A sequel to delayed action bomb

At last I’m back from hibernation. Or was it providential that I did so just because I needed to be fed with enough fodder to continue from where I stopped last time. I received a mail today from a highly educated gentleman whose views distinctly reflect the problem I was talking about - being merely in religion and not really religious. Very disappointing as well as disturbing!!! Why does it happen even with 'educated people'? Is it because our system of education rarely touches on the emotional quotient of learners more importantly required in the present context than the intellectual quotient? Will a focus on emotional quotient in our curriculum really help in curbing fundamentalism, chauvinism, extremism, terrorism – isms of all sorts, be it in religion, in region or in language? It is really a pity that our policy makers in the education field have not woken up to seriously addressing this lacuna in the existing system. Left unattended to this issue will assume more dangerous proportions that our country really cannot handle. On the one hand we will have educated illiterates everywhere and on the other educated terrorists with a fatally, dangerously innovative mind. What a lethal combination!!! Going by events happening around us in Mumbai, in Orissa, in Karnataka I strongly think that the time has come for us to redefine what terrorism is. Should we not deem any act meant to disturb and disrupt peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic society terrorist whether or not bombs explode? By this definition MNS activists in Mumbai are terrorists. Hard to accept? Extend the same yardstick to other states, to similar outfits- harder to accept? May be, but that is the truth, the bitter truth. I really wish suitable changes and amendments in the present Indian educational and legal systems are made especially in the context of several ‘terror’ outfits mushrooming in the country. Or else we may soon be a mute witness to the emergence of several ‘indias’ within India, which are biding their time and waiting to take shape.