Pakistan’s Dilemma and a war in Yemen

Someone is fighting with someone in Yemen; rest of the world hardly noticed that. After all, there were scarcely much time when people of Yemen were at peace in past half a century. More than that, Yemen is neither a big supplier of oil nor that of gas. Apart from American drones and occasional Saudi interferences, Yemen was at war with itself.

However, the equations are quite different now. It’s not only about two factions fighting with each other; but a Saudi backed one against an Iran backed one. It’s a different matter whether Iran actually provide supplies to Houti’s; after all Houti’s land is located faraway from Iran borders. As a result, the wealthy coalition of Sunni Arab world took arms against a Houthi’s backed by financially broken Iran.

So how Pakistan came in to this equation? In order to understand that, we need to look at the oil flow. Currently Saudi and other gulf monarchies are fulfilling the oil needs of Pakistan. As a fellow Islamic country they offer reduced price to Pakistan. In return they also expect support of Pakistan’s military (probably one of the finest battle hardened military in Islamic World).

We can’t blame Saudi for asking Pakistan’s support, after all they supplies oil and aid (Saudi sent their Islamic affairs minister – Saleh bin Abdul Aziz - to Islamabad). Support here means – ships, fighter planes and ground troops. Pakistan already deployed major chunk of their Army at eastern border and for the operations in Afghan border. So in paper Pakistan can argue that, they don’t have much troops to spare. But I hardly believes that is the case. After all Pakistan still contribute troops to UN Peace Keeping Missions.

So here comes the other probable reasons,
1. Thoughts like, why to take sides on a conflict (in a faraway country) which have strong religious undertones.
2. Operations against Houthi’s, connected to Shia dominated Iran, may not go down well with country’s minority – but significant – Shia population.
3. Pakistan shares a long border with Iran (During this time Iran sent their foreign minister to Islamabad).
4. Taking part in such an operation may send a message that their army is for hire. Which of course is not a good image for Pakistani Army.
5. This may jeopardize Iran – Pakistan pipeline project.
6. Possibility of more troubles in Baluchistan.

There may be multitudes of other strong reasons as well.

In this situation Pakistan Administration did what they could do the best – issuing statements. Will support Saudi’s territorial integrity but no boots in Yemen (they didn't say the later part explicitly). As parliament passed the resolution, administration can easily market it as the will of the people. Will this decision go down well with Gulf Monarchies? I don’t think so. After all they were propping up Pakistan economy for a long time with generous aid and subsidised fuel.

Whatever may be the reason, I appreciate their decision – not to put their nose on Yemen.

Sajeev.

Fight for national Icons: The haves and have-nots

It is interesting to see how political parties are fighting for iconic figures form Freedom and social reformist movements. Was it started with M.K Gandhi (exclusively claimed by Congress)? Probably yes. In earlier days, congress had so many leaders to claim. However, the sudden swipe by BJP is creating ripples everywhere.

First it was Sardar Vallabhai Patel. All of a sudden he became BJP’s popular icon. Then came Vivekananda. They successfully claimed ownership for him as well. I think in between someone tried for ‘Bhagat Singh’ too. Latest ones on BJP’s list are P.V Narasimha Rao and B.R Ambedkar; claim on the later was patented and exclusively used by BSP till this day.

Interesting factor is, Congress woke up recently and now trying to reclaim Ambedkar. Mayavati’s BSP probably stunned to see the new developments. After all, how could BJP and Congress can claim the legacy of Ambedkar?!!! I think Congress is currently working on a plan to stop the outflow of historical figures. Hope that the plan won’t be as leaky as 2G auction.

I think the fight is heating up. That day won’t be far, when Rajaram Mohan Roy and Jyotirao Phule will wake up from their graves, only to see their names on some party list!!!

Sajeev

Stories: 14 Short Stories

1. Fall and Rise

Today, when I slipped on the wet tile floor a boy in a wheelchair caught me before I slammed my head on the ground.  He said, “Believe it or not, that’s almost exactly how I injured my back 3 years ago .

2. A father's advice
Today, my father told me, “Just go for it and give it a try!  You don’t have to be a professional to build a successful product.  Amateurs started Google and Apple.  Professionals built the Titanic

3. The power of uniqueness.
Today, I asked my mentor – a very successful business man in his 70’s – what his top 3 tips are for success.  He smiled and said, “Read something no one else is reading, think something no one else is thinking, and do something no one else is doing.

4. Looking Back
Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class.  When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, “Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile.

5. Try and U shall know
I am blind by birth. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to play baseball. I asked my father- "Dad, can I play baseball?" He said "You'll never know until you try." When I was a teenager, I asked him, - "Dad Can I become a surgeon?". He replied "Son, you'll never know until you try." Today I am a Surgeon, just because I tried!

6. GOODNESS & GRATITUDE
Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug.  When I tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognize her.  She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center.”

7. LOVE CONQUERS PAIN
Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying.  And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

8. A DOOR CLOSES TO OPEN ANOTHER
Today at 7AM, I woke up feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. At 3PM I got laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then he offered me a job.  I start tomorrow.

9. LOOKING BACK
Today, as my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”

10. AFFECTION
Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed.  About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

11. INNOCENCE
Today, in the cutest voice, my 8-year-old daughter asked me to start recycling. I chuckled and asked, “Why?” She replied, “So you can help me save the planet.”  I chuckled again and asked, “And why do you want to save the planet?” “Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,” she said.

12. JOY
Today, when I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter’s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

13. KINDNESS
Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me.  He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.”.

14. SHARING
Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe.  He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy.  Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating.  The first thing the man said was, “We can share it.” 

Sajeev

#'Forwarded' label refers to stories and anecdotes send to me by friends or the ones I came across in net. I neither know the source of these stories nor its correctness. Being said that, I like the story and truly believe that readers will get inspiration/ motivation from these articles.

Stories : How our Inner Ego Sometimes Misjudges a Person - The Stanford Story

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a home-spun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Harvard.

"We want to see the President "the ma n said softly.

"He'll be busy all day "the secretary snapped.

"We'll wait" the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president..

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave" she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched....He was shocked. "Madam "he said, gruffly, " we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly” We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university ? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name: Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers.

Remember
In our Life, we seldom get people with whom we want to share & grow our thought process. But because of our inner EGO we miss them forever.

Sajeev

#'Forwarded' label refers to stories and anecdotes send to me by friends or the ones I came across in net. I neither know the source of these stories nor its correctness. Being said that, I like the story and truly believe that readers will get inspiration/ motivation from these articles. 

Stories: A few Interesting Ironies of India

Indian moms want their daughter to control their husband and expect their son to control their wives.

Parents want their children to stand out in a crowd but expect them to do what everybody else is doing.

Everything that is run by government looks very bad except government jobs.

While we criticize Maria Sharapova for not knowing who Sachin Tendulkar is; but we are been caught napping as we desperately Google our Nobel prize winner or Sita Sahu (double special Olympics medalist who now sells Golgappa in Delhi for survival.

National animal - Endangered 

National pledge - Unintended 

National river - Heavily polluted

A huge country of 1635 languages..... united by a foreign language.

Government talks about removing the caste system but you are required to mention your caste on every damn form you fill.

Seeing a policeman makes us nervous rather than feeling safe. 

We often say "Atithi Devo Bhava" but we do not allow visitor parking in our residential societies...

Last and good one...

We are Always in a hurry but never on time..!

Sajeev
#'Forwarded' label refers to stories and anecdotes send to me by friends or the ones I came across in net. I neither know the source of these stories nor its correctness. Being said that, I like the story and truly believe that readers will get inspiration/ motivation from these articles.