The Japanese want to help India in these trying times of Tsunami.

Their ambassor says they 'respect India's policy of not requesting international aid' but also want us to know that they're waiting with help. We only have to ask.

And oh, we have to factor in the 'accountability' factor. They want to know where the money's going, how and by whom it's being spent. So forth...

That's tough, eh?

We can't get someone to account for a hundred quintals of rice in a fair-price shop in a single village. How do we account for millions of dollars, especially now, in all this chaos and confusion?

All the same, it's fair enough that they ask for it. They are probably used to it.

They're also rather kicked about having given the most - $ 5 million - aid worldwide. Oh, the ambassor did mention that they are NOT in competition with any other country, but nevertheless, at last count, they were the biggest donors. 'I'm just stating facts here.'

Of course.

Though, I too am rather kicked that the Japanese have, very effectively, 'kayoed' (that's the headline one of the newspapers had) Bush's grand announcement of millions of dollars... They were so stung about being called stingy. But like the nice man (forgot his name) wrote in his column in the Asian Age today, it is a rather stingy amount. Even now. Smaller, non-superpower countries have given more generously. For chrissake, even poor embattled North Korea gave $ 1.5 million, a sum they can't afford to spare.

To be honest, I'm glad it's the Japanese. I don't like the idea of the USA being on top of the world. They're heavy and suffocating enough, as it is. And they're dangerous, with all their guns and grinning soldiers.

And I'm awfully glad we aren't accepting international aid. I don't think I could have taken the burden of being grateful to George Bush, on behalf of my countrymen...

Fadereu is right. We don't need them. We'll bury our dead and rebuild our homes with our bare hands, if we have to. We'll live in bamboo and learn to wake with the sun and sleep with the dusk, if we have to. Maybe that is a better way to live... The tribes survived, didn't they? They heard the wind. They heeded the birds. And they still try to shoot down helicopters with bows and arrows. Maybe that is the better way to live.