Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Survival skills in one easy read...

Strange. I was going through a slim volume titled Disaster Survival Skills compiled by an ex-Army man, Captain Vinod Nair, when I received a text message about the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore. I rushed to catch the breaking news on tv, and was sickened by what I saw. Apart from the injured cricketers, five cops have lost their lives battling those heavily armed beasts who opened fire on the innocents. Why? Perhaps the' why' is irrelevant. It is open season all over the world, and we are all sitting ducks. With the IPL matches round the corner, my fear is that a similar attack could take place in any one of the crowded stadia, leading to several more casualties, and this time their targets will include the superstars of the game. But who are 'they'? Another pointless question. Shadowy demons with hearts of stone.
I re- read the manual sent by Nair, and said to myself, a book like this has become required reading in these violent times. It provides practical and easy to implement tips on how to handle most 21st century emergencies - hi jacking, hostage situations, car bombings, grenade attacks etc.Scarey!! Nobody prepares you to deal with such scenarios. But like they say, 'A person does not build character during a crisis, he\she reveals it." I reccomend this book and you can access more info via the website www.kimmaya.com. Captain Nair in his covering letter mentions that he runs a consultancy and training service . I don't know the guy, and am not vouching for any of this. Just that I found the tips offered very easy to take forward. God knows we require road maps to negotiate all the land mines strewn across our paths these days. I wish the Sri Lankan boys a speedy recovery, and offer sincere condolences to the families of those slain cops.
***********************************************************************************
Aham is all set to take his protest national on Sunday at 5pm. More power to him and all the supporters who have written, called, mailed. I was rather disappointed to receive an interview request from a newspaper in Bangalore which asked why we were bothering to protest against incidents that were taking place in another city, and whether the protest would give Bangalore\Mangalore a bad name!! Is it about geography... or humanity??

10 comments:

SumanSpeaksTech said...

Protest for what?? Are you all blind fellows in favour of allowing Teenagers to have Free Sex, Drugs and Alcohol in Pubs??!! However, there is a saner side of any protest but hooliganism is unpardonable and should be condemned.
The state administration should take strict actions against the office bearers of SITA Sena, if they indulge in some sort of violence.
What don't you protest what is going on in Delhi or other states where Rapes and Molestation are common affairs?? Also how to distinguish between black mail by Prostitutes and a real case??? There are ample cases where the sex workers have blackmailed men for some buck, by threatening to lodge a police complaints after consented and Sex (unprotected). Why don’t you protest why still after more than 3 months no one has been rounded up in the Assam Blasts?? Is it humanity or geography? Hence you aims seems to be pretty clear: to allow all to drink and booze in pubs---I think there is no such ban anywhere in India nor anyone ever questioned such things…..But if some teenagers go to a pub, then takes drugs and indulges in Free Sex then I think we are stretching too far.
Best wishes,
Suman Mukherjee
India.
www.sumanspeaks.blogpot.com
www.sumanspeakscurrentaffair.blogspot.com
www.sumanspeaksplus.blogspot.com

Corinne Rodrigues said...

Hi Shobhaa
Always been a fan - love your honest and sincere take on things. I've put a link to your blog on mine - not that you don't have enough readers already ;)
Keep inspiring!
Corinne

Rahul Nair said...

I do not know how media people (those newspaper) guys can think so much without humanity and so irrationally.
They are supposed to be the voice of the people.

I feel even the media has become the victim of the Marquis de Sade phenomenon. Bad News Is Good News For them.

SumanSpeaksTech said...

..Indian Media and especially NDTV Ltd is bent on giving distorted news....There is infact a web-site which asks all to boycott NDTV Ltd:
URL: http://boycottndtv.wordpress.com/

Check this out....
NDVT Ltd's Barkha Dutt has been voted as the worst presentator. Check this out in this link:
www.sumanspeaks.blogspot.com (Scroll down).
Best wishes,
Suman Mukherjee
India.
www.sumanspeaks.blogspot.com
www.sumanspeaksplus.blogspot.com
suman2005s@rediffmail.com

Harish said...

regarding geography issue... people are amazed about why we indulge in such campaigns when we can enjoy a cozy sunday with our loved ones.

compassion has to prove itself. and to be dis-compassionate, you need no reason.

Anonymous said...

It's disheartening to listen to dispiriting news one after the other. Hooliganism should be condemned.
But I too like Sumanspeaks am not very much for the pub culture that's catching on. People who are mature enough know their limits, but what about adolescents who get easily carried away. In a way, pubs are ruining young minds.

kaleidoscope said...

Dear De,

Can you please BAN the *SumanSpeaks* from this space! Clearly, the guy is a moron. The least he can do is criticize respectfully.

As for *Aham* and all, wish you good luck in your endeavors.

Unknown said...

Good wishes from Holland!
I guess banning 'Sumanspeaks' will send across the opposite message - in terms of freedom for being, if i can put it that way. After all, that is what we want - to be ourselves and feel safe in following this human right. And unfortunately hooligans with mother-issues are doing everything in their power to stop women from feeling free to be and to feel safe.
Having said this, I do feel that 'Sumanspeaks' in a most immature and small-minded way. He clearly does not sympathise to the vision people in this Blog are connected to.And it is obvious that the sharp minded words of Shobhaa and others bother him. So what's the point of eating spicy Thai Chicken and complain that it is spicey?
In stead of throwing his negative vibes around I would like to invite him to just stay away from this blog. For everybody's peace of mind, including his own. I feel these blogs are spaces for kindred-spirits to connect and inspire each other. Not to create disconnection and desperation.

So Aham and co, Im geographically far away but humanly very close. Wishing you all the best!

Kalpana
www.kalpanarts.com

Deepak Murthy said...

Hi Shobhaa,

I've visited SriLanka (Colombo and one other city). A guide named John took us around along with my wife. It was quite nice inspite of the bombings in 2006. Very peaceful!

Regards,
Deepak

Unknown said...

nice article..

Work from home India