Lost causes

I have read some military history this year (prominently about the war for the liberation of Bangladesh, World War I and now World War II). I also read a biography of Abraham Lincoln which obviously spends a lot of time on the US Civil War. I hope to read more about the Civil War as well as the Cuban missile crisis and the US War of Independence in the future.

The Civil War is truly a tragic tale. I cannot but help feel some sympathy for the Southerners. Their cause, the defense of the right of states to perpetuate slavery and their right to secede from the Union, was wrong, but the sacrifices made by the Confederacy were immense - 5-6% of the white population (Sources here and here) and an astounding 18% of Confederate white males aged 13-43 died in the Civil War (Source here). Their devotion to the cause was sincere. I recall the scene from Gone with the Wind when Scarlett comes back to her devastated farm and crazed father in the aftermath of the war. She is worried about her financial future. Her father asks her to not worry since they have many bonds. "Which bonds?", she asks. "Why, Confederate, of course!", her deranged father replies, in a line which moves me everytime I think about it.

Then there's the story of Robert E Lee, the famed southern general. He was serving with the Union army when war was about to break out. President Lincoln offered him the command of the whole army. Lee was opposed to the idea that states could secede from the union. He was not much in favour of slavery either. He probably understood that the chances of the South winning were slim, since its population was only a fourth that of the North, and its industrial capacity not even a tenth. Yet he choose to join the Confederate Army, after Virginia, his state, had joined the Confederacy. A tale of honour and loyalty, I think.

Diplomatic immunity?

How difficult is it for a 329-word statement to be screwed up? On July 16, India and Pakistan issued a joint statement after a meeting of the prime ministers at the NAM summit in Egypt. The brief statement contains two sentences that, quite rightly, created an uproar in the press and Parliament:

"...Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas."

"Action on terrorism should not be linked to the Composite Dialogue process and these should not be bracketed."

Together the statements reflect a seemingly self-inflicted body blow to India's longstanding positions vis a vis Pakistan. For over a decade now, India has explicitly demanded action by Pakistan against terrorists based in its terrority as a pre-condition for bilateral talks to progress. And India has denied any involvement in the Balochistani separatist movement.

The inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement obviously implies Indian acceptance of its involvement in the province's separatist movement, or atleast that of elements operating from Indian soil (why would the Pakistani PM discuss information about threats in Balochistan to the Indian PM if this information had no connection to India). Obviously India did not and does not intend to accept any such hypothesis, as the government later clarified. Why then was Balochistan mentioned in the joint statement?

The second statement seems to accept that the bilateral dialogue between the two countries can continue even if there is no action by Pakistan against terrorists who have attacked or are intent on attacking India. The Indian government has since claimed in Parliament that the sentence actually meant to convey that Pakistan must take action against terrorists, whether or not the bilateral talks proceed. If so, someone has to work on their penmanship.

That someone is the Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, it seems. He and his Pakistani counterpart were the only officials involved in drafting the statement. In an article in the Indian Express ("Joint statement: After the blooper, a bizarre assumption"), Coomi Kapoor says that Menon initially dismissed the concerns about the obvious lacunae in the joint statement raised by Indian journalists in Egypt. "The secretary suggested arrogantly that journalists did not understand English and could not comprehend what was there before them in black and white," she says of his conduct in Egypt. Later, he conceded to Parliamentarians that the statement was poorly drafted ("These things happen, what can we do?" Coomi quotes his excuse).

It is amazing that such a short statement could have been messed up so badly, that too by such a high standing diplomat. He probably won't be given the boot, especially since his removal will mean public acknowledgment by the government of his blunder. But for a country with ambitions of global influence, these self goals will make the already difficult climb up the league tables even more so.

Eclipse chasing in Surat

I made a short trip to Surat yesterday/today. Really short. Took a bus to the city late last night, reached there at dawn, was back in Bombay by train by early afternoon.

The purpose of my excursion was to view the solar eclipse, which was going to be visible from Bombay as well, but only partially - Surat was in the path of totality.

There are two aspects of a total solar eclipse that make for really interesting viewing - the sight (through eclipse glasses, of course) of a dark circular disc encircled by a bright ring as the moon almost covers the sun, and the transition from daylight to darkness and back to daylight in a matter of minutes. The cloud cover of the past few days made it extremely unlikely that I would be able to see the sun eclipsed, and so it proved to be.

But I experienced the other effect very vividly. Around 5:50 am, dawn commenced. By 6:15, it was quite bright, despite the dense clouds gliding in the sky. Then it began getting darker. Unnoticeable at first, the effect soon became clear. By 6:25 the sky was totally dark. For 5 minutes, night had befallen again. It is an amazing experience. Since my bus had reached Surat late, I went through the entire experience sitting in its front cabin (thankfully, with very large and clear window panes). Almost as soon as it began, the total eclipse was over. By 6:35 the sky was normal again. It was my first experience of a total solar eclipse, though not the last, I hope :)

Not much else to report from Surat. I was impressed by the series of flyovers that connect the city centre to the national highway via the "Ring Road" (One, a really long one, is still in the process of construction). And the design of many of the shopping complexes (shops lining up on each floor with a balcony-type passage connecting them) reminded me of Ahmedabad. Is it a Gujarat thing?