The Mumbai attack could not have happened without assistance from the locals

A close scrutiny of the terrorist operation will tell you that this was certainly not the result of some momentary emotional impulse. The killers had clearly done their homework well and were both well trained and deeply indoctrinated. It is quite obvious why they targeted Mumbai -- because as India’s financial capital an attack on it would draw the maximum publicity worldwide. The terrorists’ aim this time was to discourage overseas investments in India. That is why they took on foreigners. What they want is to bleed India financially – to hit us hard. The attack has already send shivers down the English cricket team, as a result of which all tournaments have been cancelled.

The attack has exposed the numerous chinks in the Indian Intelligence armour. For consider: none of our agencies was able to come up with a single clue even after so many people had been killed. And the sad thing is that this is not a one-off incident. Our intelligence agencies almost never wake up in time so that such attacks are pre-empted. They come on the scene after the incidents have already occurred. If we are really serious about stopping such attacks on India we will need to strengthen our intelligence agencies manifold. We will need to modernise it so that it becomes possible to develop foolproof intelligence mechanisms at the local level. Then only will we be able to spot suspicious activities before this kind of mayhem is unleashed.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Call of nature

When one wants to answer the call of nature, one goes to the bathroom. But according to scientists, the kitchen garden may be a better place. Why? Studies have discovered that urine helps plants like cabbages to grow more. Researchers in Sweden used urine (stored for six months) to fertilise a plot of cabbages and compared the results with a similar plot where conventional fertilisers were used. The findings, cabbages watered with urine grew to be not only bigger but healthier than most other conventionally treated plants. And yes, they tasted the same!...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

who will win? Ajai Bhambhi

Chaotic Centre, BJP to lose states

Venus, the planet of luxury and wellness has been a major factor in India’s fate for the past 20 years. This is amply reflected in the great strides India has taken over that period. However, at present, Ketu will play a spook: its temperament does not dine together with Venus. From November 4, 2009, Ketu sub dasha will play a major role in the main mahadasha of Venus. Result: chaos. The 2009 general elections’ result will have no single party form the government at the Centre, and which party comes, it will not complete its term.

Congress: Presently with Venus in the 11th house along with Jupiter is good. In astrology 11th house indicates huge gains by friends, well-wishers etc. Congress will not win as many seats it had won in the last election but it shall be in a position to call the shots due to its alliances. However, a precise prediction can only be made after the poll dates are announced.

BJP: In this party’s case, since it has a Venus-Mercury combination - which is good - we still believe that the party will do well in this election but to get a mandate will not be an easy task.

Delhi: The charts of VK Malhotra and Sheila Dixit are not too different, but going by all considerations, there can be no better time or opportunity than now for the former.

Rajasthan: Vasundhara Raje might manage to manipulate MLAs and come back, but chances are she will go down fighting. Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan, with his Moon chart showing Jupiter leaving Sagittarius on December 9, 2008, is a sure loser! Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh beware: Saturn’s sadey saati in operation, so the least said the better!...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

An island in the ocean

“Why do you do yoga all the time? You want to live to be 150, isn’t it? Why? What would you do at 150… all alone while your friends, your loved ones, perhaps even your children and grand children have all gone? Not worth it!” Thus spake Kakoo (uncle) – let’s call him Dr Kakoo…
Dr Kakoo happens to be my favourite uncle in the neighbourhood and he’s seen me grow from the toddler who chased after a butterfly (which, incidentally, has nothing to do with being gay; I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Sir David Attenborough and Steve Irwin do pretty much the same thing on TV) into a professional gadfly. And ever since the time he suggested I might want to reconsider my decision of running away and joining the circus as a four-year-old, I’ve always found his advice timely and pertinent.

But this time, I begged to differ...
I was sitting in his living room, following up on an after dinner chat, while a replica of the Mona Lisa stared down at us from luminous white walls. He insisted that life was worth living only till about 80 (Kakoo’s in his 70s) or so and beyond that, it is but a listless wait for the end to come. And since reaching that limit, going by current gerontological standards, was a more likely statistical possibility than not amongst middle-class Indians, why bother with the mind-numbing stress of a workout for a few more years of life?...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Repeated violence rubbishes claims of 'island of peace'

Though the police initially claimed that the Maoists had been responsible, the latter, uncharacteristically, made no such claim. And one top retired IPS officer said that had the Maoists been responsible, they would have made a claim. Besides, said the officer, it was not a land mine, for that would have blown up the car into smithereens, but only some splinters had smashed the windshield of the police car.

Kuldip Singh, Inspector General of Police (Western range), admitted on November 4 that the four kilometre stretch had not been under surveillance as the police had no information it could be under Maoist influence, and in fact, it was a CPI(M) controlled area. But this is not a one-off incident. Recently, Maoists blew up an ambulance, killing a doctor and a nurse travelling in it at Belpahari, near Salboni. Interestingly, they did so because in these areas, the state police, scared witless of being attacked, use not their vehicles but ambulances for patrolling. The Maoists later admitted the mistake.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Iskander-M leaves Poland and Czech vulnerable to Russian attack

IIPM Publication
The location of deployment and choice of the missile both say much about Russia’s position on this current tussle. During the cold war, Kaliningrad was perceived as the first line of defence against an aggression from the west. Russia condensed its strategic presence in the region post Cold War, but it still has tens of thousands of troops and quite a few key bases there, counting the Chernyakhovsk naval air base as well as the Baltic Fleet's headquarters at Baltiysk.

Named after the greatest conquer of all time, Alexander of Macedon, Iskander-M missile system, or SS-26 as NATO would like to call it, will be Russia’s new armoury in the region. “The deployment of Iskander that has a range of more than 300 miles would equip Russia to mark the entire territory of Poland and also parts of the Czech Republic,” said Anatoly Tsyganok, a military expert at Military Forecast Centre, while talking to TSI from Moscow. Iskander launchers are mounted on an eight-wheeled truck, making them extremely manoeuvrable. The missile’s “variable flight trajectory” means it is tricky to knock down. However, it has not been made clear on the Russian part whether the Iskanders to be deployed in Kaliningrad will have a nuclear payload or not....Continue

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The Sunday Indian