Black Friday - The Biggest Attack on Mumbai

There have been umpteen Terrorist attacks on numerous places on the planet and many casualties have been caused due to this. Then why is it that we still consider the Mumbai Attacks of 1993 to be the most massive coordinated attack till date?

There are several reasons for this. Primarily it was due to the number of people involved and the scale of this operation; from Bollywood producers and starlets to influential businessmen, custom officials and smugglers; everyone had their own part to play in these tragic events that haunted Mumbai for years to come. So what exactly happened? What instigated such a masterplan to be made in the first place and cause the terror and destruction that was the aftermath of this conspiracy coming together?

The Prelude:

Before you begin reading about the origins of the conspiracy that triggered a series of 13 coordinated bomb blasts and ended with the over 250+ fatalities and 700+ injuries, it is important to know what prompted such a step to be taken in the first place.

It all began in Ayodhya with the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. Hindu Karsevaks destroyed the 16th century disputed structure in Ayodhya in an attempt to reclaim the land known as Ram Janmabhoomi. It was not hard to predict the result of this demolition in a culturally diverse nation like India. The impact although, was most severe in Bombay (now Mumbai). This was followed by a series of communal riots which continued from December 1992 till January 1993 in which over 1,000 people were killed and many more injured and scarred for life.

Any idiocy and cruelty that has ever been recorded in the annals of history re-emerges during communal riots. As religious hatred engulfed the nation and over 1,000 people died, every possible refinement in human unkindness and poignant twists of fate were on display. 

The Attack:

On 12th March, 1993, at 1:30 pm a powerful car bomb exploded in the basement of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building. The 28-story office building housing the exchange was severely damaged, and many nearby office buildings also suffered some damage. About 50 were killed by this explosion. About 30 minutes later, another car bomb exploded elsewhere in the city and from 1:30 pm to 3:40 pm a total of 13 bombs exploded throughout Bombay. Most of the bombs were car bombs, but some were in scooters.

Three hotels, the Hotel Sea Rock, Hotel Juhu Centaur, and Hotel Airport Centaur, were targeted by suitcase bombs left in rooms booked by the perpetrators. Banks, the regional passport office, hotels, the Air India Building, and a major shopping complex were also hit. Bombs exploded at Zaveri Bazaar, area opposite of Century Bazaar, Katha Bazaar, Shiv Sena Bhawan, and Plaza Theatre. A jeep-bomb at the Century Bazaar exploded. Grenades were also thrown at Sahar International Airport and at Fishermen's Colony, apparently targeting Hindus at the latter. A double decker bus was very badly damaged in one of the explosions and that single incident accounted for the greatest loss of life – perhaps up to ninety people were killed.

After the Attacks:

It's been two decades now since this horrific event occurred and after detailed investigations and interrogations, the Supreme Court of India has handed out sentences to the prime accused and other conspirators directly or indirectly involved in this horrific act. Out of the 123 accused, the Supreme Court convicted 100 people for their involvement in the act of terrorism.

This case was spearheaded and cracked by Rakesh Maria, who is currently the Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Maharashtra. When the case fell upon him back in 1993, he was Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic). He methodically collected evidence and interrogated the accused to piece together the entire operation that spanned from Dubai to Pakistan and was finally executed in Mumbai. Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, the two main conspirators and masterminds of the attacks, are still at large.

"The Supreme Court verdict has proved that the investigation by the Mumbai police after the 1993 bomb blasts was without any prejudice", Rakesh Maria claimed after the verdict was out

“A team of around 162 officers scanned 79 towns of 17 States. A charge sheet of 9,392 pages was put against 123 accused, out of which 100 have been convicted. Our team did a perfect job, which has been proved after the Supreme Court verdict,” he said.

This has indeed been one of the most severe and brutal acts of terrorism, considering the magnitude and losses incurred by the city. Property worth approximately Rs.27 crore was damaged or destroyed resulting in the death of 257 people and injuries to 713.

Pep bows down as Manager of FC Barcelona

A career that was probably one of its kind and unparalleled in many ways has been that of Josef “Pep” Guardiola. With 13 out of the possible 19 trophies in 4 seasons, he has packed his trophy cabinet with all the prestigious titles that club football has to offer.

Being a former Spanish and FC Barcelona player himself, he took over as Manager of FC Barcelona in 2008 succeeding Frank Rijkaard and has since then achieved with the club things that all football managers in the world can only dream of achieving a span of 4 years.

In his first season as manager, Barcelona won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest UEFA Champions League-winning manager ever. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup, bringing the manager's tally to the maximum of six trophies in six competitions in one year, thus completing the first ever sextuple.

The term ‘Beautiful Barca’ was coined due to the quality of the attacking, aesthetically-pleasing football that flowered at Barcelona under his tutelage this will forever define Pep Guardiola as one of the best in the world. What he has offered to all the fans and followers of the game is a visual treat, smooth, quick and fantastic football. But as is said, that all good things must come to an end, so has Pep Guardiola’s time at FC Barcelona.

On 27 April 2012, Guardiola announced he would quit as Barcelona manager on 30 June, 2012. He stated he was experiencing severe physical and mental stress, and he left the team's management to his second-in-charge and good friend Tito Vilanova.

The brilliance of the man is showcased in how he was able to keep a constant hunger within the team and at the same time get them to play with the beauty and fluency with which FC Barcelona has played over the last four years. When he took over in 2008, he has assured Lionel Messi that under his tutelage, Messi would score at least 3-4 goals every game. And how right he was! Messi has over the seasons become the best player not just in the La Liga but also all over the world.

Lionel Messi is just one such talent. There are a bunch of other players whose careers have been rejuvenated by this man. He has redefined the very meaning of playing beautiful football. There have been games in which FC Barcelona have lost, but they have lost as well in style. It’s very rare to see the losing team enjoy 70% and above ball possession. This has been the beauty of his game-play. No matter what the outcome of the game has been, his team has always enjoyed more than 70% of ball possession. He has redefined the term dominance.

Here’s a look at his overall achievement at FC Barcelona. 3 La Liga titles, 2008-09 , 09-10 , 10-11. Three Spanish Super Cups in 2009, 10 and 11. Two Champions League titles in, 2008-09 , 10-11.  Two FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2011.  Two UEFA Super Cups in  2009 and 2011. One Copa del Rey title in 2008-09.

What will be interesting to watch now is where the Catalans giants will go from here. There’s no doubt that Pep has set about a culture in Barcelona that will only be taken forward by the Managers who will succeed him. But the question of everybody’s mind is, when this brilliant statistician returns to football and rest assured that he will, where he will be headed to? This is something that only Pep can answer.

Having said that, let us take a moment and pay tribute to Pep Guardiola, the man who redefined the face of Spanish football. Adiós Pep, que se perdió

What Led to the Sinking of the Titanic?

On April 15, 1912 at 2:20 a.m., a little less than three hours after crashing into an iceberg, the RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, claiming the lives of over 1,500 people. On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left from Southampton, England on its maiden voyage to New York City and was one of the largest cruise liners of its time.

The mood was suitably somber on Tuesday, when a series of events were held there in honor of the ship’s anniversary. More than 650 descendants of those on board met for a ceremony at the exact same place where the Titanic set sail. Southampton was home to more than a third of the more than 1,500 people who died when the ship hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912.

Despite all the aftermath and tragedy that this led to, there are several alternate theories and suggestions made by several theorists as to what was the real reason behind the sinking of this exquisite cruise liner. The accepted reason nonetheless, for the sinking of this massive ship which led to the death of nearly 1,500 people was that the ship struck an iceberg buckling the hull and allowing water to enter the ship’s first five watertight compartments resulting in the sinking of the ship in close to 3 hours. Hypotheses which have been suggested as the cause of the disaster include unsafe speed, an insurance scam, an ice-pack rather than an iceberg, and even a curse on the ship by the Unlucky Mummy.

So what was the real reason that lead to the sinking of ‘The Unsinkable Ship’?

One of the most complex and controversial theories has been put forward by Robin Gardiner in his book, ‘Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank?’ In it, Gardiner draws on several events and coincidences that occurred in the months, days, and hours leading up to the sinking of the Titanic, and concludes that the ship that sank was in fact Titanic's sister ship Olympic, disguised as Titanic, as an insurance scam.

According to him, Olympic was the older sister of Titanic, both built together but the former was launched in October 1910. Her exterior profile was nearly identical to Titanic, save for small detailing such as the promenade deck windows. These were not glazed in Olympic. In Titanic, the front half of the promenade deck was fitted with smaller glazed windows to protect passengers from spray.

On September 20, 1911, the Olympic was involved in a collision with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke near Southampton. The cruiser smashed its ram into the side of the Olympic, seriously damaging both ships. The inquiry found Hawke free of all blame. This set in motion Gardiner's theory.

White Star Line was allegedly not insured for the cost of fixing the damaged Olympic (which, according to Gardiner, had damaged the central turbine's mountings and the keel). The White Star's flagship would also be out of action during any repairs, and the Titanic's completion date would have to be delayed. All this would amount to a grave monetary loss for the company. Gardiner proposes that, to make sure at least one vessel would be earning money; Olympic was then converted to become the Titanic. Gardiner states that few parts of either ship bore the name, other than the easily removed lifeboats, bell, compass binnacle, and name badges. Thus, Gardiner believes the Titanic spent 25 years in service as the Olympic.

Gardiner uses as evidence the length of Titanic's sea trials. Olympic's trials in 1910 took two days, including several high speed runs, but Titanic's trials reportedly only lasted for one day, with no working over half-speed. Gardiner says this was because the patched-up hull could not take any long periods of high speed.

Gardiner suggests the plan was to dispose of the Olympic to collect insurance money. He supposes that the seacocks were to be opened at sea to slowly flood the ship. If numerous ships were stationed nearby to take off the passengers, the shortage of lifeboats would not matter as the ship would sink slowly and the boats could make several trips to the rescuers.

Gardiner maintains that on April 14, Officer Murdoch (who was not officially on duty yet) was on the bridge because he was one of the few high-ranking officers who knew of the plan and was keeping a watch out for the rescue ships. One of Gardiner's most controversial statements is that the Titanic did not strike an iceberg, but an IMM rescue ship that was drifting on station with its lights out. Gardiner based this hypothesis on the idea that the supposed iceberg was seen at such a short distance by the lookouts on the Titanic because it was actually a darkened ship, and he also does not believe an iceberg could inflict such sustained and serious damage to a steel double-hulled vessel such as the Titanic.

Gardiner further hypothesizes that the ship that was hit by the Titanic was the one seen by the Californian firing distress rockets, and that this explains the perceived inaction of the Californian (which traditionally is seen as failing to come to the rescue of the Titanic after sighting its distress rockets). Gardiner's hypothesis is that the Californian was not expecting rockets, but a rendezvous. The ice on the deck of the Titanic is explained by Gardiner as ice from the rigging of both the Titanic and the mystery ship it hit. 

Researchers Bruce Beveridge and Steve Hall took issue with many of Gardiner's claims in their book, Olympic and Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy. Author Mark Chirnside has also raised serious questions about the switch theory. There is also evidence that Gardiner's theory is not true. When parts of the wreck were recovered, the construction number 401 was found on all of them. 401 was the Titanic's construction number, the number of the Olympic was 400. However after Olympic's collision, it was fitted with temporary repairs and many of Titanic's parts already stamped with the number 401 were fitted to Olympic.

Believe what you want to but the truth remains that the RMS Titanic never completed its maiden voyage and sank to its watery grave at 11:40 PM on 14 April, 1912. To pay tribute to this legendary ship, a video was released recently highlighting exactly how the massive cruise liner sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean and reached the ocean bed miles below.

The Death of Kurt Cobain

On April 8 1994 at 8.40 AM, an electrician who came to check the electrical network of a luxury villa in Seattle found the lifeless body of Kurt Cobain. A bullet to the head killed him. Near the body was a box of drugs, burnt spoons, and syringes. A rifle was found on his chest, along with a goodbye note in the room. Is this a clear case of suicide? According to local law enforcement, it is. However, conspiracy theorists were hardly satisfied with the superficial investigations of the Seattle Police, and the media frenzy that followed after the announcement of the premature death of Cobain continues to sizzle even today.

At 27, lead singer and musician of the band ‘Nirvana’, Kurt Cobain, was an internationally acclaimed rock star. He was an icon, a leader, a revolutionary of the music world. Cobain died when he was on top of success. His music excited and inspired millions of people worldwide. This incredible success brought him the unwanted status of being the spokesman for the grunge rock movement and a whole generation. His funeral turned Seattle into a transit city and sympathetic suicides were recorded all over the world. 

For Kurt Cobain, punk-rock and drugs provided a way to escape. Cobain, who had great self-constrain, didn’t seem like the person to see death as the solution for the pain and the depression that haunted his youth. Although it was widely known that Cobain was a man with problems, many people find it hard to believe that he would kill himself.

The divorce from rock star Courtney Love and the battle for custody of their daughter was not exactly easy. But Cobain was not a coward by any means. Many of those who studied his case believe that sinister forces in Seattle lead him to his premature end. These beliefs have given birth to some disturbing questions related to the alleged suicide and the death of Kurt Cobain.

The following are excerpts of an audio recording by Tom Grant, the private investigator hired by Courtney Love after Cobain was reported missing;

“On April 3, 1994, I was hired by Courtney Love, (who was in Los Angeles at the time), to locate her husband after he left a drug rehab center in Marina Del Rey, California. Ms. Love stayed in Los Angeles while I flew to Seattle to search for Cobain with his best friend Dylan Carlson. In fact, Carlson and I had been in the Cobain residence the night before Kurt's body was discovered in the room above the garage.”

“After several months of intensive investigation, including dozens of taped interviews with Cobain's closest friends and family members, I reached the conclusion that Courtney Love and Michael Dewitt, (the male nanny who lived at the Cobain residence), were involved in a conspiracy that resulted in the murder of Kurt Cobain.”

Tom Grant, the one that Love had paid for seven months to investigate Kurt Cobain’s death, is one of the many who think Cobain was killed by someone close to him. Many theorists believe that it was a family member, a close friend, or an employee. 

Evidence at the crime scene suggested the possibility that Kurt Cobain didn’t commit suicide. One of his credit cards was missing. Someone had tried to use it before his body was discovered and also after the autopsy investigations were published. There weren’t any fingerprints, nor were there any gun powder on the gun, which suggests that it had been wiped clean. Cobain’s body was also found with an extremely high level of heroin, which means that it would be pretty hard for him to pull the trigger. The “suicidal” note explained why he left the music industry. Many handwriting and typographical experts think that someone else, and not Cobain, had added the last four rows in the letter about his wife and his daughter.

Here are some lesser known facts surrounding the suicide (if you still choose to think so);

      1. COURTNEY LOVE WAS FACING A DIVORCE

Kurt was in the process of leaving Seattle and his wife Courtney, when he was found dead.

Courtney knew Kurt wanted out of the marriage. Just weeks prior to his death, she asked one of her attorneys to get the "meanest, most vicious divorce lawyer" she could find.

      2. SOMEONE WAS USING KURT'S CREDIT CARD

One of Kurt's credit cards was missing when his body was discovered.

Someone was attempting to use the missing credit card after Cobain died, but the attempts stopped when his body was discovered.

      3. COBAIN WAS IN FEAR OF HIS LIFE

The shotgun found at the scene was purchased before Cobain left for rehab in Los Angeles, NOT after he fled the rehab as reported by misinformed media sources.

The shotgun was fully loaded with three shells. It was purchased and loaded for protection, not suicide.

The police claim there were no legible fingerprints on this shotgun! The truth is, the shotgun wasn't even checked for fingerprints until May 6th, nearly one month after Cobain's body was found.

      4. THERE WAS NO "SUICIDE" NOTE!!

Courtney was in possession of a second note after Kurt's body was found! She didn’t tell anyone about this second note until several months later when information about it slipped out during an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine.

The second note, the one that Courtney kept in secret, clearly defines the first note which was found at the scene of Cobain's death. The "second note" from Kurt plainly states he was leaving Courtney and he was leaving Seattle. He was not leaving the planet!

      5. COBAIN WAS INJECTED WITH 3 TIMES A LETHAL DOSE OF HEROIN!!

Cobain's heroin, (morphine), blood level was 1.52 mgs per liter. This would require a minimum injection of 225 mgs of heroin, three times a lethal dose, even for a hardcore heroin addict! The drug Diazepam, was also found in Cobain's blood system.

After reading this, the obvious questions any person would ask would be;

1. If Cobain injected three times a lethal dose of heroin, COULD he then pick up a shotgun and shoot himself? Wouldn't he have been immediately incapacitated?

Based on the heroin, (morphine), blood levels found in Cobain's body, preliminary research indicates Kurt Cobain would have been almost immediately incapacitated. He could not have picked up that shotgun. He could not have pulled that trigger!

2. If Cobain injected himself with a deliberate heroin overdose, why would he also shoot himself in the head with a shotgun, leaving his baby daughter - the love of his life - with horrific visual images to remember him by? Why not just "go to sleep" on the overdose and never wake up?

In addition to all this, a few more obvious facts eventually came out regarding the controversy. Cobain wasn’t locked inside his room as informed by media sources. The stool which was supposedly wedged" against the door was actually just sitting in front of the two unlocked doors that only led out to a balcony. Cobain did not leave his Driver's License out for identification as reported by misinformed media sources. The first police officer on the scene found Cobain's closed wallet, opened it to remove Kurt's driver's license, and displayed it in order to take a photograph.

Think what you may want to about the death of Kurt Cobain, but suicide is one thing that you may not want to call this incident. Below is a copy of the ‘apparent’ suicide note written by Kurt Cobain. After all, he was ‘The Man Who Sold The World’.

Angry Birds now in SPACE!

The ‘Birds’ of Rovio have taken the battle with the egg-stealing pigs to another level. This time, the battle is in space with ‘Angry Birds Space’. This is the Finnish based gaming company’s latest installments which launched yesterday on iOS, Android, Mac and PC 

platforms.

The game, which has been launched in collaboration with US space agency NASA, is now available for download. A video posted recently on NASA site showed flight engineer Don Pettit explains the properties of physics in space by using Angry Birds characters as props. At one point, Pettit fires a red bird down a space station corridor using a makeshift slingshot. 

Peter Vesterbacka, Rovio's chief marketing officer, said the company wanted to create something "unique" for the game launch. 

"NASA has been the perfect partner for our Angry Birds Space program, and we can't wait to work with them on creating more compelling educational experiences," Vesterbacka said. 

Rovio said Angry Birds Space features 60 initial levels, new characters and familiar gameplay but with a "unique twist in a variable gravity environment." 

"From the weightlessness of space to the gravity wells of nearby planets, fans can have fun with physics as they try out new gameplay possibilities," he said. 

"The Angry Birds themselves have also transformed into superheroes, with new costumes and abilities." 

The space station video is available at nasa.gov and angrybirds.com/space.

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No it’s Lionel Messi

Surely today if there is one footballer on the planet who has sensationalized the game with his quick runs, swift movements and uncanny ability to crack through the defenses, that man is Lionel Andrés Messi.

Barcalona’s sensational talisman is being compared to the best of the best and this is wholly justified in many ways. With 8 hat-tricks in just this season and a club record of 234 goals in all competitions for Barcalona, there is hardly any doubt regarding his skill.

At age 24, Messi already hold the club record for most goals and like wine will only be getting better and better each growing year. The Argentine has exceeded the wildest expectations of a lot of his fans.

During their first meeting, Pep Guardiola told Messi,"With me, you'll score three or four goals a game." Guardiola exaggerated for effect; the ridiculous thing is that he was not that far wrong. Leo Messi scored another hat-trick on Tuesday night. It came just a fortnight after he became the first ever player to score five in a Champions League match, and it was the 18th hat-trick of his career. Eighteen is a record. Another record. Messi's three took him past César Rodríguez as Barcelona's all-time top scorer.

Messi's goal-scoring record was good before: he scored 24 league goals in two injury-hit seasons between 2006 and 2008, averaging close to a goal every other start. But since Guardiola arrived the statistics have been barely believable. They have only been skyrocketing. 38 in all competitions in 2008-09, 47 in 2009-10, 53 in 2010-11, 54 already this season. And it is not over yet: for Barcelona, there are still at least 13 games to go this season.

Recently, Messi has developed a taste for lobs. Of his 234 goals, 184 came with his left foot, 38 with his right, 10 with his head, one with his hand and one with his chest – or his heart, as Barcelona fans prefer it. His 222nd, 224th, and 231st all arrived the same way as the 233rd - with lobs.

He is on course to be the Champions League's top scorer for a fourth consecutive season. Last year, he equaled the competition's best ever tally; he needs one to surpass it this year. He has already scored more goals in a season than anyone else in Spanish history. And who would bet against that 54 becoming 60 or more? At 24, in his eight seasons, Messi's record is better than the very best. At this stage, Maradona had 196, Ronaldo 153, Henry 226, Cruyff 229 and Charlton 133. George Best got 179 in 11 seasons.

No one had as many trophies at this stage of their career either: Messi has 18. He has earned them: he scored in the final of the Copa del Rey, twice scored in the final of World Club Championships and twice scored in the Champions League final. Twice. Tuesday night was only a league game and his victims were only Granada. It might have been just another hat-trick except that it took him to 234 official goals for Barcelona. More, at 24, than anyone else has ever scored.

What makes Pintrest so addictive?

Ever since I’ve begun to use Pintrest or rather even heard about it, I’ve been wondering what the big deal is about this? What’s the big fuss about pinning and re-pinning images of others?

Column Five has created this infographic to examine this Pintrest addiction which seems to have spread like a live-threatening virus.

Beyond this, the company also examines why the Internet culture is so obsessed with pinning. It posits that digital hoarding has a lot to do with it. On Pinterest, we have freedom to create an entire board dedicated to “food” or any other topic that you might favor.

Then there’s the issue of social media fatigue. Is Pinterest just different enough from other social networks that it frees us from ceaseless updates and checkins? Or has it just replaced one obsession with another — a sort of social media gateway drug?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, PinkTag, Infographic courtesy of Flowtown, via Column Five