Why should Terrorism matter to us?

I am nowhere related to influencing policies on terrorism at this stage and neither can I do much beyond reading about terrorism whenever there is reporting of some facts or some fervent expression of thoughts through editorials in newspapers.

At the same time, lately I have realized that the concept of terrorism has multifarious levels of demensions which range from local politics, international politics, historical equations, law and order, lack of education, religion, poverty to name some of those aspects leading to actions routed in mindless violence.

The other reason why i feel understanding of terrorism is critical for any individual who is otherwise not connected to the problem directly is to look at how the phenomenon is shaping our thoughts about identities and how the same get translated from one generation to the other.

Just as a singular thought, what would be the impression born by a 16 year old child after reading through or experiencing these elements since the time he/she took birth. How would these thoughts influence the decisions of the child in the years to come? How would the adult in him/her relate to people from specific communities?

Who takes the responsibility?

In my future expressions on the subject, I would like to talk from the point of view of various aspects of terrorism as I get to dive deep into the subjects not through any focussed time bound effort but as a need to understand the problem and its ramifications on the society to a greater degree of detail through general exploration of the subject.

Mirakle Couriers

I know i am looking funny in this snap. :) But its not about the snap. The important thing to notice is the person next to me. He is working with a courier company by the name Mirakle Couriers. The moment you open their site it says

'Mirakle Couriers is a courier company with a difference as we employ only deaf adults.'

Isn't it a miracle ?

The founder of this company called on me along with surely a lot of other people last year when he was trying to figure out some space to run his operations. I didn't prove to be of much help as there were few people to give out real estate with no charges. Thankfully his concept of employing only with people of disability turned out to be a success when he presented it in a forum called Echoing Green early this year and it seems now his concept has taken off.

I was so delighted to see a chap from this company come to deliver a courier (Tehelka magazine) that i immediately requested him to for a snap :)

The beauty of the idea lies in the fact that he has carefully understood what it takes to deliver a certain kind of services and created a model of business circumventing that while at the same time neatly targetting an important cause related to physical disability. Its a win win preposition if they deliver well. People who might otherwise find it difficult to get employment find their strength get utilized leading to high sense of self respect and this would in turn lead to higher retention rates. An excellent example of social venture.

Let me tell you that Mumbai is a highly competitive city from the point of view of starting any enterprise and it calls for immense strength to get into something of this nature when you don't know what kind of service issues you might encounter.

I wish Dhruv all the Success in his great venture.

On importance of facts

In a world with deluge of multiple sources talking about the same subject, facts can get distorted depending upon the tacit interests of the person who weilds the pen.

Interesting article on the need for thinking sceptically so that we don't shape our opinions on wrong information.

China's growing tentacles

Words that surely can't be ignored