Mearl Colaco

The 74yr old cheerful and optimistic Gandhian, Anna Hazare, has surely set a precedent not only for the people and governing institutions of India, but also for democratic nations across the globe, testifying that, if you have a will, and that will is lead with honestly and perseverance, no power play can really stop you from driving oneself and the masses towards realizing that noble cause. More importantly, who says that it is impossible to adopt non violent means of protest to exercise freedom of expression? Looking at the peaceful means adopted by Anna and his team, we certainly can conclude that the Gandhian method of Satyagraha works wonders even in this 21st century of modernization and capitalism. Anna Hazare defied the government’s toothless Lokpal bill which was hastily tabled in the Parliament without considering the anti-corruption workable draft by the civil society group lead by Anna. This was not the first time that the civil society warned the government about the name...

Two successive terrorist attacks traumatized the people of the world recently. The financial capital of India, Mumbai, was blown apart in a matter of 10mins by bouts of serial bomb blasts on 13th Jul 2011, and so was the capital city of Norway, Oslo on 22nd July 2011. The attacks left the people of Mumbai shaken and stirred, arousing anger against the governing authorities demanding their right to security. While the people of Norway although were initially shocked by these attacks, remained calm and resilient. So, why that difference in reaction to almost similar catastrophes? Mumbai which houses a population of approximately 20.4 million people accounting for about 20% of India’s population alone, has been struck by terrorism not once, not twice or three times...but this city that I love so much, has been brutally hit umpteen numbers of times. While on the other hand, for the people of Norway, which houses about 20% of Mumbai’s population of approximately 4 million people, it was a ...