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FAQs
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Is there any change in the Indian embassy's working style after Narendra Modi became PM?
Yes there has been a signNow change in the working of Indian Embassies around the world especially in the crisis hit nations as the Embassies are now faster in response to the need of the Indian Nationals in that country unlike the earlier years.
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Was Pakistan ever better than India?
Invariably yes.India was literally an economic shit hole until early 2000’s. Many set 1991 as the cut off year for segregating a developing India from the past. But then India could not literally grow the bite behind its bark until 2000’s.India did not open up its markets as enthusiastically as many people claim. The ground reality was quite different. Tax regime was super shitty. duties were prohibitively high. Legally doing your business was equivalent to drowning yourself in water.On the other hand, Pakistan aced the development agenda in the 1960’s itself. It was quite an achievement for a post-colonial country. From a modern day perspective, Pakistan was today’s equivalent of South Korea and India, North Korea.But tables did turn around.Putting aside the fact that Pakistan fought three wars with India in four decades, in core economic terms, Pakistan started making the same mistakes India did.By 1974, Pakistan took to the illogical nationalisation spree, the same blunder India made. It literally signed the death warrant for manufacturing sector. It was a step backwards because with manufacturing in limbo, the country had to work backwards relying on output generated from agricultural sector. And of course, service sector did not see any growth whatsoever.Another mistake Pakistan did is by not properly regulating the agricultural sector. Where agriculture is the growth driver and inflation (coming from the same sector) is going beyond growth rates, it means something is fishy with the landlord class. Pakistan did not bring about any land reforms when it needed the most. The result - high income inequalities.Those politicians of Pakistan today who graciously wave their hands at people and give out fiery speeches, and make policies, they can do so because they have lands inherited from generations, with literally nothing to lose. Others had little opportunity in building the country and economy.Staring with 1980’s, Inflation shot up, growth nose dived - the golden spot for stagflation.Those who got rich with the growing commodity prices stuck to their lands. Fragmented land holders and middle classes had no employment, no jobs, since no private enterprise was given an opportunity. The next suicide recipe was ready.Then came the islamisation project to the ‘rescue’ of unemployed idle-dwellers, and the Afghanistan war.To add to the injury, growth was stuck, inflation grew - with an average stagflation margin of 5 percent every year sustained over a period of a decade and a half, starting 1980. Imagine the damage it could have done to Pakistan’s economy and industry. The landlords were the big winners in that decade. Nationalisation of industries and inflation - both benefitted them big time.Even before it full got out of the stagflation mess, the priority in Pakistan was invest resources in nuclear weapons, followed by a war with India, and sanctions. Imagine how hammered Pakistan’s economy could be by now.If one has to look at the economic barometer for Pakistan’s industry, not a single company from Pakistan has actually made it to the fortune 500 listing as things stand today. But the same country started off with a potential similar to South Korea’s.No CPEC, no Silk Road, no external funding can come to its rescue unless the human resource policy is absolutely revamped, local industries are provided sufficient electricity and lesser interference of the government overall in the private sector.The CPEC, again, is a death warrant Pakistan signed up for in haste, unbeknownst, or rather myopic of the policy repercussions. CPEC is, by all means, a debt obligation after all.Unless a miracle falls over Pakistan, recovery is impossible the two coming decades.Capeesh?
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What is the history of Kashmir?
Note: This is a work of love. All errors and omissions are regretted. I will keep improving this with time - please feel free to suggest edits and changes if any.When Shahenshah Jahangir (Shehzada Salim of Mughal-e-Azam fame), the 4th Mughal Emperor of India was asked on his death bed about his one cherished desire, he reportedly had said, and I quote:Kashmir, only Kashmir[1].A lot of people have suffered and died for Kashmir and a whole lot more, because of it.Today, for an average Pakistani, Kashmir is an unfinished dream of Jinnah. For an average Indian, Kashmir is an inalienable part of the Indian Union. For many westerners, Kashmir is the most dangerous place in the world, and for a Kashmiri - it is home.The K word, as it is known in the South Asian diplomatic circles, is the favorite whipping horse of the keyboard warriors on both sides of the Radcliffe line (Me too, guilty as charged). A newer entrant to this online war of righteousness are the Kashmiris themselves.Most of us, firing ridicule, allegations and taunts at each other, only have a partial perspective of the history of Kashmir - which we obviously experience through a colored prism of our own nationality, religion and at times political preferences.————————————-The 7 Wrongs of Kashmir.The short history of Kashmir’s tragedy is as follows - Really, really long time ago, a bunch of folks settle down in the beautiful valley of Kashmir. It is a nice place, and they grow in number. They are ruled by a series of kings for 4444 years, becoming a centre for both Hinduism and Buddhism. Kashmiris spread Buddhism in Tibet, Afghanistan, Parts of ancient China and Shaivism in Southern India.Then, Islam arrives in Kashmir, initially in the form of refugees from Swat and Sufi Mystics from Central Asia - The Sufis co-germinate with the Kashmiri Shaivism to give birth to the Rishi order and Kashmiriyat - Kashmir signNowes the peak of its political power during the Karkota Dynasty.After the fall of the Karkota and Lohar dynasty - the local folks see 3 rounds of religious persecution and forced conversion from Hinduism to Islam - especially under Sikandar Butshikan (Shah Mir Dynasty), Aurangzeb Alamgir (Mughal Dynasty) and Abdul Khan (Durrani Dynasty), which turn Kashmir into a Muslim majority area by around 1400 AD.Then the same local folks, who had converted to Islam because of persecution - are now persecuted again for 2 more rounds, this time for being Muslims - First by the Sikh Rulers, and then by the Dogra Kings.After the Dogras, India and Pakistan take over and we see the 6th round of persecution in Kashmir - this time the culprits are Kashmiris themselves. Those who had converted to Islam and were now in majority - persecute those who hadn’t converted like them - the unique triad of oppression is finally complete.What’s going on right now is the 7th round of persecution which is the most secular so far, since Kashmiris of every religious identity feels victimised this time - There are fingers pointed everywhere and the jury is still out.In the timeless words of The Shakespeare of Urdu, Agha Hashar Kashmiri:Ek dhundlā sā tasavvur hai ki dil bhī thā yahāñ[2],Ab to siine meñ faqat ik Tiis sī paatā huuñ maiñ.Loose Translation:Where the heart used to beat, I faintly remember,Now dwells a pain, a yearn and some nostalgia.We are all guilty of justifying one wrong with another. We have all been oppressed - we’ve all been oppressors.And thus, without further ado, for all us oppressors out here, here’s presenting the detailed timeline, of the History of Kashmir. Use it - Abuse it - Do what you like :)The dates and facts are sourced from Professor P N Dhar, Kalhana, son of Canpaka, the author of Rajatarangini and his Firang Translator, Sir Mark Aurel Stein. I have also quoted media resources from both India, Pakistan, Britain and United Nations, and tried my best to remain neutral. For those, who may wonder, what the heck are Mahabharata characters doing here - well, just because some people star in an epic does not mean they aren’t historic characters :)CHAPTER 1: The beginning and the start of an end.—————————————The first 4444 years3120–16 BC: Gonanda I, cousin of Jarasandha, king of Magadh rules over Kashmir. His reign lasts for 17 years and is assassinated by Balabhadra, the brother of Krishna.3103 BC: Damodara Dynasty, consisting of Damodara I, his wife, Yashovanti and Son Damodara II rule over Kashmir for 80 years. Damodara I is killed by Krishna. Damodara II is assassinated by Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna of Mahabharat fame and the ruler of Hastinapur. Damodara II’s Prime Minister Harnadeva, a relative of Parikshit, takes over as the King of Kashmir.3083 BC: King Harnadeva starts the Pandava dynasty which rules over Kashmir for the next 1331 years.1752 BC: A reign of 8 successive and mostly unrelated rulers over Kashmir, which lasts for a total of 305 years. The Kings of Kashmir during this time are, Luv, Kush, Khagendra, Surendra, Godhara, Suvarna, Janaka, and finally Sachinara, who was Shakuni’s (of Mahabharat fame) great great grandson.1448 BC: Asoka or Dharmasoka of the Gonanda Dynasty takes over. He rules over Kashmir for 48 years. Asoka builds the grand city of Srinagar with ninety-six lakhs of houses, around the present day Dal Lake. The Gonanda dynasty rules till 272 BC, for a total of 1176 years and has a total of 35 kings. The last Gonanda king is Andha Yudhistira, who’s famous for having very small eyes.0500 BC: Kashmir was ruled by the monarchy of excellent horsemen, the Kambojas. Their capital was the city of Rajapura, which later became Rajouri. The same people, went on to create the Kamboja-Pala dynasty of Bengal in 10th and 11th century. They though aren’t mentioned in Rajatarangini Volumes and there is a debate among historians about the exact date and duration of their rule.0376 BC: The Shankaracharya temple of Srinagar is repaired by Gonanda King, Gopaditya. Point to note, Pandit Anand Kaul, the original temple was built by a Kashmiri Sovereign Sandiman, who reigned between 2629 to 2564 BC (cannot be verified). The temple was rechristened to its present name only after Shankaracharya visited around 9th Century AD. Also to note here, Sikandar Butshikan left this temple unharmed during his reign.0326 BC: King Abhisara, the sovereign of Poonch, Rajauri and Nowshera comes in contact of Alexander the Great during these times as per the Greek historians.0304 BC: Kashmir becomes a part of the Mauryan Empire under the Gonanda Kings, who accept the sovereignty of Chandragupta. Buddhism is introduced into the valley in a big way during this period. He is clearly a Junior sovereign to the Gonanda Kings.0272 BC: The Pratapaditya Dynasty takes over Kashmir. Rules till 80 BC, or 192 years. The Dynasty starts with King Pratapaditya, who is a relative of King Vikramaditya of Ujjain (The father of the Vikram Samvat calendar in India), and ends with King Sandhimati.0080 BC: Over the next 207 years, Kashmir is ruled by 10 Kings, starting from Meghavahana and ending with Lakshmana in 127–131 AD.0001 AD: Kashmir has by now become one of the most important centres of Hinduism and Buddhism with countless stupas, mathas and temples built around the valley.0127 AD: Kashmir is conquered by Kanishka I, and becomes a part of the Kushan Dynasty empire. A staunch Buddhist, Kanishka holds the 4th Buddhist council of his empire in Kashmir. It was during this very council, that Buddhism was divided into two sects, the Hinayana and the Mahayana.0400 AD: Around this time, Kashmiri Buddhist Missionaries started spreading Buddhism in Tibet and China. There was a regular stream of Tibetan and Chinese pilgrims during this time, visiting Kashmir. Buddhist Monk Kumārajīva, who influenced the Chinese emperor Yao Xing, during this period, and translated the Lotus Sutra and the Diamond Sutra among others, was also of Kashmiri Origin.0520 AD: Around this time, Kashmir was ruled by Mihirakula, a central asian conqueror for a short period, before getting defeated by Yashodharman in Malwa.0570 AD: Muḥammad ibn `Abdullāh, Prophet of Islam (PBUH) is born in Mecca in present day Saudi Arabia[3].———————When Kashmiris Rules over UP & Bihar0625 AD: The Karkota Empire of Kashmir was established by King Durlabhvardhana. The Empire ruled over Kashmir for 260 years and captured part of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Punjab, becoming the first Kashmiri Kingdom to have influence beyond the Himalayas. They had their capital in modern day Paraspore (Parihaspur) in Kashmir and were the financiers of the spectacular Martanda Surya Temple.0724 AD: Lalitaditya Muktapida, the most powerful Kashmiri sovereign ever, started his 36 year long and prosperous reign. His was a time, when most of modern day UP, Uttarakhand and Bihar, paid taxes to a Kashmiri King. Just to give you an idea of his badassery, here is the map of his empire:0875 AD: The author of Shiva Sutra, Vasugupta was born. He went on to become one of the most influential Indian poets of Sanskrit. His book, laid the foundation of the monistic Shaiva system called Kashmir Shaivism.0850 AD: Shaivism Tradition or Trika School of Sanatana Dharma is born in Kashmir around this time, thanks to the teachings of Vasugupta. Trika refers to the 3 goddesses Parā, Parāparā and Aparā.0950 AD: Abhinavagupta was born in Kashmir, He was a famous philosopher, mystic, aesthetician, musician, poet, dramatist, theologian, and logician of Trika and Kaula, who renewed the Teachings of Vasugupta, his teachings influenced the Shaivism in Southern India. Kashmir Shaivism was adopted by the common masses of Kashmir during this period.0997 AD: Kashmir was ruled by Queen Didda - who had her maternal ancestry in the Hindu Shahi of Kabul, Afghanistan. She was the daughter of Simharāja, a smaller Lohara King. She married to the then king of Kashmir, Kshemgupta, and ruled after the death of the King since her son was very young to rule.1003 AD: Kashmir came into the hands of the Lohara Dynasty, which ruled over Kashmir for 317 years. The capital of the dynasty was in Loharkot Fort, which was unsuccessfully attacked twice by the Mahmood of Ghaznawi. The Last Ruler of this dynasty was King Suhadeva.————————————Introduction to Sufism.1310 AD: Estimated year when sufi mystic, Hazrat Bulbul Shah of Iran entered Kashmir along with a few of his disciples. He had an impressive charisma and knowledge and was respected by Kashmiris of all faiths. He built a monastery in Kashmir.1313 AD: Shah Mir, an Irani Sunni Muslim refugee came to the Kashmir Valley from Swat, along with his family. He was one of the first muslims to set foot in the valley. He was tactful, able and was welcomed by the then King Suhadev of Kashmir, who later appointed him as one of his ministers.Shah Mir would go on to start the first muslim dynasty, that ruled over Kashmir for 20 generations and 222 years.CHAPTER 2: The first round of Kashmiri oppression.—————————————-The Refugee King.1320 AD: A Ladakhi Buddhist Prince, Rinchen took the throne of Kashmir and Mystic Shaivite Yogini Poet, Lalleshwari or Lal Aarifa, or Lal Ded was born. She became the primary source of influence for Nund Rishi, Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali - The Patron Saint of Kashmir.Rinchen unsuccessfully revolted against his uncle, the Sovereign of Ladakh, and had to flee to Kashmir. He was made a minister in the court of Raja Suhadeva, which also had Shah Mir, as a minister. Raja Suhadeva was later defeated by the Mongols and his Commander-in-Chief, Ramchandra took over the reigns, making Rinchen his chief administrator - Rinchen assassinated Ramchandra and became the king himself.Rinchen married slain Ramchandra’s widowed daughter, Kota Rani, made Shah Mir as his chief advisor. Rinchen wanted to convert to Hinduism, but was denied. He later converted to Islam along with 10,000 of his men (first major conversion in Kashmir) on the direction of Irani sufi mystic, Hazrat Bulbul Shah, also known as the Bulbul-e-Kashmir. Rinchen adopted the title of Sultan Sadruddin Shah.He built the first ever Mosque in Kashmir, on the ruins of a Buddhist temple (the Bud Masjid).1323 AD: Richen or Sultan Sadruddin Shah, succumbed to injuries during an attack by rebels. Kota Rani, his wife, decided to marry, Udayanadeva, the brother of Suhadeva. Though Udayanadeva became the King, it was Kota Rani who actually wielded the real power. She was known to be intelligent, shrewd, brave and a real badass.She built a canal to save Srinagar from frequent flooding, which is still functional and still bears her name - Kute Kol.During her (proxy) reign, Kashmir was attacked by a Mongol Army led by Achalla. While the attack made King Udayanadeva flee to Tibet, Kota Rani faced the attackers head on and killed Achalla, making the other attackers run away.She was finally dethroned, by her trusted lieutenant Shah Mir who organised an internal uprising against her. When she found herself helpless with Shah Mir offering a proposal of marriage, she stabbed herself to death in modern day Sambhal in Kashmir, clearing the path of the Shah Mir Dynasty which ruled Kashmir for 222 years.1334 AD: Approximate year, when sufi mystic, Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani or Shah Hamdan entered Kashmir. Born in modern day Iran, he is attributed to have played a major role in the spread of Islam in Kashmir. He was one of the major influencers of Shaivite Mystic Lal Ded or Lalleshwari, who was just 6 years younger to him.—————222 years of the Shah Mir Dynasty & the rise of Islam1339 AD: Shah Mir, a descendant of persian immigrants of the Swat valley, and the Chief Advisor to the King Richen (Sultan Sadruddin Shah), took over the throne after the king succumbed to his injuries while fighting Mongols. He tried marrying Kota Rani, but she committed a suicide. Shah Mir thus became the first muslim ruler of Kashmir, starting the Shah Mir Dynasty. He ruled for 3 years and 5 months.1377 AD: Nund Rishi or Sheikh Noor ud-Din Wali, the founder of the Rishi Order of Kashmiri sufi tradition was born in present day Kulgam district. According to the legend, on the 3rd day of his birth, Yogini Lalleshwari or Lal Ded, had suckled him milk, opening his fast since birth.He is known as the Patron Saint of Kashmir and the father of Kashmiriyat. He psignNowed communal harmony, non-violence, vegetarianism and tolerance to the people.In 1995, his final resting place, Charar-e-Sharif, was gutted in a fire started by Mast Gul , a terrorist trying to escape[4]from the security forces. The whole town and the shrine was re-built with the help of a grant by the government of India.1389 AD: Sikandar Shah Mir better known as Sikandar Butshikan[5] became the 6th Sultan of Kashmir. His reign of 24 years saw a blood soaked effort to convert the majority population of Kashmir, from Hinduism to Islam. By his order, many old Hindu and Buddhist temples were desecrated and burnt, Hindus were prohibited from praying, putting a tilak, sounding a temple bell, blowing of conch shell, celebrating festivals and even cremating their dead. A heavy Jizya tax was imposed on non muslims and they were treated as second class citizens. A large number of Hindus were forcibly converted during his reign. Many were forced to leave their homes and flee. The grand Martand Surya Temple was desecrated on his orders.By the end of his rule - Kashmir became a Muslim Majority state for the first time in History.—————————-The reign of Bud Shah, the wise1418 AD: The Bud Shah or Zain-ul-Abidin started his reign as the 8th Sultan of the Shah Mir Dynasty in Kashmir. Though he was a muslim ruler, he abolished the Jizya tax on the Hindu Majority of Kashmir, and banned cow slaughter. He was a scholar of Persian, Tibetan and Sanskrit, and ordered the translation of Mahabharata into Persian for the first time.He tried to call the Kashmiri Hindus back to the valley. He also invited artists and craftsmen from modern day Iran to train the locals in the art of Carpet Making, and Wood Carving among other things.1557 AD: Sultan Habib Shah, the 20th and final Sultan of the Shah Mir Dynasty, took over the throne.—————————————The Mughal Affair1586 AD: Mughal rule started in Kashmir with Akbar’s conquest of the Kashmir Valley. Zille Ilahi visited Kashmir himself in 1589. The Mughals were in love with Kashmir. They built many gardens and monuments across the valley.1658 AD: Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb came to power and took a special interest in Kashmir. The Jizya Tax, Persecution of Hindus and Mass conversions to Islam restarted. This became, what was later known as the 2nd Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley. Kashmiri Pandits went to Guru Teg Bahadur for help. For more details, please read this: The story of Aurangzeb Alamgir and the Kashmiri Pandits.1698 AD: Aurangzeb found out about a rich Kashmiri trader by the name Nur-ud-Din Eshai, who had bought a relic (a strand of hair) belonging to prophet Muhammad from an ancestor, living in Bijapur. He ordered the seizing of the relic - which was sent to Ajmer Dargah, while Nur-ud-Din Eshai, was sent to the prison. By the time he came around to a realisation, that he had made a mistake, Noor-ud-Din had died in the prison.1700 AD: A repentant Aurangzeb arranged for the Body of Nur-ud-Din Eshai to be sent to Srinagar, along with the relic of Prophet Mohammad. Nur-Ud-Din’s daughter, Inayat Begam, became the first custodian of the relic, which was kept in a large and beautiful shrine on the banks of the Dal Lake - The Shrine came to be known as Hazratbal.This holy shrine, a few hundred years later, in 1963–67, saw the first ever Anti India demonstration in Kashmir. More details, later in the timeline.Extra: I would like to recommend a visit to Hazaratbal for everyone who goes to Srinagar, this place is beyond words.1753 AD: The Afghan Durranis started their rule over Kashmir when Abdul Khan Isk Aquasi, a general in Ahmed Shah Abdali’s army conquered Kashmir. This started the 3rd round of oppression against the Hindus in Kashmir, where, this time, many were turned into slaves by the Afghan rulers. The Durrani’s rule in Kashmir lasted for 69 years when they were routed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.CHAPTER 3: The second round of Kashmiri oppression.——————————The 75 lakhs of Gulab Singh Dogra1792 AD: Gulab Singh Dogra, an awesome fighter and the founder of the Dogra Dynasty was born.1819 AD: Maharaja Ranjit Singh started his rule over Kashmir. The Sikhs removed the oppressive Jizya Tax. Imposed death sentence for cow slaughter. Closed down the Jama Masjid in Srinagar and banned the Azaan in all mosques.1820 AD: Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave away the fief of Jammu to Kishore Singh Dogra, the father of 28 year old Gulab Singh Dogra in appreciation of Gulab’s fighting skills.1820 AD: Adding further to the family jewels, Gulab Singh Dogra captured Rajouri and Kishtwar into his fief as well. Gulab Singh also helped capture Ladakh and Baltistan for the Lahore Gaddi.1832 AD: Kashmir faced the first recorded famine in its history. The Taxed were halved, and loans were offered to farmers. Kashmir soon bounced back, becoming the 2nd largest source of revenues for the Lahore Gaddi.1839 AD: Maharaja Ranjit Singh died and the Lahore Gaddi became weaker.1842 AD: After a brief war between the Sikh forces of the Lahore Gaddi and the Chinese, both sign a treaty in September which gave away Aksai Chin to China, while the Sikhs retained Ladakh. This treaty was later inherited by the British and the status quo remained maintained till the Independence of India.1843 AD: One of the most famous Kashmiri Sufi Poets of the Qadiriyya silsila, Shams Faqir was born.1845 AD: The First Anglo Sikh War Started - Let’s just say, the Dogras, abstained from giving their 100% this time.1846 AD: Britishers defeated the Sikhs, demanded a repatriation of Rs. 1.5 Crores from the Sikh rulers, with an additional sum of Rs 60 Lakhs payable immediately, as reparations for the cost of the war. The Lahore Gaddi, paid Rs. 50 Lakhs in cash and ceded the territories of Hazara and Kashmir for a sum of 1 crore. The British further sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh Dogra, the Raja of Jammu, for a sum of Rs. 75 Lakhs as per the Treaty of Amritsar. This is how the Princely State of Jammu & Kashmir came together for the first time with Gulab Singh Dogra becoming the Raja of Jammu & Kashmir.1857 AD: During the first war of Indian Independence, Raja Gulab Singh Dogra chose to side with the British and gave refuge to many britishers fleeing the rebels. He also provided troops to quell the Indian rebellion. Soon, Gulab Singh was succeeded to the Dogra throne by his son, Ranbir Singh Dogra who added the Hunza valley, Gilgit and Nagar to the Kingdom.1890 AD: The Kashmiris, who had converted from Hinduism to Islam for the fear of persecution, became persecuted for their religion again under the Dogra Kings. They faced heavy taxation and discrimination, leading to many deciding to leave Kashmir, and settle in Punjab.1907 AD: Swami Lakshman Joo or Lal Sahib, a mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism or Trika was born in Srinagar.1925 AD: Raja Hari Singh Dogra, the grandson of Raja Ranbir Singh Dogra, and the alumni of Mayo College Ajmer, ascended to the throne of Kashmir. He made primary education compulsory and banned child marriages. He was friends with Kashmiri Leader Sheikh Abdullah and disliked Jawahar Lal, another Kashmiri, leading the Congress Party of India.1931 AD: A mass movement starts against the new Maharaja. The state forces nip the bud very quickly and with brute force.1934 AD: A set of reforms are introduced in response to the mass movement - Elections are held for a representative body of the Kashmiri People, called the Praja Sabha. Muslim Conference Party (Which is known as the National Conference Party today) won 14 of the 21 seats reserved for Muslims1941 AD: 71,667 Kashmiris join the British Indian Army to fight overseas in World War II. The recruitment exercise of the British Indian Army, has the blessings of the Maharaja.1944 AD: Muhammad Ali Jinnah visits Kashmir, tried to rally public support for Muslim Conference - a rival of National Conference.1946 AD: Sheikh Abdullah (Sher-e-Kashmir, father of Farooq Abdullah, grandfather of Omar Abdullah), the most popular Kashmiri leader of the time, starts the Quit Kashmir Movement against the Maharaja.13 June 1947 AD: At the Joint Defence Council meeting, Jinnah and Nehru disagree on the accession of princely states, Jinnah asserting that it was for the rulers to decide and Nehru insisting that it was for the people.11 July 1947 AD: Muhammad Ali Jinnah declares that if Kashmir opted for independence, Pakistan would have friendly relations with it. Liaquat Ali Khan endorses the position.1947 AD: India Gained Independence. Pakistan got independence as well. All princely states were free to either join one of the countries or remain independent. At this point in history, Jammu & Kashmir was a Muslim Majority state, with a Hindu sovereign - Kind of like an opposite of the super rich state of Hyderabad and Junagarh. The Maharaja of Kashmir, looking to remain independent, signs a standstill agreement with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, The Signing by Nehru remains pending. Hari Singh is hoping to buy some time.CHAPTER 4: An old bride and her new suitors.—————————The Longest India-Pakistan War, 194715th August 1947: Kashmir Signs the Standstill Agreement with Pakistan, promising not to attack and continue all the previous arrangements and help, till clarity is signNowed about the accession.9 September 1947: 3 weeks after signing the Standstill Agreement with Kashmir, Pakistan cuts off supplies of petrol, sugar, salt and kerosene and stops trade in timber, fruits, fur and carpets in violation of the agreement hoping to put some pressure on the Raja.1st October 1947: 45 days after signing the Standstill Agreement with Kashmir, Mohammad Ali Jinnah gives a call to the Tribes of Waziristan province, asking them to answer the holy call of liberating a muslim dominated region from the clutches of a non muslim usurper. About 20,000 attackers converge in Abbottabad. They are armed and divided into 10 batches, lead by “on-leave” Army officers from Pakistan.The Tribals wreck havoc in Kashmir. Raja’s forces are of no match. Within a few weeks, they signNow the outskirts of Srinagar. The Raja Panics and writes to Lord Mountbatten, the governor General of India for help. Mountbatten suggests him to sign the instrument of accession before any help could arrive.26 October 1947, “Lieutenant-General His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO”, signed the instrument of accession, agreeing to accede to the dominion of India.27 October 1947: The Indian army enters the state to repel the invaders. Sheikh Abdullah (Sher-e-Kashmir, father of Farooq Abdullah, grandfather of Omar Abdullah) endorses the accession, National Conference Helps Indian Army fight against the Tribal Leaders. Raja Hari Singh appoints Sheikh Abdullah as head of the emergency administration.27 October 1947: Mohammad Ali Jinnah orders General Douglas Gracey to send Pakistani troops into Kashmir. Gracey declines pointing out the fact of Kashmir's accession to India. Gracey had a 'stand down order' from the Supreme Commander Claude Auchinleck to the effect that, in the event of an inter-Dominion war, all the British officers in both the armies must stand down.1 November 1947: Skirmishes reduce in intensity. Winter is coming. There is a stalemate of sort in the war.20–21 October 1947 : Between 20,000 and 1 lakh Muslims are killed in what is later known as the Jammu Massacres. Lakhs migrate with their kith and kin to Sialkot in Punjab following the massacre. This was avenged sooner on the other side.20 November 1947: Lord Mountbatten suggests to Nehru, that he should go to the newly formed successor to the League of Nations, the UN for an international mediation, since India has a ‘solid and fool-proof’ case. His proposal is discussed in the Indian cabinet. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel expresses his displeasure.25 November 1947: Massacre of 20,000 Hindus and Sikhs takes place at a shelter at Mirpur in what is now Azad Kashmir. The day is remembered as the Mirpur day in Indian-administered Jammu.4 December 1947: The British Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army sanctions military involvement in the Kashmir war. One million rounds of ammunition and twelve volunteer officers are provided.28 December 1947: Lord Mountbatten writes to Nehru again, to convince him to ceasefire. British Prime Minister Attlee warns Nehru that opening a broader war would jeopardise India's case in the UN.31 December 1947: India officially refers the Kashmir problem to the security council of the United Nations. Alexander Cadogan, the permanent representative of the UN files a report claiming that, “India was entitled to charge Pakistan as aggressor under Article 35 and to take measures for self-defence under Article 51, including "pursuing invaders into Pakistan".15 January 1948: Both India and Pakistan present their case. India argues the case on the basis of legality. Pakistan in her argument accuses India of committing a genocide in Kashmir and capturing Junagarh. Pakistan calls for pulling back of both the Tribal fighters and the Indian forces out of Kashmir.30th January 1948: Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in Birla House, Delhi, by an extreme right wing Hindu ideologue. He died before any medical help could signNow him. His death pulled Nehru and Patel together. Official mourning was declared both in India and Pakistan.21 April 1948: UN Security Council passes Resolution 47 calling for a three-step process for the resolution of the dispute: Pakistani withdrawal of its nationals, India to reduce its troops to minimum level, and arrangements for a plebiscite. Both India and Pakistan reject this resolution.13 August 1948: UNCIP adopts its first resolution on Kashmir, fine-tuning the April resolution of the Security Council to take into account objections by both India and Pakistan. Pakistan's aggression is indirectly acknowledged by asking for its withdrawal as the first step. The resolution is accepted by India, but effectively rejected by Pakistan. The fighting continues. There are small gains on both sides. Both sides prepare for renewed war efforts, since - Winter is coming.11 September 1948: Jinnah died of TB, in the middle of the road, in oppressive heat, in a broken down ambulance, as Fatima Jinnah tried to discourage the flies bumbling over his head. Official mourning was declared both in India and Pakistan.13 September 1948: Under a swift military intervention, codenamed, Operation Polo, The Indian Army enters the Princely State of Hyderabad.1 November 1948: Zoji La pass is finally captured by India after months of fighting. Ladakh is now secure in Indian hands.15 November 1948: Drass sector is recaptured from the Pakistani forces after weeks of heavy fighting and loss of life on both sides.23 November 1948: Kargil is captured back from the Pakistani forces. This one’s special, because the terrain here is the most difficult and the Indian forces are neither acclimatised for such high altitude, nor do they have winter clothing.1 January 1949: A ceasefire is declared by both India and Pakistan. Indian forces till now had cleared most of the Kashmir valley, and Ladakh while successfully defending Jammu. There is no way for the Indian forces to signNow Gilgit and Baltistan during the winters months. Everyone agrees to wait for the ‘snows’ to melt.5 January 1949: UNCIP (United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan) resolution states that the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. Both India and Pakistan agree in principle, but disagree with the steps. The biggest question at hand is the so called Azad Kashmir Army, which Pakistan insists, should not be withdrawn from the Kashmir that it controls.It was a stalemate.28 April 1949: Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, the 32 year old leader of pro-Pakistan Kashmiri resistance, who was recently declared as the President of Azad Kashmir by Pakistan, was made to sign the Karachi Agreement in secret. This agreement ceded control of Kashmir’s defence, foreign affairs along with a complete control over Gilgit-Baltistan as a Pakistani territory. This agreement only came to light in the 1990s.17 October 1949: The constituent assembly of India passed article 370 of the Indian constitution, ensuring a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, with Indian jurisdiction in Kashmir limited to the three areas agreed in the Instrument of Accession, viz., defence, foreign affairs and communications.1951 AD: The election to the constituent assembly are announced in Kashmir. This constituent assembly is supposed to work as per Article 370 of the Indian constitution. 75 seats are allocated - 25 of them are left empty for the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.The election is rigged - National Conference wins all 75 seats.1952 AD: Sheikh Abdullah, now the Prime Minister of Kashmir, flips. Declares that he favours independence and not accession to India. The same year, monarchy is officially abolished in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.1953 AD: Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, a leader of the Jan Sangh Party (Which later became BJP), dies in jail. He had been arrested for entering the State of Jammu and Kashmir for agitation against the special status given to the state.Sheikh Abdullah, the Prime Minister of J&K, who had been demanding for independence in public meetings, is also dismissed and put into the prison for Anti-India activities (Kashmir Conspiracy Case). Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed becomes the new Prime Minister of the state, who soon ratifies the accession of Kashmir to India in the state assembly.1954 AD: India and Pakistan create a bilateral commission, to organise the plebiscite in Kashmir within the next 6 months. This commision is broken later, when Pakistan and US sign a Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement - which Nehru sees as anti India.1956 AD: The J&K state assembly, adopts a resolution, declaring Kashmir as an integral part of India. India’s home minister, Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant declares to the press during his visit to Kashmir that now, there is no need for a plebiscite in Kashmir.1957 AD: Elections to the first legislative assembly of Kashmir are held. National Conference wins 69 of the 75 seats. 47 seats are won unopposed. Allegations of cheating are levelled up again. No one cares. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed continues as the PM of Kashmir.1959 AD: China Officially annexes Tibet, and declares it an integral part of China. Everyone in India suddenly realise, that Aksai Chin, shown in our maps, as a part of J&K, is not in our sovereign control. China starts building a road to connect Xinjiang in Northwestern China to Tibet. China is now building a road from the same Xinjiang province, to Gwadar in Balochistan under CPEC.1962 AD: Second round of elections are held for the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir state. National Conference wins 68 of the 74 seats.1963 AD: Pakistan signs an agreement with China, giving away the Northern areas, or the Trans-Karakoram Tract of Kashmir to China, JLT.Same year, On 27 December, the Holy Relic from Hazratbal Shrine is stolen around 2 am when the custodians of the shrine were sleeping. Around 50,000 locals carrying black flags demonstrated in front of the shrine. This is the first time when anti-India slogans were heard in Kashmir.The relic was recovered on 4 January 1964, but no information about the thieves was disclosed.1964 AD: Sheikh Abdullah is finally released from Prison for good, All Charges against him are dropped. This is an 11 year long - ‘non-continuous’ stint in jail that makes him a beloved of the people - The Sher-e-Kashmir. Article 356 and 357 are amended to change the post of Prime Minister into that of the Chief Minister.1965 AD: The ruling party in Kashmir, National Conference decides to dissolve itself, and merge in the Indian National Congress Party.The same year, an advisor tells Pakistani Dictator, General Aayub Khan, that there is an mass unrest in the Kashmir Valley and if he can send out some ‘help’ he can write him name in Pakistani history in golden letters as Fateh-e-Kashmir.He really likes the idea and orders the execution of Operation Gibraltar. Pakistani Troops enter the Kashmir Valley in Salwar Kameez - are identified by Locals and reported to the army - the ‘brilliant’ idea fails and gets nipped in the bud. This starts the India Pakistan War of 1965.India opens the war front outside Kashmir, entering Lahore and Sialkot. The return of the Indian troops from Lahore is celebrated as a Victory by the Spin doctors of the Pakistani National Narrative as (Youm-e-Difa) a successful day of defence (Obviously, had they not attacked first - there would have been no use of defending later).—————————-The Start of Kashmiri Militancy1966 AD: Both countries sign a ceasefire agreement in Tashkent, mediated by Russia. This is the first time, when Pakistan realises its martial impotency and decides to support guerrilla groups against India. Kashmiri separatists, Amanullah Khan and Maqbool Bhat form a Plebiscite Front with an armed wing called NLF, which later become JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) in the Pakistani held Kashmir. Maqbool Bhat is later arrested while he’s trying to enter Indian Kashmir. Amanullah Khan settles down in London.1971 AD: Pakistan implodes, giving birth to Bangladesh. Over 90,000 Pakistani Soldiers surrender. India and Pakistan sign the Shimla agreement - mutually agreeing to make Kashmir a bilateral dispute.1977 AD: 3rd Elections are held to the state assembly. They are considered to be the first free and fair elections in Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah and his party wins a Majority.1982 AD: Sheikh Abdullah, the Sher-e-Kashmir, dies. His son, Farooq Abdullah becomes the new Chief Minister of J&K.1984 AD: Indian consul general in Indian consul general in Birmingham, UK Ravindra Mhatre is abducted and murdered by JKLF militants. India executes Maqbool Bhat. Amanullah Khan is asked to leave UK - he returns back to Pakistan. Pakistan’s ISI helps Amanullah start a more violent and radical version of the militant group - JKLF1987 AD: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections take place in 1987. Most commentators agree that these elections were rigged and manipulated by the Central Government to favor candidates which were in line with the government of the day.1989 AD: The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ends. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Pakistan finally has a friendly Afghanistan and the ever elusive strategic depth along with a ready infrastructure to sponsor Jihad in Kashmir.1990 AD: Jagmohan, perhaps one of the most hated Indian in Kashmir valley is appointed as the governor of the state. CM Farooq Abdullah resigns, close to 100 local protesters are killed in firing. Lassa Kaul, director of Srinagar Doordarshan is killed by JKLF - the first major Kashmiri Pandit to be assassinated in the valley - What follows is the 7th forced exodus of Kashmiris - this time, orchestrated by the locals - those who had converted persecute those who hadn’t.While the Pandits leave en masse, about 10,000 young Kashmiris cross the LOC and get trained in the militant training camps run in Pakistan. Many come back and wreak havoc in Kashmir.The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act is passed in the Indian Parliament and with the recommendation from the state government, AFSPA is imposed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.1999 AD: Pakistan’s Chief of Army staff, along with a few flunkies, decide to extract a revenge of Siachen - in the winters, when the Indian troops vacate their posts in Kargil, they are take up by Pakistani soldiers in Salwar Kameez. Their only mistake - they forget to inform the Navy and the Airforce and fail to take a national consensus. They were hoping to bluff all the way to a negotiating table and perhaps maintain a status quo - what India does in response just takes their napkins away.Pakistan tries to bluff initially by calling the belligerents as Mujahideens, refusing to even take back the dead bodies - but later, under intense international pressure, accepts them as their own and is forces to execute a humiliating unilateral ceasefire.2001 AD: In October, the State Assembly in Srinagar is attacked by Militants - 36 are killed. Two months later, the Parliament of India is attacked.2003 AD: The Delhi Lahore Bus Service Resumes.2012 AD: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declares that AFSPA is here to stay for a bit longer.2014 AD: Jammu and Kashmir Legislative elections take place with a record turn-out.2016 AD: Following the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, an acclaimed terrorist from Hizbul Mujahideen, a wave of protests engulf the valley.While I am adding a new section here right now. I would like to leave you with the following lines:Iswar Allah, tere jahan mein, nafrat kyon hai, jung hai kyon?Jab har dil mein, tu rehta hai, insan ka dil, tang hai kyon?Loose TranslationHey lord of all people, in your world, why is there strife and war?When you beat in every heart, why are these hearts beating apart?Thank you for reading, cheers and peace :)Footnotes[1] Paradise Regained?[2] Read full sher by Agha Hashr Kashmiri[3] Prophet's Birthday[4] 17 yrs later, the mystery of Mast Gul's escape remains[5] Kashmir and It's People
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How would you respond to your teen if he/she threatened to call Child Protective Services because you punished them?
You hand them the phone and ask them if they want you to look up the number for them? I had four teen boys and an adult daughter and a baby living with my new husband and I. The boys would get sassy and nasty and out of control sometimes and I would give them a slap or a smack for the nasty talk and some form of grounding or discipline for the thing done wrong.I happened to be installing a LAN system at a police station around the same time. The chief of police sat down at my table to eat his lunch and we fell into conversation. I mentioned my four teen boys and how sassy they could get. I explained that they threaten to call the cops any time I go to smack them for something they’ve said or done. He asked me if I actually do hit them and I said, “yes, I do smack them, they are great big boys, all of them are bigger than me and sometimes, I just can’t signNow them.”He laughed, of course, and said, “Well, just go get a chair or something so that you can signNow them. And if they call us, we’ll be happy to come to your home and stand around and laugh at your son for you.”And then, he got very serious, the way cops get serious and said,“Here’s the truth, you beat them now or we will beat them later. You take your choice.”He was so serious, it gave me chills.I went home and related this story to my boys and told them all, “Don’t make me go get a chair.” and it became the catchphrase for the rest of their childhood. If they gave me lip, I said, “Don’t make me go get the chair.” and it would return everyone to perspective.The last slap was to my youngest. When, at age 16, he said, “F*ck you, B*tch!” after I had grounded him for yet another display of bad behavior, I chased his butt down and went to slap him. He blocked me! What?! I went to slap him a second time, calling me names is strictly against the rules. He blocked me a second time. I saw red. You know how it is. This boy was six feet tall and out weighed me, I’m only five feet tall! I went to slap him again but I put everything I had into it to get past the expected block. He didn’t block the third time and I nearly took his head off his shoulders - the mark was bright red and I didn’t feel bad about it at all.He threatened to call the cops and I told him to go ahead but that he would have to prove in court that I was unfit. He just gave up at that point and the fight was over, he accepted his grounding and the justified slap. I never had to slap another one of my kids. After that, they had all learned enough respect for others that it wasn’t ever necessary again.What did he do that resulted in him calling me the b word and me chasing him down and slapping him for it? He and an older friend had trashed a hotel room and he didn’t think it was fair that the friend’s mother had to pay $400.00 in damages and I was explaining why he was wrong. Oh, and that was the ONLY time any of my kids called me a name where I could hear them. They told me they hated me, they told me I was unfair. They told me I was mean and then.. years later, all of them told me, “Thank you, for being my mom and not my friend”.Dare to be the parent and the cops will have your back. When your kids become adults, then you can be friends. Good Luck!
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What happened to TWA Flight 800?
While the missile supposition (it's not even a really well-formed theory) would seem logical to someone whose only source of information was this new "evidence", it really doesn't stand up to scrutiny because:Missiles don't fire themselves - The weapons officer who gave the command and the crew member who fired any such missile are likely still alive. While the officer (if he is still in the US Navy) might be afraid for his naval future, the crewman has probably separated from the service by this time. Any reasonable investigation would have started with those two individuals as they would known that a missile they launched hit a target.The US military keeps secrets very poorly - It is inconceivable that 17 years would have passed and no one in the military has dropped even hints to the major media outlets or online that this crash was not what it seemed to be.Insurance companies - The 800lb gorilla in the room, Tens of millions in claims were paid as a result of this crash. Given insurance companies propensity to avoid paying questionable claims, if they have not raised suspicions that the investigation was somehow "flawed" or fraudulent, then that should tell most people that they believe in the result from the NTSB.The NTSB - This is an agency which is full of trained professionals who take their jobs seriously. Given that the government would likely lose a whistleblower lawsuit if they tried to fire investigators who reported potentially damaging results, why would these men and women falsify their accident results.Foreign governments - Many of the people on board the flight were foreign nationals. If their governments felt that in any manner the results of the investigation concerning te deaths of their citizens wasn't legitimate, why haven't they complained? The US government is a powerful entity. But it has been repeatedly shown that many smaller and weaker nations will stand up to the US for a host of other far less important reasons than something like this.Just as 9/11 conspiracy theorist seize upon a single item and make that match an overarching conspiracy they have invented, the same thing seems to be occurring here. Several minor things (an alleged streak in the sky, minor questions about wiring,etc) are being conflated to make it seem that something is "there" which is not.Flight 800 was a tragedy...but it was a tragedy which has been explained. If it remained a "mystery" I could see the interest. But the only mystery is why conspiracy theorists are coming out of the woodwork now.
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Is life at Goldman Sachs really bad?
Originally answered - Shilpi Roy's answer to Should I choose signNow or Goldman Sachs (India)?The answer is gonna be really long. Grab some snacks as it could take a while.I was the happiest person the day I was selected as a FTE (tech analyst position) at GS - a reputed fin-tech company which mostly hires tier-1 students, a dream for many. I heard from many people that GS offers package as high as 32lpa which was quite a big deal for me - or for anyone who might have been at my place.Then came the HR’s call. She offered me semester long internship in GS! I was glad that I don’t have to spend my last semester in college and will also earn some money. With the stipend as high as 75k and stay at Hilton hotel during intern, anybody is likely to go crazy and say “YES”.And so I did.The beginning (GS-Bengaluru office)Soon came 7th January. Day started off with amazing orientation and office visit. Then came the lunch buddy - GS assigns a buddy from your department to have lunch with you the day you join, let’s say he was Raghav (name changed).Raghav seemed to be a really smart guy. I asked him a few questions about GS being a fin-tech, is it easy to switch and other questions. He seemed to be out of place, not interested. A guy came who was an intern in a team in which Raghav used to work. He kept talking and giggling with him, completely ignoring my presence. Cool, maybe Raghav is a bad guy - who cares?Met with my manager and two other interns who were in the same department - GIR. He seemed like a chilled-out and thoughtful person. Let’s call him Rudra.Our whole department used to sit in a middle sized cabin which accommodated around 32–35 employees of GIR. My happiness knew no bounds! Great team, small cabin and friendly manager - what else could I ask for?Then came the next day. We were introduced to our team and had a lunch together. Oh no! Lunch here was not free - no big deal. Only 80rs/- per plate is affordable when you earn 75k per month, I thought.After having lunch, we began installing softwares required. Wait, you can’t install some softwares without manager’s permission. Fine! I messaged my manager and he granted the permission. He came later in the evening and gave 3 of us an interesting machine learning problem to solve - in a week, till we get our projects.He had three projects in mind, and he left it for us to decide which one we want to take. I took the one which I thought was more impactful and cool, also because we had a member of our team working for the project. My task was to integrate the backend stuff he wrote with the UI I was going to create. Also to help him with some of those backend stuffs later on.“You can take help from Varun, in case you need” said Rudra.So it began!1st MonthI started learning React.js for the UI I was going to implement from various websites. There were tons of tutorial there. After understanding some theory, I clicked on ‘try it on codepen’ - online editor.“You are restricted from using an external website - no permissions”What? I can’t even use some online editor. Okay that’s fine - we have pretty sensitive data in GS. Since it’s a finance based company, we have client data with us and user may copy and paste it online - someone might steal the data! All this made sense. ‘It’s fine, I’ll bring my own laptop tommorow’, I thought before leaving.I could see two teammates standing behind me from my peripheral vision. One who was writing the backend stuff for the project I was working upon, let’s call him Varun.Varun was a silent and sober guy - a hardworking one who speaks only when required. Another guy standing beside him was Raghav.“Hey!” I said in a low tone.“Did I do some crime? Why are these two here?” I wondered.“You brought your personal laptop, is everything fine here?” they asked.I told them about the restrictions. Raghav took my work PC and sent Rudra, my manager a request to approve codepen.I waited. One hour. Two hours. Codepen still not working. Fine for me since I have my own laptop. No worries.After 2 weeks Varun called me and started assigning tasks to do for the UI. I was full of enthusiasm and paid full attention to what he wanted. I started looking out for the cool libraries out there and found - material-ui.‘Perfect!’ I exclaimed.Started with the tasks, and was able to achieve the target next evening. It looked damn good! Varun will be happy. And so, I showed it to him.“Okay, font-size is a bit huge. And please change the app’s name - ELEGANT USER’S APP” (name changed). And so I did.“E-L-E-G-E-N-T U-S-E-R—S A-P-P”What a funny name, I thought. (The real one was funnier than the changed one)So days went, 1..2…3 and I completed 5–6 tasks. The basic UI (20%) was done. Then came Varun -“Shilpi, you did this using which library?”“Material-ui! It’s really good and..”“Okay, but make sure you can use it. Only specific libraries can be used at GS. Search xyz site and ensure if we can use it. If yes, proceed. Else use GS UI library”What did he just say. I worked on the UI for 2 weeks, and he is telling me now that I may not be able to use the material-ui library! No way..With my heart beating fast, I typed..X..Y….Z …..gs..comCtrl+F“M-A——T-E—-R—I—A”Boom! It’s there. I was delighted :)The next day I was late. I saw a message pop up. It was from Raghav.“Hey” it said.“Hey” I replied.“Please try to attend the daily standup. If you don’t, mail Rudra about your update :)” He replied.There hasn’t been a single day I was late. But okay, FINE.Then came the 5th day - friday. I got a message from Varun.‘Hi Shilpi, can you make another UI using GS-UI?’Oh No!. Again?.‘Just for the feel…we’ll show it to Rudra next week, he’ll choose which one we can use’*Slow Claps*Well played Varun. Why did he approve the material-ui one if he wanted it in GS-UI - I wondered.It’s fine, I can do it. I encouraged myself and went to the internal site - gs-ui-library. (name changed)Okay, fine. This looks good. Okay. Cool. Documentation.. documentation….uhmm.I searched for the whole day, no documentation. Just few codes and examples to understand how to display some component.Way uglier than material-ui - I thought. And a minute later, an evil idea came to my mind..“What if I make the UI using gs-ui-library so ugly that Rudra and Varun both reject! That would be great!”The next week on friday, I was done with gs-ui-library. My code was asked to be removed from codesandbox by Varun - it’s illegal to put GS’s internal code there. I could hear Rudra laughing about how he is afraid of the interns bringing personal laptops here, and what will happen if someone names a variable as “GIR” and put it on github.I showed Rudra the material-ui one. He was impressed.“This looks good! But don’t keep the name as ‘ ELEGANT USERS APP’, instead keep it as ‘THE USERS SEARCH APP’ ” (name changed)“But Rudra, Varun has asked me to..”“I will ask him. We will decide and tell you”Fine. Keep the name as ‘The bla-bla app’. I don’t care.Varun was already gone by the time.I smirked. I won’t show the UI I made using gs-ui-library to Rudra!Next day Varun was on my desk. He asked whether I showed both the UI’s.“No, actually I forgot to show the other..”“See, the people above us will probably ask why we didn’t use GS-UI. That’s why I am saying so. I have no problem with material-ui. Just ask Rudra if he is fine with it. Rudra…”“Yes, Varun” replied Rudra.And then he showed both the UI’s to him. The ugly one. The good one.“I think it looks great - the ‘gs-ui-library’ one!” Rudra exclaimed.I shouted in my mind - “How can he..!”“See Shilpi, we don’t have any problem using material-ui one but the people for whom we are making the app will ask why we didn’t use the internal-gs library. Okay, tell me one thing - it does have all the components you require, right?”“Yes, Rudra” I sighed.“Seems like Shilpi wanted to use material-ui, haha” Rudra giggled and looked at Varun. I could hear the giggling from one if the two interns from behind - Tejas (name changed).He was also working on a UI, along with some backend stuff. He was using ‘gs-ui-library’ from day one. And so, he giggled.Rudra -1 .. Shilpi - 0This was the first time I went home feeling sad. Why didn’t they tell me 2 weeks ago? Now I will have to work on the other one. And the library has no documentation.Next week , Varun decided to keep the name as “ELEGENT-USERS-APP”. He refused Rudra.Varun -1.. Rudra- 0So I went back to my desk and began.“g-s-u-i-l-i-b-r-a-r-y” I typed.Gs-ui-library was a really terrible library. No documentation, made by mixture of other available libraries online. It was like an accidental product of some cross-breeding. A scientific failure.Anyways, I somehow learnt basic features which I could implement using the library. On the other hand, my machine was damn slow - for a reason I didn’t know.“Why are you using vs code? How did you get it!” asked Rudra who saw me coding on vscode.“I like it- it’s really good for react. Installed it from the store.”“Haha, use intellij, okay!” Rudra said in a serious tone.Wow. After making me work with the gs-ui-library, now he is snatching away the editor I love. Cool.I still continued with vs code. Varun was totally fine with it.I went to drink a glass of water. Didn’t bring my bottle that day. So took a ‘visitor’s cup’ from inside the drawers.“Ma’am, you can’t drink in that. It’s only for visitors” said a staff guy who saw that I was about to drink water from the visitor’s cup.I looked at him in shock.“Oh, it’s ok for today you can use it..Ma’am” he replied.Great. Block websites - facebook, gmail, codepen. Take my material-ui away. Don’t allow me to use vs-code. And also, don’t let me drink water at peace!I was pissed off. Huh!2nd MonthSo I started working on the integration part. Meanwhile we used to have meetings in which we were told about GIR and it’s functions. Rudra used to tell us about how fun the NAPA training is going to be, and how we will start hiding our id cards after the event.I completed the integration part in a week or so. Gave a weekly demo to Rudra.Next week was going to be a demo with Monica’s team (name changed). The finance guys for whom we were building the ‘ELEGANT USERS APP’. Varun was happy that I had completed the integration part and added 2 more features to implement.- feature1 & feature2Before the demo, we had a meeting with Monica just a week before. Rudra, Varun and I gathered in a room.“So Shilpi, how’s the work going? Are you liking it - the UI stuff? Aren’t you bored?” Rudra asked.“Hehe.. Actually yeah it’s a little boring. I hope backend stuff starts soon!” I honestly replied.“You know UI people make the most money.” Rudra smirked.“No, that’s a lie. Backend people make more money.” I replied.“Shilpi, that’s the case of technical firms. In financial firms like us, UI people earn more bonus.” said Varun.Soon came Monica. Varun and Monica proceeded on what she wants and what actually we have. It was a debate between them and I listened.Since the lunch time was over, Rudra and I went to the food-court outside to have one.“Shilpi, you know I was like you. The silent guy in the room. If someone else was at your place he would have asked a lot of questions! ”“I think it’s better to listen Rudra, than argue. I didn’t have much idea about what they were talking and the talk was mostly concerning Varun.”“See..it’s good very good. But to be at a place like GS…you know! The world is very mean, Shilpi. You need to speak more than you do work here! Many people don’t know much but they’ll get ahead of you because they speak. I was like you when I joined GS. In the group discussion round, when everyone was debating.. I just sat at the corner. HR came and asked each of us individually. If she hadn’t done that, I mayn’t be sitting here today”I gave it some thought. He was right.Some days later feature1 stopped working. I had no idea why, I was using an excellent library for feature1, of-course an external one. Varun himself has asked me to use an external for that case since we don’t have a gs library for that.But now. It wasn’t working.It took me a week to include the library - react-bootstrap-table2 with the project along with the features it had, and use it. And some magic happened. Now feature1 stops working. Damn!I woke up the whole night - till 4 am to make the feature1 work. The remote desktop worked very slow. In GS, we are not given laptops for security purposes. So we have to use remote desktop.It was damn slow but I was patient. I kept on trying and trying till I fell asleep early in the morning. Woke up around 12.An hour before demo with Monica’s team, I told Varun about it. He said it’s fine, we will show the demo without it.Tik…tikk….I wasn’t satisfied. I worked damn hard for 45 min and was able to make feature1 work!We went to give the demo. Varun pulled out a chair and sat before a PC.“Hi Monica!”“Hey Varun!”And so it started. The demo. The UI I made. The features I implemented. The integration. My two month’s hard work.All of them was presented by our VP, Mr.Varun!“Uhm…but we don’t need feature 1 and 2, Varun. You can remove it” said Monica.W-H-A-T! What did she just say. I went an hour back in time.I am sweating. I can feel I am nervous. This has to go good. I know well about the project, and I will make the feature-1 work! I will!Yes, I did. Only to lose the presentation as well as the feature.I rushed out of the room with the unhappy face which no one bothered about in the meeting room. I was silent and in hurry, it was weekly demo too today.“Haashh.. It went great!” exclaimed Varun who barely ever talked to me. Since like 1962!“Okay, but we have a weekly demo too!”The weekly demo got cancelled. Varun proceeded to tell me how we don’t need feature-1 and all the new features which Monica wanted. I remembered them all. One of them was a feature-X which was not possible technically. I tried making Varun understand and he did, after quite a while.Then came the mid-semester exam and I finally got a break!3rd MonthI went to my home after holidays. After 2 months, 1,40,000 was credited to my account. I bought clothes for mom and dad. I was delighted and ready to go back!Came back to office happily. Compiled the code.React-bootstrap-table2 library code - gone. Whole UI code changed in a week. My 2 week’s effort - 1 week for the library and 2 nd for other features went to ashes.Just in ONE SINGLE WEEK.~Varun committed the code 2 hours ago~~Varun committed the code yesterday~~Varun….~And so on.Varun started using an internal gs-ui-library library instead of react-bootstrap-table2. Instead of giving proper review comments, he changed my code by himself. Some backend stuff also came to me.I fetched the code from repo, the one Varun had implemented. And tried to understand.“You just have to implement feature-b-xyz, no need to go through whole code” he said.Fine.I added a new feature. Compiled and checked. Everything was working fine. Committed the code.Next day I came. Compiled the code.‘EXCEPTION THROWN’‘FAILED’And my PC hangs. For no reason why.I checked the code - it was changed. The integration part was changed. Feature XYZ was changed. And it stopped working.~Varun committed the code an hour ago~Why did he commit a code that fails? I wondered.This started happening daily. I had no idea why was this happening.The next series of days started with me coming late - 11:50, 12 or later than that. I used to mail Rudra about the update. Sometimes I was able to attend standup, sometime I wasn’t able to. My health started deteriorating.Everyday, Varun used to commit some changes. And it took a hell lot of time to update the project in intellij, go through his changes and do other changes. I was pretty much frustrated.Took 2 wfhs in 2 weeks. Logged in late many times. Had to push myself from bed everyday. Devoted my time to video games than gs work. Lost interest.Then I was given some backend part. I took WFH a day I wasn’t feeling well and learnt about apis stuff. Still some part of me wanted to do well and take interest in the work genuinely.We - all 3 interns received a mail from Rudra which we could never forget. Rudra had showed his ‘Rudra’ roop. The mail said -“You guys are not taking the work seriously. WFHs are not to be taken for granted. So many WFHs and late loggings. Not at all serious about your work. You guys need to have deliverables by the end of this month.I don’t care, work for your career not mine.”I was shocked. The friendly, giggling Rudra! I remembered the first time I met him. And the mail was quite a shock to all of us.Late loggings were targeted at me.WFHs for another one.But… Tejas? What did he do?As far as I remember, he was a hard working guy. Always on time. Never missed a standup. What did he do to receive the mail?Days after that, Varun took four wfhs in a row. Rudra was quiet. Nisha only came like twice in a week, Rudra said nothing.Why us? Why the interns? I wondered.One day I stayed at office till 8pm. I could hear Rudra talking about ‘The Elegant User’s App’ over a phone call.“We are building it again since the last UI was in angular. We wanted it in React.” he said to somebody over the call.Throughout my whole intern, I had one doubt in my mind.The app on which I was working upon was already built by someone and was functional too. But my manager wanted it to be built again since he wanted us to use a new technology.What’s the difference even if angular was used? What’s the need of rebuilding the app again from scratch? I wondered.And the next words I heard shattered me.“Yeah, Varun is working with some intern on ‘The Elegant User’s App’.”What did he say?The last two months were fully devoted to the UI. I went back in time.“Shilpi, if you want any help - Varun would be able to for this project.I was made to believe that it was an independent project, which it never was. I worked my ass off for three months only to hear that I am ‘some intern’ working under Varun and helping him building the UI.I got depressed.It was Holi’s festival - the festival of colours. I never really celebrated holi, hated to be coloured all over. We had a group for our department, and I wished everyone a “Happy Holi!”.Tejas replied with a “Happy holi” too.“Happy Forest Day” - stated an image I received on whatsapp. It was from Rudra. On the whatsapp group. This was his reply for “Happy Holi”.It's okay, don't respect our festival. But atleast don't disrespect it. Why was there even a need for reply?Needless to say, I didn’t go to office that day as sign of rebel (we didn’t have holiday on holi). Varun was already doing WFH. The “Happy Forest Day” frustrated me.Why Rudra why. You are better than that.“Niharika (name changed) is leaving GS” somebody whispered.Niharika, a very smart lady was in our department. She was mentoring an intern and sounded quite knowledgeable. Her sudden decision of leaving GS came as a shock to everyone.I had a last chat with her only when everyone was away for lunch. She had refused her farewell too I guess. She came to me and we had a decent chat. I asked her the reason of leaving. She wanted to switch the team maybe but it was taking a long time. Sweet and smart is all I could say for her. She had done work with JPMC & Morgan Stanley (US) and held a green card. A dedicated worker.After the lunch, she had a long meeting with Rudra. She was too firm with her decision.After she left, someone told me she bitched about many people in the team - specially Rudra. I was really sad. GS lost a good employee that day. And maybe, due to politics.Next day, GS was having an orientation for all new campus hires. It was one hell of a day. World-class hotel stay and world-class orientation.Varun was going out to the new office for 2 weeks. For some work.4th monthBefore Varun had left for the new office, he had asked me to attend telephonic standups for our team from 3–3:30. Now I used to attend 2 standups - the department one, and the team one. Full time waste activities!He had also asked me to get details of a task from Raghav and get it completed. I messaged him and he said he will be there at my desk in 5 min. Well, he never came. I asked him 2–3 times more to which he sent me a random link. I was disheartened and had nothing to do for 2 weeks.One day Rudra called me to fix some errors which he wasn’t able to fix by himself. He said he spent the whole night trying to fix those but didn’t know how to.I came to his desk. Those were linting errors!After having 10 years of experience, and you don’t even know what they are! Even if you know, please try to google. He was not getting what those line numbers represent. I explained him everything and fixed those.Soon, we got mails from hr regarding our joining dates and NAPA training, which is held in New York. I told the HR about my case, that I have courses left in college and I won’t be able to join on 3rd june.“Can I go to the training and join later after 12th july - when my courses are done” I asked.“No, you need to join as FTE. We will process your visa in june and you’ll go during july first week”“Okay” I replied.“Try to make your college understand, it’s important” is all she said.Next day, I refused. My college will never agree for me to take 2 week vacation during summer term.Rudra received a call from HR. I knew it was regarding me.He took me outside the cabin and asked why did I opted out of NAPA training. I told him everything - how my degree would be affected. He was ready to give WFH for 2 months. I was shocked. Again.Rudra was the most unpredictable mysterious guy I ever met. He was good and bad, at the same time. 2 months is a long time - and he agreed to give me WFH! He earned my respect.Then there was second meeting with Rudra. He told me everything - the work I’ll do as an FTE. Also, he never left a single moment he could get to brag about himself.“You will be working under Varun. He will be the team lead. Your work is XYZ-AHSH-PPOS…..”“Be as mature as me. I can make complex things simple easily. Learn it from me.” he said.Varun. No!!The silent guy. Who took away all the presentations. Even during our team standups over calls, he used to answer when some guy asked me about the project. My code was changed everyday. All the torture I faced last month. And now- I’ll be working under him. Wow.I told Rudra - how my code was changed everyday, how I was not told about the changes Varun did in the backend and still expected my code would run successfully. He listened to me for a while and then said -“When I was a NAPA, I used to ensure that I get 0 review comments”“I don’t get review comments, Rudra. My code gets changed, and it’s hard to understand it everyday without help of Varun.”“It’s a good thing, right? You will learn something from what the change he does. It’s good for you.”Cool. I have to look at the new code and somehow “learn without doing”. Interesting.I worked till 9 pm that day. Before Rudra left, he smiled at me sarcastically.“Shilpi, still working?”“Yeah Rudra, I came little late today.”“Varun changing your code and you changing his code.!”“Yes. That’s what is happening.”And then, he laughed maniacally.This was not the first time he did this. He used to laugh at me sarcastically many times after giving me the UI project.Next week, Varun was here. My virtual desktop was not working and I had no idea why. Called help-desk 5 times that day.“REBOOT!”“TRY IT FROM A DIFFERENT MACHINE!”“IT SHOWS ‘AVAILABLE’ ON MY MACHINE!”was all the response I got from 5 different help-desk-assistants.Took a day off the next day. Saw a mail. Varun had given presentation to our MD that day. UI presentation, which was supposed to be given by me.Next week, same schedule. Help-desk people failed miserably.I tried remote desktop and was able to open my outlook. My inbox was full of -“DISK CAPACITY OVER 95%! CLEAN IT!”I got it. But in order to clean it, I had to login to the virtual computer which I wasn’t able to. It was a deadlock.Soon I was assigned a new virtual computer. My whole local setup - was erased.My whole enthusiasm had turned to ashes at that point. Came late, went early. Stopped attending stand-ups. Late Loggings. WFHs. OOO. No updates. No weekly updates. Nothing to do next since Raghav didn’t help. Frustrated as hell.Our department was hiring more and more people. I had nowhere to sit. No one to talk to.The only friend I had in bengaluru left 2 weeks ago.Please note that I’ve nothing against GS. The management there is really good, they care about their employees. I don’t think any company could’ve given me 2 months WFH and I do respect Rudra a lot for that!The experience may vary from person to person, someone may find GS a very good place, based on the traits he/she has or the team he is working with. But for a shy person like me, who loves to code sitting at the corner of the room - GS is not the place. It was me who was not able to adapt to the culture there.This answer was written by me when I was still an intern. I had no idea what this could do to my life.Next day after I wrote this, I was called by the Head HR of Employee Relations in GS - Devika. I thought she had called me in order to discuss why am I choosing signNow over Goldman but this wasn’t the case.“I read your answer on Quora about Goldman..”“I’ll remove it!” I replied with the speed of light.“No..I don’t want you to take it down, Just tell me the issues you had”And she pretended to listen. Both of us knew why she called me here - to take the answer down.“See, these days many people are on social media and it is affecting how people see us. Probably, some interns wouldn’t want to work with us after reading the answer. Therefore I want you to remove it”“Also, please remember this meeting is confidential. DO NOT tell anyone from your team about it!” she said just before I left.And that was it. I deleted this answer.I saw Rudra’s text on my whatsapp. He asked whether I have a desk to sit, and when will I signNow on my desk. I knew something was fishy since he never ever bothered about.I finished the work and went home.The next day, I woke up to 10 calls from the HR and lots of messages. I asked what happened.I told her I have already deleted the answer, but there was something else. I wasn’t able to login from home. My remote desktop was taken away from me and I had no idea why.And then, came Monday.13th May 2019The day started off with my phone full of Devika’s texts. She insisted that I directly come to the meeting room first instead of going to the GIR cabin.I went to her cabin where she was sitting. And soon the harassment started.“What was your motive behind putting such kind of answers on quora, tell me what was in your mind”“I am sorry, Devika. I’ve already taken them down.”“Didn’t you knew about the firm’s policy? You knew it very well right? Still you put the experience on Quora?”“I was frustrated. So much that it didn’t occur to me at that time. But yes, I knew it.”She wrote it down on a paper.“You put it on social media, and don’t expect your manager to read it? Wake up! Everyone in your dept knows what you did okay! You are always saying that ‘don’t inform my manager about it’.. you know what, infact Rudra only informed us about this. He was the one who forwarded the answer.”I sighed. He knew about it the whole time. Still acted as friendly on thursday.“You can take action against me if you want to. I can’t say anything else.”“We are a very big firm. Many people are there writing these kind of negative - one sided answers. We don’t care”If she didn’t care, why was I sitting here?“I have talked to both Rudra and Varun. Now I know about their perspectives too. Did you inform your manager that you were on leave? No, you didn’t.”“Yes, I was really depressed and woke up at 5 eve..”“You were completely one-sided in your answer. Such a judgemental answer it was! You never wrote what you did!” she exclaimed.“Devika, I did. I wrote I was depressed and was late for standups. I wrote that I took WFH and..”“That was completely in another way!” she interrupted.And then she gave me a tough look.“I have tracked down your whole information, when do you come and leave, wfh etc. I don’t think it’s too much. You were also 1 hour late on the GS event, I heard”I wasn’t. What was she saying?“No, I was a minute late. You can ask my friend who was sitting there.”“Also, you were absent on 4 presentations Varun gave, right?”I was shocked. What did she just say? I was present in 3 of them, I remembered. Now I felt something was really wrong. Varun probably gave her false information about me.“No, I was there for 3 of them” I replied in a low voice.“And you weren’t allowed to give?” She raised her eyebrows.“I didn’t ask him, neither did he offer.. he just took the chair and..Did Varun said I was absent? I wasn’t!” I defended myself.“Oh yes you weren’t, I know. When did I say you were absent? You are just misunderstanding me” she replied and wrote down some points.And now she started lying too about things she said earlier! I was shocked to the core.“They said bad things about me, didn’t they.” I asked.“No, infact they praised you for technical aspects. ‘She did all her tasks which we assigned.’ ‘Used to find solutions of the problem till the very end.’” she read it from the paper she had.But what about the other aspects? I was sure they had said something worse about me. I wondered what was that except me coming late.“GS-UI-LIBRARY!!” she exclaimed.“This is what you wrote about the library. Seriously!”I looked down. I couldn’t say anything except sorry.“Rudra even let you choose jersey for cricket match, didn’t he?”“Yes he did.” I sighed.“What you think what made your experience bad? Was it yourself? Why put it on social media, and didn’t contact us. What about the HCM?”I was late and silent. The only faults.“Does anybody in your team knows about it?” she asked hoping that nobody knows.“No, just me and the interns.” I replied.“And what did you write? Niharika left because of politics..? Did you talk to her? Who told you?” she almost shouted.“I got to know that from a teammate.” I replied in low tone.“So you will put anything you hear on social media??” she tried to overpower me.“If I were your signNow HR and I read this answer on Quora.. you know I’d have..” Devika scolded in a rude tone.She would have taken my offer back. That’s what she meant.“I have already deleted it , Devika. I said sorry, what else can I do? ” I almost cried.“These things never happened with me at signNow. But people here..”I broke down. Couldn’t speak much.“What even if you deleted? 1000s of people saw it. All the people on your floor saw it. They may have copied it, downloaded it. It had so confidential information!”“And yeah, put this conversation there too!!” She said in a very rude tone.“I won’t. You know I won’t.” I whispered.“Anyways Shilpi, now it’d be too awkward for you to go there. We have already stopped your remote access. We don’t want you to work anymore. Since you’ve already rejected the offer too, no discussion related to it. You can submit the id card to me.”“Okay.”I cried a lot in the cab. Rudra knew it all the time. Why didn’t he himself fire me instead of sending a rude HR. And those two also lied a lot about me. The tone of HR was totally different when I met her on Thursday. And today she was really harassing me.It took me a while to understand - all this was planned by Rudra. He choose the rudest and senior-most HR to deal with my case and harass me, just to get back at me.2 interns were joining today and space was very less in the small GIR cabin. And he knew very well I completed all my work the last week itself. Win-Win situation for Rudra!Varun and Rudra lied to HR. It was evident from the way she treated me. I was made to be feel like a garbage - just because I was late at the office!I cried for an hour. And then, I edited and restored this answer.Next day I came to know none of the interns or people in my team knew about this! I was fired secretly. The HR lied the whole time.All because Rudra didn’t want to see my face in GIR!Do I fear them? Not at all.“I will survive, Tracy thought. I face mine enemies naked, and my courage is my shield.” ― Sidney Sheldon (if tomorrow comes)Many people want me to take this answer down or go anonymous. I have done nothing wrong. Those who have, they should hide their faces behind “anonymous” mask.If GS has some problem with the answer, they are free to take action against me. I am not bonded by any legal agreement and atleast deserved decent exit process.
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What are the instructions for someone traveling in a domestic flight for the first time in India?
Flying for the first time could be very exciting !Here are some tips to help one making his/her first flight experience good.signNow airport at-the-least 90 mins prior to boarding time as this is your first time. You don't need the stress. Airlines are very strict about their boarding time.The points mentioned below are more suited for domestic flights.At the airport:Procedure that is followed at most of the airports in India:1. Show your ticket copy / sms to the security guard at the terminal entrance along with one photo identity proof in original.2. Once you enter the terminal, go to your respective airline counter to get the boarding pass and to checkin luggage. Show your ticket copy at the counter. Make sure your total luggage weight is in the limits, otherwise be ready to pay extra for additional kilos.Once you get your boarding pass, confirm the gate number which is written in your boarding pass. Get some baggage tags from the counter for your cabin (hand) luggage. Put them right away in your hand baggage.3. Once you get the boarding pass and have given all your luggage (except hand baggages) for checkin, you can now proceed for security check. Follow directions at the airport to signNow the security check spot for your gate.4. Once you signNow the security check, empty your pockets (except the boarding pass) and keep everything in your hand baggage. Laptops needs to be kept separately from its backpack. Trays will be provided to keep your belongings. A security personnel will scan your body and put a seal of security check on your boarding pass. Similarly, your hand baggage + tray + laptop will go through scanning system monitored by security personnel. Once that is through, security personnel will put a seal on the tag present on your hand baggage as well.5. Now the security check is done. Make sure that your hand baggages have security seal on them. You can now proceed to the respective gate. Follow the directions at the airport to signNow the right gate.6. At the right flight time, gates will be opened. Airline executives will scan your boarding pass and allot you a seat (for people not familiar with web checkin). A bus would take you from the gate to the area where aircraft is placed.7. Once signNowed at the aircraft, congratulations, you can now board the flight.Misc points:a. Food items are bit costly inside the airport as compared to outside. Bring your own sandwich, fruit or snack. However, drinking water is free everywhere even in the flight. You can consider taking an empty bottle with you ;)b. You can enjoy free wifi at the airport. You are at an advantage of you have a dual sim phone ;).c. Express checkin counters are available if you are a privileged member of the airline.d. Listen to all the announcements made at the airport. It may happen that gate numbers are changed at the last moment. So audiophiles out there, keep your headphones volume low ;).e. There are smoking rooms available at the airports. You may find beer shops as well.f. For the senior citizens or specially abled, wheel chair services are provided free of cost. This will come along with an escort to help one do all the formalities at every stage of the journey. You will need to book the wheelchair in >1 day in advance.g. Knives, scissors, cutters or any such kind of sharp item must be kept in the checkin luggage. Otherwise, you will be forced to throw them away during hand baggage security check.h. If the weight of your checkin luggage is greater than the specified limit by few kilos, take some clothes out and put on yourself. No one will question that :). I have done this myself when they asked me to give 3000 Rs for 3kgs of extra weight (International flight). Dont forget to take picture of yours when you do this :)Another way is to contact someone in your queue, travelling in the same plane and having the same destination to get it through for you.If any suspicious item is found by security, you can do three things:Put that item in your checkin luggage. In this case, security will cancel your boarding pass. you have to go back at the airline counter. Ask for checkin of that item along with your existing checked in luggage. They will issue new boarding pass and you have to again go through the security check. Make sure you have time to do this and sufficient kilos left in your checkin luggage limit.Or, Put that item in lost and found. If you dont want to carry that item, you can put that in lost and found. And then you can tell your relative/friend to collect that item later on from Airport.Or, Put that item in the dustbin. Simple.i. Dont weigh hand baggages (or cabin luggage) unless asked by them. That means dont overfill your cabin luggage and make it look like a light item ;).j. Heard of ‘free airport lounge access with XYZ credit/debit card’ before? This is the time to try that if your flight is delayed or you have signNowed early. Some lounges (esp. in Bangalore) provide good unlimited free food ;).In the flight1. Listen to all the announcements mentioned in the flight very carefully. Those are for your safety only.2. Keep your mobile phones in airplane mode or switched off mode when asked to do so. This help pilots in their work as mobile waves create hindrance in communication.3. During daytime and if you have got window seat, enjoy the scenic beauty. Otherwise, take a nap or listen to music or talk to your neighbor. Just enjoy the flight :)4. During the flight, you may feel bit of pain in your ears. That is temporary and is because of pressure difference created in the ear internals. Swallow regularly to minify the pain.Also, depending on weather conditions you may feel some turbulence in the aircraft. Dont worry, its normal :).Be nice with the air hostesses. If you need anything, press the button provided just above your seat.5. During landing, you may feel bit of jerk. Thats normal as the plane is reducing its speed. Listen to the announcement as it will be told that from which conveyor belt you can collect your checkin luggage.Misc points:a. You are not allowed to keep or have any alcohol or smoking stuff inside the flight. Airlines executives are very strict about this and if found before take off, they will throw you out.After landing1. Once the plane has landed, a bus then will take you to the arrival terminal. Follow directions at the airport to signNow the conveyor belt to collect your checkin luggage. And yeah, don't forget to switch on your mobile phones :)2. You can now go out of the airport. Congratulations, your first airplane journey is complete ! :)Misc points:a. For the salaried, keep your boarding pass safe if you are interested in claiming LTA (Leave Travel Allowance) :).b. If you are really late at airport, don't hesitate to jump the queues. Take help from security personnel or airline staff immediately. They will help you in most cases.If you have a connecting flight (place A → B → C):Always choose connecting flights of the same airline (i.e. both flights in Indigo or both in Jet Airways for example.) Doing this will give you two advantages. You wont need to collect the checked in luggage when you complete A->B. The airline staff will take care of this. And in case your A->B gets delayed, and the layover time is very less, there are high chances that the airline will wait for you (and many others) who were to board B->C.Now in connecting flights, there are two possibilities:a. When the aircraft is same: You will not need to change the aircraft when you are at B. A security person will come inside the aircraft and check your boarding pass for B->C. b. When aircraft is different:You will have to getoff of this aircraft and follow the directions “domestic transfers” to signNow the gate number of your journey from B->C. When you do this, you will have undergo full security screening again. It may happen that because of the delay in A->B flight, you get very little layover time at B. You ran crazily and just managed to onboard flight B->C. But your checked in luggage in aircraft 1 could not be transferred to aircraft 2. Dont worry. Airline staff will let you know about this and it is their responsibility to make your luggage available to you. The staff will ask you to fill a form with all details like look and make of your luggage and its contents. They will ship your luggage to your address of stay at C. You will not have to pay anything. Also, in cases like this, you are entitled to buy goods you need to survive and stay when you are without your luggage at C. Example: cosmetics, under garments, clothing etc. Their is an upper limit to this expense (I think 10K INR. Check the terms once). You will need to submit the bill of the expense made to the airline and in due course you will get your refund.Hope this was useful!Cheers.Bonus tip: book cabs little outside from airport to save atleast hundred bucks. Try this at Mumbai domestic airport.
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Did IAF really kill 300 terrorist in the air strike in 2019?
The question that everyone is asking. In this answer I will collect available evidence and check their veracity. This will be a long answer because I intend to be thorough. Because of this, I have added a list in the end summarizing the claims that have been made along with the evidence for or against them. You can go straight to the sunmary list if you wish.The conclusion will be a rather underwhelming ‘we don’t know’. I am leaning towards ‘there were deaths but few’ but really, there is not enough evidence to substantiate this conclusion.On the way, we will see how to examine news and identify what is well-substantiated and what the journalists may well have made up. My chief reason for writing this answer is to demonstrate how to critically examine news stories because clearly far too many people fall regularly for fake news.Let us proceed then, in the spirit of investigative analysis.The Early ReportsThe strikes happened at 3 Am on Tuesday morning. The first news of the airstrike came from Pakistan side.Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019 Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019 An official announcement from India’s side eventually came from foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale. The pertinent points made in the official announcement were:India had struck a big training camp of JeM in Balakot.“A very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.”This facility was headed by Yusuf Azhar, brother in law of Masood Azhar.Reports in Indian media added some further claims which were quoted as having come from ‘sources within the government’. Some of the things that one might have read that day would be:1000 kgs of bombs had been dropped. 300–350 terrorists were killed.3 terror camps had been struck.In the terror camp in Balakot, terrorists were living with five star facilities including a swimming pool.Yusuf Azhar was killed, along with several other prominent JeM operatives. One could find 10–12 names of terrorists in media reports.Most reports said six bombs had been dropped. India Today reported four to five, The Hindu reported five.As we will keep seeing in this answer, information from ‘sources’ has to be viewed with skepticism in the absence of further evidence. Already one can see this - despite government announcement that only one camp was hit, various media outlets were quoting ‘sources’ to say 3 had been hit.[As an aside, let me note that the reporting was also very sloppy, to say the least. To give one example, India Today reported:Gokhale confirmed that the JeM terror facility on Jaba top was destroyed in the operation along with some control centres and an ammunition dump. The ammunition dump reportedly had more than 200 AK series rifles, hand grenades, explosives, and detonators.He had said nothing of that kind as you can check from the official announcement.]Meanwhile, Pakistan officials continued to maintain that no damage had been done.First News from groundA Pakistani student currently residing in US tweeted:So a friend from the area has confirmed that madressa Taleem-ul-Quran (it’s board says run by Hazrat Maulana Masood Azhar) at Mansehra (Balakot) was hit, & there are ~10 ambulances around. But the area is now sealed. Local students told him, ziada nahi marai bachatt hogae.— Syed (@gypsy_heart6) February 26, 2019 According to him, there was a Madrasa in the area run by Masood Azhar which had been hit. 10 ambulances were seen. Students of that Madrasa said that not many had died.By afternoon the first ground reports began emerging. The first ground report to come was from Reuters. The report said:Villagers confirmed that Jaish-e-Mohammad had been operating in the Balakot area for a long time. Jaish used to have a training camp which they later turned into a madrasa.This Jaish-run Madrasa stood on a hilltop and villagers said that they were not allowed close to it.Villagers heard four loud bangs in succession at around 3 AM.But none of the bombs hit the madrasa. Villagers claimed that they exploded about a kilometer away from the madrasa.By this time the area about the madrasa had been sealed by Pakistan army and according to reports, not even local police was allowed to enter.A report from BBC Hindi quoted Jaish-e-Mohammad sources who said that they no longer used that camp as a training area and Yusuf Azhar had not been present.This seemed to be the conclusion Western media had also drawn. For instance, NYT reported:The view that little had been damaged was supported by military analysts and two Western security officials, who said that any militant training areas at the site, in the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwha, had long since packed up or dispersed.Later that day, Pakistan admitted that four bombs had been dropped but none had done any damage.Preliminary conclusionsOnly a few of the claims made in the media were corroborated by more than one independent source.First, the existence of a Jaish-run madrasa. This was corroborated by both the Reuters report and the Pakistani student Syed who had tweeted from US. According to locals, it used to be a terrorist training camp. It appeared that this madrasa must have been the target of the strikes.If locals were to be believed, there were four strikes and all had missed. But if Syed was right, then the madrasa had been hit. There was a good chance of his telling the truth, first because he was a disinterested party and second because he had been the first to report the existence of this madrasa which was later confirmed by Reuters.But even if there was a successful strike, were terrorists present? Both Western officials and Jaish ‘sources’ said that they no longer ran any active camps there.Further News from ground and elsewhereSome more information about this mysterious madrasa came to light from different sources.A US Department of Defense memo dated January 31, 2004 that had been leaked by Wikileaks in 2011, indicated the existence of "a [JeM] training camp that offers both basic and advanced terrorist training on explosives and artillery" located near Jaba.Further, an article in Jaish-e-Mohammad publication Al Qalam mentioned an event in the same Madrasa in April 2018. It was reported that Yousuf Azhar attended this event and JeM leader Abdul Rauf Ashgar spoke in praise of Jihadi ideology:The youths of this madrasa have broken the arrogance of the Kashmiri mountains and have lit the torch of Jihad there, and will keep it alight.In the subsequent days, more reports from the ground started coming.There were reports from Reuters, Al jazeera and Pakistani anti-establishment journalist Hamid Mir. All reportedThe existence of four bomb sites in forest areas.That locals denied that anyone had been killed.The nearest hospital denied anyone had been brought there for treatment.These four bombs had clearly missed the target.What about the madrasa? It still remained sealed, two days after the bombing.Al Jazeera reported:"The madrassa [religious school] there, at the top of the mountain, that is a training camp for mujahideen [religious fighters]," said one resident, gesturing in the direction of the school. He spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject."Everyone here knows there is a Jaish camp there, at the madrassa," said another 31-year-old local resident, also on condition of anonymity. "It is an active training centre, they teach people how to fight there."Others, however, disputed that claim.Signboard for the madrasa. It mentions Masood Azhar’s name as benefactor. The board was removed by the military.Al Jazeera reported that they had not managed to access the madrasa.The report by Reuters saidPeople in the area said Jaish-e Mohammad did have a presence, running not an active training camp but a madrassa, or religious school, about one km from where the bombs fell.“It is Taleem ul Quran madrassa. The kids from the village study there. There is no training,” said Nooran Shah.A sign which had been up earlier in the week identifying the madrassa’s affiliation to Jaish-e Mohammad had been removed by Thursday and soldiers prevented reporters from gaining access.But it was possible to see the structure from the back. It appeared intact, like the trees surrounding it, with no sign of any damage of the kind seen near the bomb craters.Meanwhile, Western officials maintained that there were no terror camps and the Indian reports were exaggerated.Reuters reports:Western diplomats in Islamabad also said they did not believe the Indian air force hit a militant camp.“There was no militant training camp there. It hasn’t been there for a few years – they moved it. It’s common knowledge amongst our intelligence,” said one of them.South Asia expert Michael Kugelman tweeted:Thanks for the offer :) But I've already seen plenty of credible reports on the ground (and there is also satellite imagery) that make quite clear that Indian claims of killing hundreds of terrorists-or even of destroying terrorist facilities-are spurious if not outright false. https://t.co/gOTVi1y1vp— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) March 1, 2019 On being pressed for details, Indian Air Vice Marshall R.G.K Kapoor told media“There is fairly credible evidence with us which proves that there was damage to the camps. We hit the intended targets and caused the damage that was intended. However, it will be premature to say what is the number of casualties we have been able to inflict on those camps and the number of deaths. Whatever we intended to destroy we have got the result.”However India has not released those satellite images. There were some claims in the media that ‘sources’ said satellite images will prove damage done. Again, these are just claims.Ground reports from Far awayTwo ‘ground reports’ came from people far away.Rome based journalist Francesca Marino claimed that she had communicated with locals through ‘encrypted communication’ and reported that thirty five had died. She wrote that her sources were local government employees and could not speak openly.Apart from the questionable credibility of ‘encrypted communication’, Marino is also known to be hostile to Pakistan, close to separatist Baloch leaders and had evicted been from Pakistan in 2011. Without independent corroborating her account can hardly be trusted. However the number she reports is consistent with ’10 ambulances’ reported by Syed.Exiled Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqi posted an audio clip on Twitter which he claimed was a sermon in a JeM seminary:#Exclusive: In a sermon in #Pakistan, #JaisheMohammad leader accepts Indian planes were targeting their center in #Balakot. He criticizes @ImranKhanPTI for releasing #IndianAirForce pilot #Abhinandhan. He also calls Pakistanis for joining #jihad in Indian-administered #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/j4pQ4WG96T— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) March 2, 2019 Transcript:Indian planes did not bombard the headquarters of any (military) agency. Look at the the target of India’s bombs. What kind of place (makam) was it? Was it a place where agencies hold their meetings? Or was it a place where students in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, learned about jihad and helping Kashmiri Muslims as their duty? That is the place where it was attacked.The decision is in your hands. Will you still call it the jihad of the agencies, even when India has crossed from its territory, entered our country and attacked our centre (markaz) and has made jihad a reason to defend ourselves. It is said that when ants are near the end of their lives, they sprout wings and when hyenas know their end, they turn towards the city. Indian ants sprouted wings and flew to Balakot. Indian hyenas’ end is near and they turned towards the city of Balakot. Now it is up to lions like you whether you crush this ant under your feet or hunt the hyena or act like the Niazi rulers (hukmaran).Earlier, a Niazi gave away half of the country and 90,000 soldiers. Today, another Niazi after returning the Indian pilot has turned victory into loss, bowed his head down in front of the enemies and embarrassed the Muslim ummah.Satellite ImageryExperts were able to find the location of the bomb sites and the Madrasa on the map. You can look it up - the madrasa is at is 34.464042, 73.318427 (Google Earth link). (Note: An incorrect location had been identified as the Madrasa in another Quora answer).Nathan Ruser, a researcher at Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, studied Google satellite images from 27th Feb (after the strike) and claimedno evidence of damage to the facility or nearby areas is visible on the images.He was able to identify “three clear impact areas between 150 and 200 metres from the edge of the facility.”The same conclusion was signNowed by Michael Jakob Sheldon, a Digital Forensic Research Associate at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.The takeaway is that while impact areas were the bombs fell could be identified, no damage to the facility nor any impact area close enough to it to have killed anyone were found by the experts.Final ConclusionsThere can be little doubt that the madrasa was the the target of the attack.Evidence from different sources suggest that the Madrasa was, at the very least, a place for dissemination of Jihadi ideology and a recruitment center. Whether it was a terrorist training camp or not is not confirmed, but it is plausible.All evidence suggests that four of the bombs certainly missed. How could highly accurate bombs miss is an open question. This highly informative twitter thread by an expert tries to shed some light on this.Finally, was the madrasa hit? Satellite image experts conclude that there was no damage done to the buildings or local vegetation comparable to the other bomb sites. Reuters report confirms that the madrasa was seen standing.On the other hand, Pakistan military have still not let anyone in that madrasa. What are they hiding, that too for so long? If there was some material that would prove it was a Jaish recruitment center that could be removed quickly enough.There must be something more incriminating. One possibility would be that there is some evidence that it had been used as a training ground in the recent past.The other is that there had been a bomb strike close to it.My speculation is that there was a smaller, fifth bomb. Not 200–225 kg like the others. This bomb hit close enough to the madrasa to do some damage. Not nearly as many deaths as Indian media reported, but enough to require 10 ambulances as Syed had reported.That’s my speculation, but there is very little to substantiate it. The proper answer is that the evidence is inconclusive.Claim: 3 areas were hit. Supported by : ‘sources'. Contradicted by: Official announcement by Indian govt, interviews of locals etc.Verdict: False. Only one area was hit.Claim: There was a madrasa ran by Jaish-e-Mohammad in the area where bombs were dropped.Supported by: Locals, a Pakistani student based in US called Syed who tweeted about it with info from his friend, Satellite imagery, signboard of the madrasa. (Syed's tweet was that the madrasa had been hit, 10 ambulances were in the scene and local students told his friend that not many had died.)Verdict: True.Claim: This madrasa used to be a terrorist training camp.Supported by: Locals, Western diplomats, A US defense memo leaked by Wikileak.Verdict: TrueClaim: This madrasa was an ideological recruitment center where the message of spreading Jihad to Kashmir was psignNowed.Supported by: Locals, an article in JeM publication, an audio recording of a JeM seminary presented by an exiled Pakistani journalist.Verdict: TrueClaim: This madrasa was still a terrorist training camp.Supp by: Some locals.Opposed by: Other locals, Western diplomats and officials whose intelligence reports suggested that terror camps had been moved from the area.Verdict: UnclearClaim: Terrorists were living in a 5 star level resort with swimming pools.Supp by: ‘Sources' of Indian media.Opp by: Satellite imagery, locals.Verdict: FalseClaim: India targeted this madrasaSupp by: Inference drawn from the true statements above, the audio clip of JeM seminary which directly mentioned this.Opp by: Pak govt claims that IAF fighters just dropped the payload randomly and left.Verdict: TrueClaim: 4 bombs missed any target, including the madrasa.Supported by: Locals, journalists who visited the area, satellite imagery analysis done by two independent experts from Aus and USA.Verdict: TrueClaim: The madrasa was hit and heavy damages were done.Supp by: Official announcement by Indian govt.Opp by: Satellite imagery which showed no substantial damage to the madrasa, locals, Syed's tweet which said not many had died.Claim: madrasa had not been hit.Supp by: locals, Reuters report which said it could be seen standing, Satellite imagery.Opp by: Indian government, Syed’s tweet, report by a Rome-based journalist who claimed to have communicated with locals from Rome. She said 35 were killed. However she is known to be anti-Pakistan.Verdict: UnclearClaim: Pakistani army is trying to hide something about the madrasa.Supp by: The fact that they have kept the madrasa sealed since the blast till date and have not allowed anyone in.Verdict: TrueClaim: The madrasa was hit by a smaller bomb and a small number were killed.Supp by: Syed's tweet, the secretive behaviour of Pakistan army around the madrasaOpposed by: Locals, lack of direct evidence from satellite imagery.Verdict: Unclear.Final verdict: The madrasa may or may not have been hit. If hit, it was either by a smaller bomb or by a bomb that hit close to the madrasa and a relatively small number of people died.(Note: After I was halfway through writing this I found this Wire article which did a better job at collecting and examining evidence. )
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