Is Pak instability such a bad thing for India?

The average Indo-Pak analyst tends to paint Pak instability as a bad outcome for India. Could it actually be a blessing in disguise for India? Practically speaking, we will never resolve the border dispute as long as there is a democratically elected government in Pakistan. Notwithstanding all its talk about democracy, US really misses Prez Mush at the helm who could be remote controlled from the West Wing. India cannot force anything down the sore Pakistani throat either, specially with many in the Pakistani establishment itching to play with the nuclear button.

However, if Taliban becomes a real threat to the democratically elected (if you can call it that) government, so much so that the Zardari-Gilani combine as well as US fear that the nuclear weapons are at arms length of the Taliban, US can be convinced that an air strike at the nuclear facilities is in the best interest of everyone. India may not even need to play a part in this process, though I am sure we will throw a good measure of rhetoric, as always.

With no nuclear deterrent, Pakistan is on the back foot on any future negotiation, including Kashmir. Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi and his clan can save their repartees for a private evening filled with US-funded Jack Daniels. What couldn't be accomplished in the past 60 years, could be facilitated by Taliban, probably inadvertently (although a conspiracy theorist would claim India's hand cannot be ruled out). US can then go about reinstalling a Karzai-like apparatus that is engrossed in its internal problems and we can move on from Af-Pak (which, by the way, always reminds me of Aflac!!) to our own internal problems.

Is this really such a bad outcome?

Two's a charm

I have maintained a theory about Rahman's music for a while - in 7 out of 10 songs from his stable, the first two words (or a short phrase such as Dil Se Re) would be identical or near identical. Starting with Chinna Chinna Aasai to the recent Aaja Aaja Zindagaani (Jai Ho), he has been fairly predictable. Certainly, I wouldn't limit all his success to just this rule but I would argue it does play a big role in song recall.

I had nearly forgotten this for a while since you don't hear much of his work any more - Hollywood beckoning him and all that. I was reminded of this today when I was checking out songs from the upcoming movie Paa, with music from Ilayaraja. The songs go Mudhi Mudhi, Hichki Hichki, Gumm Summ Gumm (I have to admit the two other numbers didn't conform to this rule) - made me wonder whether Ilayaraja finally unlocked Rahman's secret and even decided to try his luck with it. Didn't quite work, I have to admit. So, going back to what I said first, I don't think this is everything there is to Rahman's music - but two's certainly a charm....