Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS- MANOJ AMBAT

Banaras, the holiest of the holy place for all Hindus. It is said that a single journey  to this holy place wipes all the sins that one might accumulate over a life time. Kasi is one of the most revered places of worship for Hindus. Banaras also has a another face, the face of Hindu Muslim unity. The most famous son of Banaras, Ustad Bismillah Khan is known all over the world and he is also one of the regular players in the banks of the Ganges on all holy occasions. Hindus and Muslims had lived amicably here for thousands of years. In many ways Banaras represents the genesis of the great nation called India.It is this fabric that the perpetuators of the horrific bomb blast had tried to hurt.  The unfortunate bomb blasts that ripped through Banaras last week killed a six month old girl child. The very calculation of those behind the cruel blasts is to incite communal tensions and hatred between Hindus and Muslims and in a way take India to communal clashes. The blasts also exposes the

Kerala can claim effectively claim to be the liquor capital of India. Malayalee's obsession with liquor is proven by the quantitative increase the amount of liquor that is sold through legal out lets that has around 400% increase every year. But that figure is just the tip of the ice berg. It is estimated that what is sold through legal out lets contributes just  just a fraction of liquor consumption in Kerala. The major chunk are those country made liquor like toddy which is cheap and easily available in country side. Such type of liquor is the favorite of the labourers  particularly from other states.  INDIAN MADE FOREIGN LIQUOR (IMFL) Indian Made Foreign Liquor are those foreign liquor like whiskey and rum that is made and marketed by Indian companies. They are of high quality subjected to strict and stringent quality inspection.In Kerala, they are sold through Kerala State Bivarages Corporation outlets. COUNTRY LIQUOR Country liquor are quite a favorite especially with

Cricket is again in the news for all the wrong reason. Another corruption scandal has rocked the gentle man's game. After the IPL fiasco, now it is the Pakistani cricket team that is in the muddle. I still vividly remember the first time live cricket was broadcast in India. That was the Benson and Hedges Cup. It was the time when TV was just becoming popular in India. Before those times, I used to observe the ardent followers of the game get hooked into the radio. It had an old world charm to it as listening from the radio would let your imagination run wild and you would picturise the game in your mind. Then the TV got introduced. I still remember getting up at $ Am in the morning to watch the game live from Australia. I like most from my generation was a avid fan of the game religiously following the game and idolizing the greats of the game like Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Then as time went by, new sports channels like Prime Sports and ESPN made their appearance. Cricket bec

WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY AND A PROSPEROUS ONAM. THE CELEBRATION OF PROSPERITY AND PLENTY, MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH ALL THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AND MAY HAPPINESS FLOW AND FILL YOUR HOME AND YOUR HEARTS AND THE HEARS OF YOUR FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES. HAPPY ONAM MANOJ

                      ( An image of a deserted main road in a town during a hartal) Dear friends,  I am back again after a long time.. A lot of things had happened since my last posting. The naxal attacks has increased in ruthlessness and naxals has become the greatest security threat to India. The left has been beaten out of Bengal and they are on the verge of the same fate in Kerala. But what concerns me most and has prompted me to write this blog is the frequency of hartals and bandhs that is taking place in India especially in Kerala. HARTAL (REFER WIKIPEDIA) Hartal is a form of civil disobedience movement. The word has it's origin in Gujarathi which was imbibed by the great Mahatma as an effective tool of civil and mass disobedience movement and an effective protest. BANDHS (REFER WIKIPEDIA) Bandhs in hindi means closed. It is perhaps the most feared form of protest where in a political party call for protest and it is expected that the public will comply, in mos

Indian Premier League , Indian Cricket's cash cow. Power play, manipulation by the powers to be, drugs, romance, sex.The plot has all the trappings of a block buster movie. But this is real life and spun around the most popular game of all time in India, Cricket. I still distinctly remember the 80's when cricket took it's root in Indian psyche. It was with the advent of TV. The first televised event was the Benson & Hedges World Cup . I still distinctively  remember getting up early in the morning just to watch the one day series. That was the beginning of the evolution of cricket to be the unofficial national game with religious following through out India. When television became popular, the advertisements  started increasing and brands from Potato chip makers to Detergent makers flocked to get a pie of this Jamboree/ Extravaganza that we call cricket. 80's was also the hay day on Indian cricket with such icons like Gavaskar and   Kapil Dev making their presence

I am back again with another blog after a long gap of three months. This is a blog I started long back but was left uncompleted. I am dealing with the conditions of the roads in India which is the same in almost all the cities. Now what prompted me to write the blog is the pathetic state of roads in my home town, Palakkad. The roads are the lifeline of any nation and good roads lead to prosperity of the nation. But unfortunately in most cities of India, the civic administration is too careless even to attend and tender the basic repairs of our roads. In my town, many roads which connects the important points of town is laid up with full of holes that inter city transportation is a nightmare with long traffic blocks and accidents which have increased 100 fold. Added to the voe of the common man is when there is a drizzle that will make the entire city go haywire with flash floods and submerged roads. India is stated to be the most vibrant democracy in the world with the democratic insti

Manoj Ambat's Personal Blog: 26/11- A YEAR LATER

It was the day that will be written in red letters in the history, a day when India and all the things she stand for was attacked. I still distinctively remember the day. As always after my work, I took the break at 9 PM for my supper and also to relax before getting back and working late into the night. I was enjoying some English movie in either Star Movies or HBO. In the breaks, I would browse the English News channels for the latest news. By about 10.15 PM the first report started coming in of shoot outs in several parts of Mumbai. At first it was speculated that it might be inter gang revelry that may be the cause of the shoot out. But as time went by, it became increasingly clear that this was no ordinary day and the shoot out was part of the most dastardly and the most terrifying acts of terrorists attacks in Indian history.Mumbai was under attack. I was worried sick about my near and dear at Mumbai and immediately in Mumbai. Most of them were not aware about the ensuing attack