Headwinds for the economy, but there's a silver lining

Just 20 years back, the average Indian would have known pretty much nothing about the economic state of the country or the world, and even cared less about it. But the last 10 years have changed that so much that now almost everyone one meets is worrying about the impact of the current economic slowdown on their lives. At the very least, the economy is now racking up the worry quotient in Indian society.
That apart, the economy is a cause of concern. The boom, though most of it powered by the black money flowing into sectors such as real estate, is slowing visibly. The job scene is getting cloudier by the day -- today someone called me from Delhi to say the Times group is planning to fire 1,200 people. Well, even the media scene which showed so much irrational exuberance is getting dark. How will this impact the country and its people?
Of course, not everything is going to be bad. Here are two areas where I think the slowdown is going to be good. Think of the ecology. For the last 10 years we were more interested in exploiting to the hilt what Mother Nature had offered us. Now, the slowing down of the economy would mean the pace of exploitation would slow down too. That is going to be definitely good for the earth and its environment.
Also in the last 10 years our politicians have managed to get away with their corrupt and inept governance of this country as the boom offered jobs and riches to more people than they ever could hope to. Now things are going to change. Once again these effete class of people will come under the scanner; if they don't deliver (and I very much doubt they can), it won't be long our ossified political system could be washed away by the rage of the people.
Will all this lead to a new way of life? I hope it does. If we have to suffer some pain for something that is going to immensely benefit all of us, all living beings, then it would be something worth suffering.

LTTE has sqandered its moral high position

I came back to updating this blog after a long time and was surprised to see a comment posted, with a link. Going there, makes me think all over again about the ethnic problem gripping Sri Lanka in its most gross and gory form.
Children under 10 being conscripted! I have heard this before, but now that I have a kid I can understand the anguish such a prospect brings to hapless, defenceless parents; and also the depths of moral turpitude to which the conscriptor, in this case the LTTE, has fallen.
True, the Sri Lankan problem has many causes and needs to be addressed forthwith, without shedding any more blood. More blood and death does not bring peace. But the LTTE should be striclty told what is acceptable and what is not. It cannot run with the hare and hunt with the wolf.
Any dispassionate observer over the years would clearly see the LTTE not just stands for Tamil freedom; it stands for the LTTE version of the Tamil freedom.
V Prabhakaran had a laudable cause when he started on this path. But along the way he has spilt so much blood and tears and blown up so many bodies, he no longer is fit for that high moral pedestal he once stood on. He has shown himself up to be no more than a blood-thirsty tyrant and the cause of the Tamil people and that of peace itself would be best served by dispossessing him from his current position as chief of the LTTE.
But how much more blood need to be spilt beore we reach that goal? And the real peace process starts only then. And there is the healing process left.
Can the politicians in India and Sri Lanka raise to the challenge?