I’m an Indian. Always have been proud to be one.

For me, the beauty of this country lies in its ethnic and religious diversity, raw emotion, unsurpassed intelligence and as a nation, we somehow not only manage to co-exist but thrive despite it all. It’s because we believe in humanity, apart from all our differences, our backgrounds and so on and so forth...

In my neighborhood, we have a St. Mary’s shrine, a mosque and a Hindu temple... all within 100 yards of each other. My day starts with a Muslim prayer, and hindu bhajans throughout the day and ends by watching people offering their prayer at the St. Mary’s Shrine while I go out to buy food and other stuff.

We have, indeed, learnt to co-exist... yes, even at the grassroot level. How do you like that?

That’s the beauty of being an Indian. We might not be perfect but we’re doing this better than anyone else. We should be proud of this.

It’s a pity that we’re also our own harshest critics, for the blood memories of The Mumbai Outrage brought back bitter thoughts and hostile and immature behavior towards the Government. All of us got up and said: “Enough is enough. Do something about it. Or we’ll...”

Albeit, that this government had nothing to do with the Mumbai Outrage, the Indo-Pak wars, POK or even the events in Punjab for God knows how long.

I don’t think the anger was directly towards the government... but in general towards politics, especially towards extremism of all kinds... because we’re all so SICK of it! And we want it to REDEEM itself.

Well, the truth is that if one of you emotionally-charged chaps were handed the reins of the country and then asked to make a pragmatic choice, we’ll talk then. Thank God, that option isn’t even a distant possibility right now.

Also, I was very happy to see the letters posted against Bal Thackeray. Very happy. My dad, being a priest, was certainly relieved! And his paranoia is justifible. These people are volatile, violent and really are a black mark on the rich heritage of this country.

But I digress...

In hindsight,I consider the response of the Government to be justifiable, even though I was in favour of its immediate response by going to war.

And I came to this conclusion because of Mr. Tunku Varadarajan’s post here on Instablogs, titled Why India can’t do a Gaza. It was pretentiously verbiose, annoyingly arrogant and merely stated the obvious [like all low-level journalistic efforts] and showed a complete lack of respect to this nation of ours.

So typical of the ‘professor’ types!

I’m sorry but this is my viewpoint on that very US-is-in-authority driven post of his. It’s insulting and undermining to our country’s heritage and its present standing in the international community. And most of all, it reeks of emotional weakness. Read Sun Tzu please... for all your b***** education!

So I thought it would be good to write a post that deals with this superficial, unimaginative writeup of his with a realistic, level-headed take of things. So, here we go...

First point: If Pakistan dares to drop a nuke on India during the course of war... its intentions that are so cleverly disguised for all this while will be open for the international community to see. Some of us in India might suffer from a nuclear fallout, but there WON’T be a Pakistan when the dust and ashes settle. PERIOD!

On the darker side of things, I think that there are ‘nicer’ and permanent ways to debilitate a nation, without necessarily going to war. There’s nothing more gratifying to watch Pakistan admit and take responsibility in front of the international community for its ‘indirect’ actions in the Mumbai Outrage. That’s ’slow death’. And that’s worse than the fate of these poor Palestinians. Well, Sun Tzu says that the perfect commander is the one who wins a battle without having to raise a sword. How’s that for GENIUS?

And well, the tin-pot Arab outfit that was mentioned in his post, have been unrelenting in their efforts [like an irritating rash] ever since Israel came into existence. And they have the entire, very motivated Arab World behind them providing them with a limitless supply of men, money and machines, for years now. The U.S only provides Israel with ‘indirect’ support in the U.N.

And most of all, war is not based on confidence... it is based on deception... mind games if you will.

Second Point: India doesn’t need anymore proof than they already have to go to war. Forty years of conflict is enough proof. The government is exhausting all possibilites in finding a civil end to this atrocity. And they’re prepared for war... believe you me!

Third Point: India doesn’t give a shit whether the United States or whoever plays a supporting role to Pakistan in this situation... which was why, the U.S government almost immediately sent a diplomatic convoy to appease the sides. You’re really stupid to assume that the US can afford to go to war right now after Afghanistan and Iraq. For all their might, they’re out of resources... man, money and machines. And most of all, they’re out of motivation. Ask the American people. Ask Mr. Obama as well.

Fourth Point: Based on facts, Pakistan does not enjoy the unflinching support of the United States in this scenario [two Americans and an Israel family were killed in the Mumbai Outrage...remember? ] Most of the US flourishing businesses are located in key locations in India. Pakistan doesn’t even comes a distant second in this race. And there’s no state more capitalistic than the US. Ask the senators in Washington D.C who gives them their money to run for elections. You think the US want’s a war here.

And sadly enough, when it comes to terrorism, the U.S WILL have to be honest and play fair here, or else it will shoot itself in the foot for double-talk. And I’m sure that Obama will do what’s RIGHT! I watched the U.S Presidential Campaign very closely!

Fifth: India is NOT a prisoner of its global aspirations and pretensions.

NOTE: If this isn’t pissing off then I don’t know what isn’t, since I can’t seem to find facts anywhere to support this heavily opinionated point [especially the ‘pretensions’ bit]. Yet I’m not going to retort, because it’s stupidity exemplified to even react to the man’s point-of-view in this case, as it is based on his biased opinions towards his own people.

In conclusion
Trust me... India will find a ‘lasting solution’ to this disgusting episode of the Mumbai Outrage... without raising a finger!

For, in the Indian government’s case, they’re just playing along and will STRIKE when the time is right!

Keyword: Operation Slow Death.

So, hold on and don’t let your emotions get the better of you.

We’ll make an example and take these terrorists apart, their outfits, the people who are behind them and the whole system... bit by bit... slowly but surely!

DISCLAIMER: I’m saying this because I’ve had the privilege of having a few drinks and conversation with a couple of highly ranked personnel from the Indian forces over the past few weeks. And I’d like to believe that I put my money where my mouth is... and where I live, too.