|
||||
JULY 2001- Contents
Indo-Pak Focus Agra Summit- the happier moments Begum Sehba Musharraf's time in India Cuisine
Diplomacy Indo-Pak Reconciliation School People Fashion &
Lifestyle Fashion
Graduates - India Heritage Art
Health Music 'United for Gujarat' - the first South Asian concert' Travel & Adventure Books
|
|
|
||
the-south-asian.com July 2001 |
||||
'Breaking the Thought Barrier' General Musharraf flew out of India less than 72 hours after he had
landed at Palam airport in Delhi. In the three working days that he was
there, contrary to what the world media feels, breakthroughs were made at
various levels. Given the background of hostilities in the recent past, it
was no mean achievement to sit together and share the same bread and listen
to the same music and also talk business – the business of opening a new
chapter in the Indo-Pak relations. The opening paragraph of a new chapter is
always the toughest part – people write, delete and re-write, maybe many
times over. One hopes that is what happened in Agra. Media and academics were sceptical and cynical right from the start –
much before the Agra Summit lay open its doors to the world press. It was
anybody’s guess that General Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee were
not meeting to present daintily gift-wrapped solutions to each other – it
was the intent behind the Summit that mattered – the intent to resolve
long-standing issues and to end the ongoing and meaningless conflict and
killings. Begum Sehba’s presence brought the much-needed softness to what
could have been plain ‘hard talk’. From a cosmic angle – the issues that confront mankind defy
comprehension. Within the grand scheme of our Universe with its countless
galaxies, the South Asian region, or for that matter the Earth, is not even
the size of a pin-head. On this pin-head reside millions of miniscule beings
with finite lives – bent on destroying each other during their lifetime
– for what? We fight over our beliefs, our monuments that we call temples,
mosques, churches and gurudwaras, we fight over little stretches of ice and
chunks of mountains and territory – we must provide endless amusement to
the Creator who, perhaps, is watching the result of his wrongly wired
creation. 14 July, the day Indo-Pak ‘Peace Summit’ began, was also the day
the-south-asian.com completed one year of its existence. It has been a great
journey – together with all our readers. We hope, we will, break many
thought barriers during this journey – and be one, at least, in our
thoughts. Roopa Bakshi
|
||||
Copyright © 2000 [the-south-asian.com]. Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. | ||||
Home |