RIFLE RANGE BOY

Posted by Col Ashokan K   What is *'Butter Fly Effect'?* "Sometimes a very small and insignificant event can lead to a huge effect later on." It can also lead to the creation of a new country, the displacement of twelve million people, the loss of around two million lives and permanent animosity among people who used to share their bread and ancestry at one point of time. That was what happened to the hapless people of India in 1947.   We all have learned enough history about our Independence struggle and how the dream of freedom turned sour with the bloodshed of partition riots. I intend to only focus on the amazing _'Butterfly Effect'_ which led the turn of events, culminating into the creation of India - Pakistan and the pangs of separation the country was subjected to & the unspoken horrors of violence and hatred, creating rivers of blood. If we study the life of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, we will find three i...

The first day on the road trip told me all, that there is order in chaos. The haphazard needling and swerving of 'auto' vehicles with the constant blaring of car horns just complemented the irate of the impatient road users stuck at the railway crossing at the heat of high noon. Nevertheless, my host tells me later, there had never been a fatal road accident in Cuttack, the second biggest town in Orissa (rebranded Odisha). It precisely describes the dynamics of how the system works in the greater part of India. On one hand, you have the poorest of the victims of globalisation, scrapping the barren barrel of hopelessness whilst the end sees the shakers of global conglomerates. You have the victims of caste segregation deprived of basic amenities, decency and opportunities. Then there are the heart-wrenching tales not much different than of Ambedkar's rise from rags to fame. There are minions who find contentment in living a whole life performing menial repetitive...