Ajith Nair

We're in the third morning of the Mumbai attacks. Some things have emerged which will define the way history is written 1. Taj has become immortal to this country. Stories of how young Taj managers went out of their way, helped protect guests, sent sms to guests who were away at the time of attacks to not return and many such are pouring in. An indelible symbol has endured even further through its people 2. Mumbai civilians as usual are on the streets doing their bit. Chants of vande mataram are all over and people are serving the commandos tea, snacks etc. Not one to back off, am proud of my city and its people 3. The media has behaved and been sensible.They've obeyed orders to edit stories and pictures which might feed terrorist intelligence. Its said that it takes a tough event to make a child grow up, is this that event which has made the media mature? 4. The Mumbaikar resilience is weak. people stayed indoors and the feeling of helplessness and fear is high. On the upside,

Much has been said, written, blogged, messaged and shown about that remarkable man Barack Obama. A lot of us know more about him than say about our neighbours. There is a remarkable connect that he’s made from Fiji to Florida from Melbourne to Moscow. Everybody has a reason to like Barack Obama and there is almost a personal connect that each of us feels. Most politicians around the world would give an arm and a leg to achieve this kind of connects with their electorate. Yes We can might have worked in America, In Europe it was the alternative to Mr. Bush theory, In Africa it was the son of the soil reasons, in Indonesia he was seen like family, in the Arab world he was partly their own religion and so on. While the gene pool and demographics like African American played their role, I feel the connect with Obama had a deeper reason. The world that we live in has only got more fractured, more complex and more strife ridden. There are cross purposes to every action, there are unwarranted