Upon receiving a threat of mass violence perceived by the Indian Intelligence Bureau to be specific, credible, and beyond the ability of the government to provide adequate security the Dil se Dil Independence Day Friendship Celebration has been postponed indefinitely. There is no way for it to occur, as planned, on the night of 14-15 August.
As you can imagine, the Friends Without Borders team, Routes 2 Roots, and our production partners are all stunned and deeply saddened by the postponement of Dil se Dil, and particularly in the horrific way in which this was forced upon us. The spirit of strength and hope persists, however, as perfectly captured in this note from one of our wonderful volunteers, who goes by the ironic moniker “Devil”:
You Know, I was quite depressed for a couple of days after hearing the news of cancellation of the concert. But then I thought “we have actually had a victory of sorts”. We ( all of us who worked, prayed and supported the concert) managed to make this event a serious threat to the forces of violence. So much so that they had to resort to active threats!!! They’re not all that secure in their skins and this event, by going about its business and garnering the kind of response it did, was a MAJOR THREAT TO THEIR IDENTITY.
Long live the forces of peace!
We are already hard at work trying to develop a Plan-B, which will help to unleash “the forces of peace” which Devil exalts. Unfortunately, the postponement came too late for us to be able to salvage the Independence Day date. Stay tuned.
memestream 
Mark,
If corporate sponsorship to this event is sorted out (which I assume is the case), then would it make sense to try to make this happen on the U. N. Day of Peace on September 21, 2007?
Just a thought ….
I am proud to be a friend of the Friend without Border (on top of my fierce pride of being a Bengali).
Speaking of which, I met Dr. Pritpal Singh, the father of Marcel’s best friend, Ravi. He is very well respected in the Sikh community in USA. He asked where I am from. I beamed and said, “I am a Bengali”. He paused for a second, and said, “That is the most amazing thing about Bengalis. When two Bengalis meet, the first thing they talk is about being Bengalis. Next, from the names, they figure out the religion. Lastly, they ask whether they are from India or Bangladesh. It is such a very different story for Punjab”.
This is my view on the Force of Peace: for two hundred years the Brits tried to divide and conquer India. They had no idea what they were getting into, when they tried it with the Bengalis. Even during the age of Mahabharata, the Pandavas did not bother to mess with Banga (Bengal) and hence Bengal is known as “Pandava Varjita”. C’mon, you want to tell me that those stupid Brits knew better than the Pandavas? :-)
They learned quickly what a situation they had in their hand and tried to Partition Bengal in 1905. Poor Lord Curzon, little did he know that Bengalis would not go down quietly. Needless to say, Bengal was re-united in 1912, and the Brits quickly moved the administrative capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi.
1947 was the bloody partition. Those Brits had to do something evil, before they left India, right? Well, in 1971, the East Pakistanis had their say and did not care to speak in Non-Bengali languages anymore. Truth be told, they are atrocious at Urdu.
So here we are, the proud Bengalis. If you want to know about the “Force” of peace, talk to us. We can say a thing or two about it, rather forcefully :-)
Hey Team,
Lets start all over again.Just of food ” Rome was not build in a first Attempt”
Bipin B Agravat