We had planned to visit Lebanon in January, when Saad Hariri’s government decided to resign, plunging the country into an unstable political situation. Our stay in this cradle of civilizations thus became an emotional experience.

When we landed in Beirut, the airport was empty and the sun about to set. Our taxi driver comforted us with stories of the current events which shook some parts of the country. Streets were quiet and the few people we met were all talking about politics. Even some shop windows had cartoons on the political crisis.

After a long sojourn in London, journalist Gulnura Toralieva had just returned to her country on April 6, 2010 after her family heard of riots in the small town of Talas, which made headlines in world media. The protests were against price rise, nepotism and corruption in President Kurmanbeck Bakiyev’s rule. Little did she know it was the beginning of the end of Bakiyev.

After the tiring travel to Bishkek with a two-monthold baby, I had a long sleep on April 7 morning, but the anxiety did not leave me even in my dreams. We had left London in a hurry the day before when the news about bloody riots in the small provincial northern town of Talas trickled in. I didn’t know this was the first bird of revolution against the Bakiyev regime. The last one in the history of the young post-Soviet country, Kyrgyzstan, had taken place in 2005 without taking too great a toll on human lives. That Wednesday became the blackest day for many of us as about 300 people died and more than a thousand were injured in the short-lived rebellion.

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi and his friends took a journey from Islamabad to the flood-affected South Punjab with relief materials on October 23. From Nature’s fury and terrorism to snack stopovers, his log speaks of varied experiences

1700 hrs [October 23, 2010] I was en-route Lahore with three volunteers to make a delivery of relief items to flood affected South Punjab. Hamid Ali, an MBA student, Shakeel Ahsan, an HR executive and Hammad Atta, a telecom engineer were with me on the trip started from Islamabad. We would meet more volunteers in Lahore where we will have to load three trucks with relief items overnight and start our journey early morning the next day.

USA, presently India’s sixth-biggest arms supplier, will likely be among the top three suppliers alongside Israel and Russia, in the next couple of years.

India has made a definitive turn away from Russia and other longtime partners France, Sweden and UK to Israel and America to procure arms.

Despite issues related to Washington’s anti-outsourcing stance, the visit of US President Barack Obama in November will buttress Indo-American defence ties, aside from deepening civil nuclear partnerships.