Gangstas' paradise?

Benazir Bhutto is assassinated and Al Qaeda, allegedly, has claimed responsibility.

Post 9/11, the world was asked, by George Bush, to take sides - either you were with America or against it. The Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf chose to fall in line, when faced with this tricky situation and ever since has claimed he is USA's ally in the "War on Terror". So this meant, he was fighting Osama bin Laden, who was (still probably is) supposedly hiding in the remote Pakistan-Afghanistan border area. This much is common knowledge.

But Benazir's assassination raises some interesting questions.
- Why did Al Qaeda (or other jihadi groups) target Benazir, who was last Prime Minister in 1996 and who was not an ally of the U.S., and not Musharraf, who should have been an obvious choice for the terrorists? Oh, of course, there have been "attempts" on his life in the last few years, but nothing that seems as well-planned and determined as those on Benazir's. Which is highly suspicious.

- The USA has been providing huge financial aid to Pakistan post 9/11. Is part of this money being diverted back to jihadi groups, by Musharraf and the ISI? Is this Musharraf's insurance policy against Al Qaeda and other jihadi groups? Which means the man could be playing a double game with the USA and the terrorist groups thereby ensuring that both need him at the helm of affairs.

- Most chillingly, is the George Bush government aware of all this goings-on and still chooses to look the other way? After all, wars make so much sense to the American arms companies, (and indeed, to the American economy) particularly to the stakeholders of the companies, many of whom are part of the George Bush government.
If the American government played a role in getting Benazir back to Pakistan and in Musharraf announcing elections, why did they wait so long and not do this a few years ago? From an American perspective, a friendly dictator in power in a third-world country is sometimes more convenient than a potentially-troublesome, democratically-elected head of state. Is easier to push through dirty business deals, which many American arms/oil companies are past-masters at.

In any case, looks like Pervez Musharraf has played his last card in this very dangerous game to ensure he survives. Nawaz Sharif has been sidelined by the courts, Benazir has been killed. Who else is there, but him that would be acceptable to all, may be his line of thinking. Guess time will tell who is going be in control of this troubled nation, which terrifyingly, is a nuclear state.

The neighbourhood just got more dangerous.

Happy New Year!

Mylapore!

Earlier this year I visited Mylapore, an area that predates the city of Madras itself. Of course, I keep driving past the area every few days, but it's not the same as taking time off to explore this wonderful part of the city by foot. Matter of fact, shockingly, I had never done it before! :-(

Here are some pictures that I took.

The temple tank. It was a Friday and temple wore a festive look. Luckily, I was able to walk around the tank where no one seemed to be around.


View of the temple.


I decided to walk from the temple, right up to the Santhome Cathedral via the Chitrakulam area and Kutchery Road.
This was a quaint old house on Kutchery Road surrounded by modern apartments and shops. I had driven on this road several times, but never noticed it. Amazing how much you get to see when you walk!!

Another really old building with an interesting architecture I had not noticed earlier... about 150-200 metres before the Santhome Cathedral traffic junction. Did not see a board, but painted on the archway is, presumably, the year of its construction - 1635!! A close-to-four-hundred year old building, and not too many people know about it!


The Santhome Cathedral, looks really nice with its fresh coat of paint and all.



The tomb of St. Thomas, who it is believed, is interred here. The place went through a major renovation a year or two ago. The approach is now from the basement of a building behind the Cathedral, so casual visitors interested in history can visit the tomb without disturbing regular churchgoers.

Disaster-in-the-making?

The Tata's one-lakh car project, which has promptly triggered off a mad rush amongst competitors to manufacture really cheap automobiles, is in my opinion, going to have disastrous consequences.

In an attempt to improve my feeble understanding of economics, and the way markets work the world over, I am currently reading an interesting book called The Undercover Economist, written by Tim Harford. In this book, apart from offering other fascinating insights, the author talks about how automobile owners (and of course, the automobile industry) impact the lives of people in general in a way that few other players in the global market do. Buying a car has a far greater, negative impact on the world, than say, when you buy a washing machine. In the latter transaction, your use of the machine doesn't really affect anyone else's life negatively, but with a car, you become responsible for:

• causing pollution leading to health hazards which in turn lead to fatalities,
• creating traffic congestion leading to stress to all including those who do not own automobiles,
  
• making the world unsafe for pedestrians, especially the elderly and children etc.,
  

to just cite a few examples. As a car owner, these are very difficult questions to ponder over. One might even say, it is a touch hypocritical for someone who owns a car to say these projects should not be encouraged. Hmm...tough one that! (I wish public transportation would be more efficient and convenient....with the introduction of air conditioned buses, better MRTS connections in Chennai, I look forward to the day in the near future when I need not take the car out everyday!)

India, with its poor infrastructure, is hardly ready for projects such as the Tata's. I shudder to think of how things will be on Indian roads, if there is no improvement in the public transport system, a few years from now!

Meanwhile, read this article by Thomas Friedman (author of that brilliant book, The World is Flat), on the same subject. As for myself, I think I will buy that bicycle that I have been wanting to for a while AND use it as often as I can!