Bitter medicine

The hue and cry over the destroying of the documents related to the 1971 war is difficult to fathom At that time the Indian Government was very keen to let the people, especially the foreign press, to know that what was happening in East Pakistan was a war of independence by the Mukti bahini.India was no part of it. It had no training camps, nor was it supplying them arms. The Indian Government vehemently denied when it was suggested by Pakistan that the Indian soldiers were fighting in East Pakistan disguised as Mukti bahini.One only has to pick up the news papers of the time or read the public speeches of the then PM Indira Gandhi. Now suddenly we want to know everything and every truth. What we are forgetting is that this is precisely what Pakistan is doing, and denying, in Kashmir. They have the training camps, they are supplying the arms and their soldiers and intelligence personnel are infiltrating and fighting in Kashmir. The Kashmiri are after all fighting a war of independence...

I was watching the DVD of My Name Is Khan. Two issues stand out in the film, the plight of the Muslim community in the aftermath of 9/11 and the autistic individuals attempt to redeem his pride and honour thereof. In the portrayal of the life of an autistic, it appears a very amateurish attempt, as it is and inevitably will be compared to the compelling performance of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Tom Hanks in Forest Gump. Even the performance of Hrithik Roshan as a mentally retarded character in Koi Mil Gaya was more convincing. On the other issue of the plight of the Muslim in post 9/11 US, the film seems to be a very puerile effort. It does not adequately bring out the psyche of the non Muslim toward a community viewed as the direct perpetrator of hate and revenge towards the American. There were scores of American and non American families in the apartments right across the Hudson who were actual witnesses to the demolition of the twin towers and that horrific experience is a ling...