his homecoming from brisbane was detained two days later these are still pieces of the whole scraps of information are spilling out from probe agencies as well as friends and families as his father maqbool ahmed now admits it was kafeel at the wheel of the deadly jeep cherokee what causes a chemical change in the persona of an assiduous young man focussed on his studies what was it that prompted kafeel ahmed and his brother to step across the line when the brothers decided to enlist into the tablighejamaat isnt yet known but there were no clues in their early life of radicalism or zealotry they were devout followers but it isnt a crime to be one surely but as seen in cases around the world the mind of a jihadi hasnt been extraordinarily vicious always down history recruits in extremist groups have come from ordinary backgrounds or deprived cultures but the young men here didnt emerge fuming out of ghettoes they didnt have any obvious social cause to take up or a grudge to nurse and in fact there were no guns blazing around them they grew up in the technology capital of india known for its cosmopolitanism what triggered this change in these men who were set for academic brilliance is it that radical has suddenly become chic like algerian terrorists with gelled hair were these young men wearing masks of righteousness in the presence of peers family and neighbours or teachers not really because the voice of vengeance of waging a war can hardly be muffled in all circumstances probe agencies indicate that the plot is thicker there are voices in the neighbourhood too now indicating that the ahmed household kept to themselves kafeel in particular didnt have too many friends is this an indication of his isolation was he going through a conversion of thought what does it take to espouse a cause in the most violent of methods strong conviction that the deed is the ultimate duty something that blinds one to familial relations too sacrifice becomes the rule of thumb and hate accumulates against anything even innocent lives the mind accepts nothing but one goal how then do bright men like kafeel lose innocence is it their strength of concentration that is tapped apart from their expertise and intellect they also make for good strategists the new matrix of terror is after all built with technological skills and an astute sense of safeguarding religious beliefs if kafeel is guilty his will be a baffling story of scholarship put to subversive use from our side of the world it is like a dream torn apart and a shocking reminder that there may be a bomb ticking away in the mind of a studious young man