters (If they could attack the 'Pentagon' seven years ago, well - India's is streets behind in terms of its security arrangements. India is still reeling under the shock and anger in the aftermath of the disaster that struck Mumbai last week. The Government in power at the Center and in Maharashtra are the scapegoats. And while the criticism and ridicule aimed at those individuals who opened their mouth and put their foot in it, is justified, wishing away politicians and politics in general is certainly not the quickest way to prevent India from remaining a 'soft terrorist target' in the future. Rather, the course of action that In...

Exactly seven years ago, India witnessed an even more audacious and 'daredevilish' attack on herself when Pakistan backed terrorists entered the Parliament House with the intention to eliminate most of the elected representatives from different parts of the Country, when the Lok Sabha was in session. They partly succeeded, in that they broke into the security cordon of what could arguably be defined as the most 'secure' establishment of the Country, took everyone by complete surprise and proceeded to create enough mayhem that ended in bloodshed and loss of many innocent lives including those of security personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in an attempt to foil the evil designs of the perpetrators. Did the terrorists succeed in their objective? No and yes. No, because they were all shot dead before they could actually harm the VIP parliamentarians attending the Lok Sabha session. And yes, they did succeed because they displayed to India their grit and suicidal deter...