Fight terror and illegal immigration, not against Indians

It’s outright lack of wisdom to attack the people of North East in Bangalore and other parts of India. It's clear now that terrorist groups from Pakistan are trying hard to instigate violence and communal tension among the Indian citizens. These anti-social groups have just taken advantage of what happened in a few districts of lower Assam to incite communal violence among the Indians. It's apalling if some of our Indian brothers have fallen prey to such timid tricks adopted by the terrorist or terror-supporting groups.

Through this blog, I would like to inform the citizens of the country that the recent violence in lower Assam which killed some 70 innocent people and rendered thousands homeless, is not a communal clash in the true sense of the word. The fact is, in the three districts covered by the BTAD area of Assam, namely Bongaigaon, Kokrajahar and Chirang, sporadic clashes took place between illegal immigrants from Bangladesh (who incidentally happens to be Muslims) and the Bodos (a small tribe of Assam). The clash took place because of the insecurity and attacks the Bodos have been facing due to the unabated influx of people from Bangladesh.

In contrast to the rumours in the country, the Assamese and other people from the North East are in no way involved in any communal clash. They are instead trying to prevent such unwanted incidents. Various Assamese organizations have gone to ground zero to help maintain peace and tranquillity in the affected areas assisting the people with cash and kind.

Therefore, it is completely foolish and irrational to attack any person from the North East or any Indian with a communal feeling that Muslims from Assam are being attacked. The clash which took place is between the illegal immigrants (Bangladeshis) and the original inhabitants of those regions (the Bodos). It is not a fight between the Muslims and the people of the North East. Let's clearly understand that this clash would have taken place with the illegal immigrants regardless of their religious identities.

Taking into account the actuality of the situation, I appeal to all sections of people to come to terms with the reality and refrain from giving a communal turn to the disturbance in the North East. It may be noted that Assam is a state in which Hindus and Muslims have been living harmoniously from time immemorial. Any instigation from any anti-national group should not be entertained in this regard and no innocent person from the region should be victimised. Let’s fight terrorism and illegal immigration, not against our own Indian brothers and sisters.

A glimpse into IT journalism

Most passionate journalists believe journalism is the best profession in the world. Some even say journalism is God’s own profession. As a Bangalore-based IT journalist, I second their opinion and bet they are right in believing so. In this article, I will attempt to justify my belief through the eyes of an IT journalist.

Journalists usually cover different beats or areas assigned to them. I have been fortunate enough for having got the chance to cover the IT or information technology beat in my career. An IT journalist’s job is like a white-collared journalism job where you get the perks of both the worlds – that of a journalist and that of a corporate. You don’t have to sweat it out, as much as, say a crime-beat journalist, but you are still a journalist, who reports, writes, and investigates. You are only spared the heat and dust of the outdoors because of the nature of the beat. After all, the IT companies are among those which have the swankiest of offices.

In fact, journalism is hardly a job. It’s a blessing for more reasons than one. As a journalist, you get paid for doing what you like. For instance, you get paid for reading the newspaper; you get paid for meeting celebrities; you get paid for talking to people; you get paid for travelling around the world; you get paid for expressing yourself, etc. The list goes on. Everyone around you does these things anyway. But as a journalist, you do them as a profession and get paid for it too. Your work of course has an agenda, a purpose and a sense of professionalism, which only makes it more worthwhile. The stress and long hours that might seem tedious for people outside the industry actually add to the adrenaline flow of most journalists.

MEETING THE WHO’S WHO

Like most journalists, I too have had the opportunity of travelling around the world attending various international conferences, mostly on technology. Last year, I attended the Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, California. OpenWorld is the annual event organised by software giant Oracle. The event hosts more than 45,000 registered attendees and generates over $100 million for the Bay Area economy. At the San Francisco event, I met industry top honchos such as Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle; Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell; Joe Tucci, CEO of EMC and SD Shibulal, CEO of India software giant Infosys, among others. Anyone with some interest in the IT corporate world will acknowledge that the above list is the dream team anyone could imagine to meet under one umbrella.

Closer home, Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, is home to some of the industry’s most prominent think tanks such NR Narayana Murthy (founder & chairman emeritus of Infosys), Azim Premji (chairman of Wipro) and Ashok Soota (ex-CEO Wipro Infotech, founder of MindTree and Happiest Minds), among many more. Evidently, IT journalists in the city are never short of story ideas. The city which has the largest number of tech companies in the country gives enough opportunities for reporters to find business news worth reporting.

When American investor and world’s third richest man, Warren Buffett, came to Bangalore, I was among the lucky 500-odd people who had the opportunity to meet him. Apart from business, Buffett had philanthropy in the top of his priority list in India. He told media persons in Bangalore that “philanthropy is much more difficult than business but that does not mean you ignore it.” Buffett has pledged nearly 99% of his personal net worth of $50 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (The Foundation is one of the largest charitable institutions in the world run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates).

“I have never given up a meal to give away money, I have never given up a movie, and I have never given up taking my family on a vacation trip, so I have everything in the world that I could possibly want. And yet I have a lot left over, and that money will do nothing for me, but it will do a lot for other people, so I am giving up something that has no value to me and that has value to other people and to me that makes nothing but sense,” Buffett said. He added that the decision to give most of his money to charity was taken while he and his late wife Susan were still in their twenties. “But I felt it was better to be giving away billions later on than millions early on and so far it has worked out that way,” he said.

So, like Buffett who has never given up a meal to help someone in need, journalists never have to give up on the fun of life for the sake of work. For them, work is play and they love doing that. Journalism is a profession which gives you opportunities that no other profession in the world can ever give. What you make of it is left up to you. You also get noticed and recognized for your work and that satisfaction is unique. Journalists are fed with exclusive information on a 24/7 basis, sometimes more than what can be chewed. But the point is, you are constantly learning and always building new mental muscles, and that’s a blessing!

(The author is a Bangalore-based IT journalist currently working as a Principal Correspondent with InformationWeek)