2008-Honor or Stigma..'?'

2008 is trailing to its full stop..and on retrospection,i find it hard to generalise what kind of a year it was for us.

We were at the zenith when Abhinav Bindra brought home the first individual olympic gold when we were not even in the far proximity to a gold medal,let alone individual one after 1980..We were  triumphant in the 20-20 world cup to not just to prove our mettle but to say that we are not the one to spar with.. Never has Viswanathan Anand brought us surprises,coz he promises only victory and hence his championship of 2008 was not a matter of astonishment..

2008 marked its glory in Indian history when She landed on moon being the 4th unmanned mission to be successful!

2008 was a year of great strategic improtance in the case of our foreign affairs,for although there was a lot of fuss about it,NUKE was for sure a matter of inexpicable importance for us not only as a better source of power but as a means to cement the relationship with the US (or in better words,to hob-nob with the world's strongest power!).. And of course,India is a world power and we don't exactly require a nuke to corroborate it.

4years of the 'unity' that the UPA carassed,suddenly seemed to have become calloused when the nuke was at stake and the tragic climax was the withdrawal of support by the left..But the Congress doesnt seemed to have given it a damn,for they managed to win the non-confidence move by appeasing Amar singh..

Economic crisis was yet another snag..not yet another,but the fiercest of all..But neither do we find a specific reason,nor do we find a specific course or solution to it.. Inflation reached its peak squeezing all the bourgeouis.. We saw stock markets tumbling down and closing abruptly,every now and then.. The abating inflation rates,the victory of Obama,non of them seemed to solve the pirroueting sensex crisis.. Still,these days,situation seems to thaw..

2008 was a year of terrifying terror strikes too.. Samjautha express, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Modasa, Malegaon, Kanpur, Imphal, Mumbai.. it was an era of terror and fright.. Among them,the attack on Mumbai was the most noted and unprecedented one in terms of its intensity,the modus operandi and the targets..It had been a general convention that the attack points are railway stations and bus stops,.or crowded markets or streets..May be for the first time ever the affluent bowl was made to stand face to face with the demons..Not just an air raid or a shelling,but a real war for more than 60hours..Although Assam was less noticed,it was struck hard too,.and for very brief time,the explosions did help to bring the neglected eastern province in the limelight!

No matter where,no matter how,no matter what kind of people..but terrorism clouted hard on everyone proving India is just not a world power,but a total imbecile when comes to intelligence and curbing terror.. As usual,the attack was followed by a series of resignations and reshuffling of the ministry,Shivraj Patil,Deshmukh,R.R.Patil,were all resigning although they did try a plethora of hare-brained justifications for their lapse..

"I did have some intelligence info but not a specific one..",Vilasrao Deshmukh(did he expect the terrorists to ring him up to say the exact time and location of the attack~!) ; "In big cities as Mumbai,such incidents are common",R.R.Patil(if this was the diminutive casual one,what in his yardsticks are the dire one?) ; "If it was not Sandeep's house,not even a dog will stop by your house!",Achuthananthan(such an unparliamentary comment!),were all some of the most stupid of all comments from the schmucky politicians..

In spite of all these barricades,life still moves on..with 22 days left to wind up 2008,the impending days are met with suspense and horror like Dan Brown's Angels and Demons..And more than ever our fortitude and rectitude is put to question.. "Arise,Awake and stop not till your goal is reached!"

Khuda Hafiz

~Gayathri~