tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74266374392441217442024-03-13T04:43:37.417+05:30Optimistic PessimistVivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-1422319876487060862010-10-18T06:06:00.004+05:302010-10-18T19:12:59.026+05:30Madras during Y2k - Nostalgia<span style="font-family:verdana;">The decade comes to a close this year and that made me retrospect on what has been in the last 10 years. From a personal point of view, I have grown a lot. No really, I have grown from just entering teenage to almost nearing the 'Hill' (25). For those who know me, may not agree at my intellectual growth but no one can deny me my physical :). Anyway, coming back, this decade has seen some of the fastest growth in the conscience of Indian society and the economy (GDP and all those feel good things). I would like to take you back in time when the year 2000 had started and draw a comparison of what was and what is not. Some of them would by my personal experiences as a kid growing up in Mylapore, Chennai. So...The 2000s were times when<br /><br />1. My dad used to fill petrol in his bike for 100 Rs and he used to get 3.6 odd litres. You do the number comparison with the prices today<br /><br />2. Cafe coffee day wasn't the obvious place to go for treats. Kaizhandi bhavan probably was<br /><br />3. Pepsi was introduced in can and was 18 Rs per can. Was mighty pricey. Who cared about cans when the good ol' annachi kada bottle was there<br /><br />4. Balcony ticket in Sathyam cost Rs 40. And Sathyam itself was just another cinema hall. Ranked among woodlands and devi<br /><br />5. Talking about cinema halls, pilot theatre in Royapettah showcased adult movie those days. Hot spot, literally<br /><br />6. Scooty was the 'in' thing. Guys and girls alike. Imagine guys driving a scooty now. <shudders><br /><br />7. Houses in mylapore could be bought for Rs 20 lakhs.<br /><br />8. School fees was Rs 500 a month and that was the higher end<br /><br />9. Anna Univ was only CEG, MIT and ACTECH. All others were under madras university<br /><br />10. Azharuddin was captain<br /><br />11. Amitabh was bankrupt and was making movies like Suryavamsham and Mrityudata<br /><br />12. Madhavan was every girl's dream. Surya and Vikram looked bad. And Vijay...<br /><br />13. Pizzas could be made only at pizza hut or dominos. Noone else knew how they were made<br /><br />14. Pencil boxes used to be b'day gifts<br /><br />15. Distributing eclairs for Birthday at school was the norm. Anything less and you don't have the 'coolness factor'. Anything more and you were uber rich.<br /><br />16. Saravana store was primarily a 'pathra kada'<br /><br />17. Ladies used to buy jewellery in chit funds<br /><br />18. Opel astra, ford escort were the luxury cars. Maruti 800 was still the first step to prosperity. Maruti Zen was the second<br /><br />19. Mobile phones existed. But at 8 Rs per minute. RPG Pagers were the 'in' thing. Everyone made sure people looked at their hips.<br /><br />20. 20GB hard disks were advanced category. 600 Mhz processor was the fastest thing. It wasn't hard to find 1 GB hard disk computers. Windows Millenium - 'nuf said<br /><br />21. Road rash and Doom were absolutely mandatory if you had a computer<br /><br />22. Rediff.com - Coolness coefficient increases<br /><br />23. Velacheri was really an Eri.<br /><br />24. Music videos and albums were the next best thing after movies. Remember 'Deewana' by Sonu Nigam that had girls fainting? Daler Mehndi with his 'repeat each line 4 times' songs.<br /><br />25. Remember those big digital diaries? They certainly bought out my awes. Best gift items among professionals<br /><br /></shudders></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><shudders>26. 8 bit games were absolute craze. Remember super mario, karateka, spartan, legend of the kage? And those funny looking 8 in 1, 199 in 1 cassettes? Most of us didn't know a thing about Nintendo or Sega. </shudders></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><shudders><br /></shudders></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><shudders>27. Boomer beat Big bubble to capture the bubble market. Yeah...Remember those tattoos with 1 Rs bubble gum? I knew friends who 'updated' them every day. They were the motivation behind Saif Ali khan's 'Kareena' tattoo i guess</shudders></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><shudders><br />The list is not all inclusive and will be updated as I remember more.<br /><br />Vivek<br /></shudders></span></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-5032142595249169302010-07-14T06:42:00.006+05:302010-07-14T07:31:52.567+05:30Movies and Indian ethos<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Imagine life without the movie Industry in India. Imagine we were a boring lot of people not too much interested in showbiz and fanfare. Who would you idolize? Yeah right Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Because Shahrukh khan would have been a potbellied manager in some government office. Imagine what would have every newly married guy sang to his wife during their first night? Yes, "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayal aata hai..</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">." wouldn't have existed. No "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Suhag raat hai, ghoonghat utha raha hoon mai...</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">". What would every college kid who is about to graduate take sing his feelings to happiness? No "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Papa kehte hai bada naam karega...". </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Or who would have inspired a whole generation to take up smoking had there not be any "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya...". </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The middle class of the 90s was the most ambitious generation post Independence India. They saw TV and they dreamt like any other Indian. But this time they worked to achieve it. Thats an altogether different story. But imagine if it had not been for movies like DDLJ, Pardes, K3G, Lamhe and songs like "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Tu mere saamne..." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">from Darr, what would have inspired that generation to watch the beautiful looking foreign lands in awe and admiration and to dream to go there. I seriously believe, had it not been for the movies, I wouldn't have had that extra urge to come to the US. Thanks to those romantic duets worth crores of money with useless extras shaking their legs to help two idiots confess and pronounce their love for each other in some really exotic and naturally gifted locations abroad. Without them half of the present NRIs wouldn't even know how foreign lands are. Yeah they might have seen hollywood movies, but the presence of Shahrukh khan driving his car along the Brooklyn bridge and singing can be related much better. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Imagine had it not been for songs like "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Mere khwabon me jo aaye..." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">from DDLJ, young nubile girls would never feel positive for an otherwise dreadful occasion like a marriage. And of course, without movies, I feel the big fat Indian weddings wouldn't have existed. Nothing to dance to. No "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">kaali teri choti hai paranda tera laalni...", "Mehndi laga ke rakhna...", "Sona sona.. dil mera sona..." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">etc etc., Can't imagine what would have inspired people when they are low had it not been for "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Ruk jaana nahi..tu kahin haar ke.." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> and "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Lakshya ko..har haal me paana hai.."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> . What can better describe the emotions of new started love interest than "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Pehla nasha...". </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Its rather hard to understand and experience Indian ethos without Bollywood movies. Its a parallel culture that defines Modern India. The spirit of Indian celebratory culture coming out in the form of a 17 mm film. Ancient habit of deep thinking ingrained in our minds coming in the form of parallel cinemas that defy conservative ideas. It is indeed a religion along with Cricket.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">PS: I have mentioned only Hindi movie songs here because of the wider range of people that it can cover. </span></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-45412835763063682802010-07-14T06:25:00.005+05:302010-07-14T06:27:57.255+05:30Market is like Nature<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Being politically aware definitely has its perks. One is politically vigilant and is quick to provide insights on news that "ordinary" people ignore as just another news. Unless its a tax increase, or an interest waiver or worse, a terror attack, people usually pass ignorant, generic, narrow minded comments on political happenings. A politically aware person sees a different view. Bailing out GM or AIG. Whats your view on it? If I get responses on it, I will flaunt my political awareness :). And political awareness has its disadvantages as well. Your blog may get blocked at work. Cool ain't it? You join the ranks of Al Qaeda, LTTE, LeT, and even porn sites!. Talking about being IN the league. Coming to the point, after being in the US for almost two years, I have come to realize my political stance with respect to American politics. I am a Republican :). Republicans or conservatives are people who believe in the founding principles of this country. Which is free market, entrepreneurship, limited Government and individual efforts. To me that is very liberal. Democrats on the other hand, termed as Liberals (Ironical) are ones who believe in... forget it. They believe in everything. They are leftists, centrists, what not. Even gays. Because? knock knock! They are liberals! They can be anything.</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My political stance is inspired by the founding principles of America on its market. When a company fails, or when the market collectively fails, it is because of a bad business model. And its up to the market which should rise and sustain on its own to support its very existence. Very much like nature. If a chameleon that is black in skin color in a rain forest, 9 out of 10 times its going to fall prey. What does it do? Its species adapts itself to its surroundings and eventually a new kind of chameleon species is formed that can now change color. Camouflage to protect itself. A free market is like nature. It changes, adapts and reinvents itself. Tomorrow if Bank of America fails. Sure a few people lose jobs. Next door Daniel who is super talented loses his job. Its not his fault that Bank of America had a bad business model in lending sub prime mortgages. BUT! The market has a demand. That regardless of BofA's existence is big enough. This demand will pave way for a better, faster growing organization booming in confidence that can absorb talented people like Daniel. In fact such an event will redefine business models around to be forced to be better and more efficient. Surely if A and B have an ice cream shop and if B has more cleaner, friendlier shop than A, A cannot afford to be lackluster. A will reinvent itself. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In a socialist economy, the opposite happens. The govt bails out failed, sick enterprises. Air India is a sick enterprise forever on loss. Its shoddy, inefficient model is the reason for the rise of better, more efficient and swankier airline companies in India. If Air India is no more subsidized, sure Air India will fail. People will lose jobs. But the better of the airline companies will absorb market talent paving way for a better, faster market. And by the way, if Air India is subsidized keeping the lazy babus still in their jobs, sure it looks good in terms of providing job security. But whose money is it? OURS. We keep these lazy babus in their jobs only to provide us with shoddy service. Same holds for the thousands of sick steel units, power units around the country. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Therefore free market economy is the way to nurture more talent. Limited govt meaning lesser taxes. If you invest 25% of the taxes that you pay on a sound scheme, you will be a rich (hell yeah, rich) by the time you retire. And this is at a conservative number of 10% per annum. This is my 0.02$ worth opinion on market. And just to complete, market is linked to politics. And to reemphasize my point of self adapting and self bettering systems, I would allow you to figure out how politics and markets are linked.</span></span></div></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-86993872920385338782010-07-14T06:23:00.001+05:302010-07-14T06:26:18.973+05:30Being alone in an apartment<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Walking into a lonely apartment is funny. Especially for someone who habitually goes into his house singing. And then...noone comments. "dai super paatu da..." or "soora mokka machan..." or "enna machan love aa?".... And when I make tea, its only me, ruffling of trees I think (only to realize its the window blinds moving because of the vent). So its just me and the humming AC. Watching comedy shows makes it even worse. Because when I roll on the floor and laugh, noone comes next to me and asks whats thats more funnier than my presence. And when the other rooms carry the sound of my laughter, it becomes that much more awkward and I stop laughing. Every single sound now matters. It was as if I was given the ears of a dog. Every other sound makes me jump. Sometimes in fear (although fear has subsided because I have pretty much realized that the only person worth scaring me is my own presence - A reflection, an echo, a poorly balanced bottle, unclosed tap, rice cooker, sometimes in amusement that in this chaotic cosmos where matter is constantly generating life, is in motion, driving this big ass engine called life, there is this small system within the universe that is dead quiet. Where the dust particle silently floats in the golden sunbeam and settles down in perfect harmony and a perhaps quintessential equilibrium. The opposite also happens. There is no alarm in the house. There is no phone in the house. I guess this is how prisoners feel. Noone around. No sounds. No contact with the outside world. But I am better off. I can go wherever I want. But I meet only one person. And thats me. If physical outing makes me any different/better than a prisoner, then so be it. I guess thats a consolation enough.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But one consolation I do know. That in a few months someone is going to occupy this house. And share and add to the "noise".</div></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-12451213359725009552009-09-09T21:12:00.005+05:302010-06-30T06:41:29.416+05:30Facebook [feys book]<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'lucida grande';font-size:11px;"><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">1. I dun even know you but you are my 'Facebook Friend'</span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">2. Q:What have you been doing of late?A:Oh you should see my status messages </span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">3. Status Message:I had constipation this mrg </span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">4. We haven't seen each other for a long time. But we 'poke' each other everyday </span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">5. There are people who 'like it' when I vent my frustration, am sarcastic, fool around or criticize others </span></h3><h3 style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">6. I need random quizzes to know who I am</span></h3></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-40491479463210486222009-09-08T20:44:00.006+05:302010-06-30T06:44:21.662+05:30Like...Well, I mean...Basically<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">I often get annoyed when people talk to me. I know I sound pretty arrogant here. Had my mum seen this she would have already been half way through a lecture. But guys, my problem is not with people. My problem is well...like, i mean, its with Speech Fillers like the ones I just used here. Often people use multiple 'i mean' more than useful words in the sentence itself. Of all the speech fillers that are so annoying, I find 'i mean' the most annoying. It has multiple uses. Its used as a starter to a sentence. Sometimes as a conjunction. At times in place of a comma. And sometimes when there is nothing to say! This is what I hear at work. For example I have heard people on call, the person on the other side asks a question and its answered, "I mean...<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">that's</span> exactly what I have done". One colleague of mine has a notorious habit of using 'i mean' to start every damn sentence!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> And the next most popular speech filler is 'like'. This is mostly used as a conjunction. Especially when something serious is being explained, this is more often used. For example, "Indian politics is in danger now, like its being run by a stable government, but.. like its not run by good leaders". This is something I have noticed in both Indians and Americans. Americans also excessively use this word. The next speech filler is the 'well'. This is used more as a starter. I have seen it more in writing than in speech. Speech filler for writing? <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">LOL</span>! But believe me, it happens. Sometimes its used to create a sense of importance to an otherwise mundane statement. For example, A asks B, "Have you been there before?" and B replies, "Well...I haven't been there, but I would like to go". And this speech filler is pretty contagious. I have often observed that the person who starts this, creates so much of a sense of a serious talk using 'well' that the other person also starts responding with a 'well'. Well... :D</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Now I have noticed some words that are sole proprietary of the Indians. 'Basically'. :) Now this word, it splits me into laughter. For example, "Basically I am an Engineer". Ha ha ha...one is forced to ask, what are you otherwise? This speech filler is self explanatory guys. Especially fellow Indians would understand it :). Next is 'Actually'. I remember one classmate of mine in college who started every sentence with an 'actually'. As if offering an explanation. One popular instance I remember is when she was asked how a motor worked. She said, "Actually, when the lines of flux are cut...". I couldn't hold it. Especially because she was known for the usage of the word. And here in this context, it was like offering an excuse for why the motor worked. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Other speech fillers I have seen are the 'you know' and 'cos like'. 'You know' is more of a conjunction. Its used when you think the other person is just gazing without response at your talking. A sense of 'the other person is stupid' comes in and people start using 'you know' as if to wake them up to make them realize that they really know! The 'cos like' is something I have seen among Americans. 'cos' is a short form of 'because'. Because in itself is a conjunction, meaning 'cos' is also a conjunction (talk about the perils of colloquial usage of words). And as I have stated earlier that 'like' is also predominantly used as a conjunction, the use of 'cos like' makes it double conjunctions back to back. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> I hope you liked this post cos like a lot of observation has been done here. Well...basically its about observing keenly what people talk. I mean, its an interesting <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">pass time</span> if you feel bored :D</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Vivek</span> </span></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-77587862219716319032009-08-10T07:49:00.001+05:302009-08-10T07:49:55.011+05:30Religion, Kisses aur Makaan<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Emran (or is it Imran?) Hashmi has once again got into controversy. Not because this time he refused to kiss his co star (that would have made many of his fans furious), but this time for not being able to his reasoning right. So here is how it happens. Emraan Hashmi, who has about 3 posh houses in Mumbai goes to Nibbana Housing Society in Pali Hill to buy a house. Now he claims he was refused a house because he is a Muslim. At first thought, it felt so stupid that I couldn't believe they actually put that on front page in a national newspaper! The guy doesn't have any facts, figures or proof to advocate his claims of being discriminated. He just comes on camera and says that he was highly hurt for being discriminated for being a muslim. He was supported with full fervor by Mahesh Bhatt (no prizes for guessing it). It seems, now its no more a question of a house, Mr. Hashmi is going to talk for all Muslims in India and fight against 'discrimination'. All said and done, it seems obvious that Mr. Hashmi has not been subjected to the Indian <i>ishtyle </i> of house buying/renting. This is a country where sometimes even Brahmins are not given a house for being too orthodox, and for many other controversial reasons. One can be rejected if he is a meat eater, a gay, single, a female, young, old, unemployed, students, gujarati, bengali etc and etc and all the many dimensions that us Indians have. So the point is that if a landlord has to reject you, he WILL reject regardless. Its his damn will.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> The Nibbana society people now claim that the relatives (mother or someone) barged into the society meeting and demanded a house rudely. Thats reason enough to be rejected. Whats Emraan crying foul for now? Now even if he gets the house now, will he be even respected for his 'skills'? Oh, I forgot he has now stated thats it more than the house now. Its coming from a person who has never spoken for muslim issues in public forums anytime before. Did any of you hear any comments from him when the Sachar committee report was passed? Has he condemned profiling of muslims as terrorists? Has he objected to the wrong concept of Jehad thats being practiced by misguided young men? Its only when he is jobless (read uncle bhatt is not giving him any job) that he creates a sensational issue so as to tell the industry, 'Guys I am here! Please watch my kissing scenes and give me a role'</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Talking about muslims being discriminated in India, has Mr. Hashmi ever wondered that had it not been for the secular fabric of our country he wouldn't be boldly kissing around in his movies and earning that dough that he wants to throw for buying a house. For once, Salman Khan spoke sense and stated the same. Is he forgetting that the first people to fight for minority rights are Hindus first? Throughout history all the social reformers wanting change have been non-muslims. My point is, Indian society has been more than welcoming to people of all walks throughout history. Caste issues are still a problem that we are facing and we seem to be taking a lot of time to get out of our pervert minds. But to raise critical issues, you need critical examples and not one 'mujhe ghar nahi mila' waala rona dhona. As I earlier stated, one can be rejected from staying in a house for a billion reasons. Why Shahrukh khan, Aamir khan, Salman khan and his sister and many other muslim actors live in the same locality of Pali Hill. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> So, please Mr. Hashmi, you are doing more harm than benefit. For one, you may probably never get a house near Pali Hill. All the high society, scrupulous and haughty people of bandra might not like your 'middle class' ranting and complaining. Even if you do get, your movies might never be watched again. You may even start demanding only muslim actresses for kissing. And that would mean fatwa against you by your own Mullahs. All the religious-discrimation-ke-liye-ladna might turn against you. Instead, please concentrate on your kissing. Thats probably the only thing you would do well. Others have a better job, like instilling communal harmony. Lets 'kiss and forget' Mr. Hashmi :)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Vivek</div></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-58819935867667062802009-07-31T23:45:00.003+05:302010-06-30T06:48:09.473+05:30Friendship Day - A mockery of Friendship<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><div style="margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; padding-top: 0px;font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; min-height: 1100px; counter-reset: __goog_page__ 0; line-height: normal; ">Friendship Day - A mockery of Friendship <div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> The first Sunday of every august is celebrated as International Friendship day. And all people queue up buy gifts etc for their friends. Nothing can be more silly than an occasion than this. Cards and quotes are in galore about how beautiful friendship and how it means to everyone's life and blah blah. This whole custom of having a 'day' is just a gimmick to make the public go and shop thereby improving sales for the day. Improves morale, everywhere there is more purchase of booze, mobile phones, hotels are booked, cinema tickets are booked. All in the name of friendship. LOL! I find it very amusing because if friends have to meet and celebrate, they will do it anyway. This is like a call to prayer that a Mosque does. You don't have to remind your friends that you have to get together because its friendship day. Friends remain as friends regardless of a day. I am pretty sure Karna and Dhuryodhan didn't need a friendship day to celebrate their friendship. Just as how I am against the idea of a Valentine's day, I find the idea of a Friendship day really mundane and silly. Friendship bands! Boy they are one of the silliest ways of expressing something! It becomes into a vicious race to get the most number of bands suggesting the most number of friends a person has. Friendship is to last the test of time. Its is not valued by how and what gifts or cards one gives. It ain't necessary at all!<br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> The only people who benefit the most are the shopkeepers, malls, cinema hall owners etc. I don't go around giving my friends a card and tell them that he/she means a lot to me. Friendship ain't depended on that. In fact, its only when you burden your friend's emotions by giving him gifts etc that you start expecting too much from him. You tend to develop a sub conscious feeling that you have to hold this friendship dear and any arguments ll damage and all that paranoia that one can develop. It becomes a sort of material commitment. If you have to gift your friend something, you can do it anytime of the day. If I have to gift my wife something I will do it on any day, especially when she has had a bad week or a month. Thats when the purpose of a relation is truly realized. That he/she is there when you need them the most. And not because they bought you something on a 'Friendship Day'. Costly gifts, forced plans of outings, disappointment if the day doesn't go the way you expect a day of such 'magnitude and importance' to go. And then forced words of endearment because! Because its the day! I can only laugh at pitiable extents to which people force themselves to. Instead how about this, your friend plans a meeting with you when you least expect, you get a ticket to a movie when you were just passing by the cinema hall, and your friend buys you something that you always wanted without he/she ever knowing about your desires. Thats when truest form of affection grows. Those little insignificant moments that have camaraderie filled in it. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> We don't keep a day for the sun for it rising in the east. It just is! Similarly you don't need a day where you have to realize 'oh! I have friends, and I love them'. If you need a day to realize that, then I am sorry, to me, thats not what friendship is. I can quote all hunky dory quotes on friendship that 'friendship is limitless, friendship is beyond apprehension' etc and etc. Fair enough, if it is what it is, then why have a day? Its encouraging mass media who help consumerism. Thats how I see it is. One day of surge in purchase and chaos.</div><br /></div>PS: This article reflect my personal opinions on Friendship day. I appreciate those who like it and love those who second my opinion :P <div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Vivek</div></div></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-5034234135570268272009-07-11T01:42:00.008+05:302010-06-30T06:46:45.537+05:30The Insulted and battered face of India, the woman<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Verdana';"><div style="margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; min-height: 1100px; counter-reset: __goog_page__ 0; line-height: normal; "><div style="text-align: justify;">There seems to be something really wrong with the men of India. I am just not in a mood to start this post with flamboyant words. Anyone who has been following the news of late (regularly) can see that there is an incident of a rape every single day! Men with heights of perversion rape 3yr olds! How much more ridiculous can these guys get? Every single day we see a rape case. And invariably they always involve kids! I am not able to fathom if this some kind of new sexual preference. And its not as if there is this phenomena because these men have a bad lifestyle, deprived of women or something (deprivation also doesn't justify raping kids). To be very frank, there are enough brothels for these men to satisfy their desires. How much culture bugle they might play, it is seen that all men are inherently expressive about their sexual desires. Whether it is legally or illegally, men want to indulge in sexual acts with different women. Sex scandals are the most common scandals (at least no public money is lost there). Ok now I was talking about rapes here. Hardliners like the Ram Sena, Deoband, Evangelists who are always quick to attack women as the cause for the degeneration of the cultural ethos of India don't seem to have any voice in this issue? Why aren't there any fatwas issued, why aren't the perpetrators of such crime pulled by their hairs and dragged out on to the streets? (read Ram Sena) and why aren't the same evangelists who belabor about their opposition to contraceptives citing that sexual acts should only be for reproduction, coming out against such men?</div><div style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Truth remains that religious organizations and dogmatic institutes for order mean no good to the society and only come out when popular voice is required. Thats another story altogether. Statistics say that in India, on an average, one woman is raped every 25 mins. Do your own calculations for the year. The rise in rape crimes has increased by 678% since 1971! 678%?! Thats more than the percentage increase in the number of women itself. And that still doesn't include marital rapes. How many women in India would be right now silently bearing the wrath of their perverted husbands. I do not want to list out the cases themselves because of the utter shame that I would have to feel inside for describing the crimes that are committed. What is certainly not fathomable to me is how many kids are getting raped. 5 yr olds, 6 yr olds, children who have hardly began to recognize the faces of their relatives properly. Why they wouldn't even understood what was being done to them when they were getting raped. Gang rape of these small children and then most of the times they get beaten to death! And we keep singing glories about our rockets, our culture, tradition etc and etc. A rape case gets published in the website of a news channel for a day and the next day its not visible in its main page. Not that we want it to stay there for perpetuity. But then, why aren't there national debates on such issues? The media created a hysteria behind the decriminalizing of section 377 of the IPC. The mass media hysteria brought up many a debates and gay parades throughout the towns and cities of India. Fair enough, gays and other sexual minorities deserve their due. India has grown and is more mature they said when 377 was decriminalized. I say, India will be truly mature and worthy of all the nice adjectives that are attributed to it only when its women are respected and given their due.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Whether we have a woman President or a woman PM or a woman Military General, it doesn't matter to the small girl who is repeatedly abused sexually in her home and in constant probability range of getting raped each time she wanders off to play. So much for a civilization thats probably the only living one that still has a concept of a Goddess. The concept of Shakti, the most powerful force in the Universe, gives tremendous amount of respect and adulation to the feminine being. We have to be more than just proud of such intellectual advancements that our ancestors had. The worst part remains when the rape victims are not accepted back into their family or that they don't get married at all. I call it indiscriminate, deliberately negligent and ruthless assault on the mental stature of a woman. Its like punishing an innocent person for a lifetime and then hanging him for wanting to lead a normal life when he gets released at the end of his term. I shudder to imagine what would be going in the minds of a rapist. How does he have a heart to ruin a woman's life and worse of all, a child's life. After the Austrian incest case surfaced last year, there seems to be a spurge in the cases of fathers raping their daughters. So much for taking inspiration from the west. One girl was repeatedly sexually exploited by her father for 7 years, this time with the complete knowledge of her mother because a tantric advised them to do so in order to get rid of financial problems. I know, the reader is bound to get stunned. The girl bore it all and when it dawned that her sister was also to be subjected to the same punishment, she managed to report it back to the police. In patna, a woman was sexually harassed in public while being paraded and then stripped of her clothes in full view of the police and the onlookers. Not a single voice of protest! Great Indian Tamasha indeed! None of them would probably face criminal action serious enough for their heinous crime. In news today, it disappears the next day only to be replaced by another 'story'. Highly gut wrenching, and sickening, each story has a girl who is left without a face for all her life. Above all this torture, society doesn't respect her anymore (for no crime of hers!). How much more hypocritic can we get.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Solutions. I truly feel having exclusive fast track courts for rape victims. Something the National Commission for Women in India should take up as a mission instead of demanding one third reservation in parliament. One third or two third, in the mass plethora of pervert men out there, women are always vulnerable. These fast track courts should deal with all cases of abuse against women because our regular courts have pending cases that will take probably couple of more generations to clear. However, care should also be taken to ensure that no false cases are registered as acts of revenge by women. Because women are after all, humans and not angels. Investigative approach to all cases but in a faster pace would ensure the criminals are booked and the victims are given justice. Secondly, I feel since the masses of India are easily swayed by talks of culture, religious morality etc, they should be used wisely used to bring some sense into the minds of perverts. A kind of mass campaign should be undertaken to ensure the men truly feel ashamed before they even think of committing such crimes. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> This is a land where stories of Goddesses braving evil men and vanquishing them are known to every kid. The same civilization where God is portrayed in half male and half female form. The male and female attributes are in all bodies. As the Rigveda says, 'He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it' meaning the male is only so much male as much he is female and vice versa the female is only as much female as much she is male. In a land where this magnitude of equality is attributed to women, why does our society fail to live up to its reputation and for sustaining this reputation, why is a woman's life ruined everyday and her voice of protest suppressed? </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:-webkit-sans-serif;">Vivek</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:-webkit-sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-28567089130529087072009-04-08T00:03:00.007+05:302010-06-30T06:49:04.915+05:30Ideologies and Belief systems<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><div style="margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; min-height: 1100px; counter-reset: __goog_page__ 0; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> One of the things that I learnt after I came to America has been how ideologies, religion and subscriptions to various other philosophies that humans so much love to identify with, have been the reason for almost all of the world's problem today. Personally, I have always been fascinated by different ideologies and philosophical opinions of famous men who always stood by their opinion. Man, has always been subjected to evolution ever since he started walking on two legs. Though, till about 10,000 years ago the evolution has been primarily physical as in development of backbone, change in the physical appearance of the skull based on the location of habitat of humans, the last 3000 years in human history, has been the most dramatic as far as evolution of the human thought process is concerned. Philosophies of Ancient civilizations have dictated how humans thought, behaved and viewed their daily behaviour and also their relation with others. Philosophers like Plato, Socrates, Confucius, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Vyasa</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Chanakya</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, and countless other people of great virtue have taught and motivated others of their school of thought and virtually laid down the rules on how humans of a particular society lived their everyday life. The power of the influence of ancient ideas and philosophies is so great and so deep ingrained in the human mind that they continue to mould human behaviour even today.</span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> If the evolution of the human thought has been unstoppable so has been the evolution of the respective ideas themselves. Religion is also an idea, a philosophy about how humans might be controlled by a superior power, a stronger being to which all humans must abide to. Religious doctrines and textbooks laid down the principles of how humans should respect superior personality (commonly known as God), how God is to be perceived as (and in some cases, how He (She?) should also NOT be </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">perceived</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> as) and the stand that the human soul has in this 3 dimensional world that supposedly has been created by God for the good of all creatures on earth. Religion also defined morals, values and virtues and in turn set limits to human behaviour. The definition of what was good or bad was no more a case of how an Individual </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">benefited</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, rather how it would not harm the settlement itself. This was a marked improvement from a case when early humans were involved in a bitter struggle for existence and morals and values were individualistic. From 1000 different kinds of morals for the 1000 human of a settlement, it was 1 defined code of behaviour encompassing morals, righteousness and virtue. Therefore, the idea of a superior personality who not only controlled how the world lived each day, how every creature was born and how it died, and how the future of human existence depended so much on Him,was now dictating even the slightest developments in daily life and thought. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> It is interesting to know that just like how Human physical evolution was different in different location of settlement , so was the idea of religion. Although the interaction of various cultures meant that ideas and opinions had several borrowed sections, the main motive of every religious doctrine was significantly different. From how it was laid out to humanity, to who had the right to present it to all humans was also greatly different. For example, the idea of peace and tolerance seem to have its first </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">occurrence</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> in religions of Indian origin (</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Vedic</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">religion , Buddhism), the idea was taken into the idea of Christianity, Islam and their various other sects. However, the idea of an eternal heaven and hell remained only with the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Abrahamanic</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> religions. Rebirth seemed to be part of the religions of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">pre</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> christian eras. The </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Vedic</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> people, Egyptians, Native Americans for sure believed in rebirth and also worshipped nature. All of a sudden that idea was uncivilized and false and in many places the idea had to give in to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Abrahamanic</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> doctrines. My viewpoint here is not who borrowed from who, but rather how this became a part of human thinking. That a particular idea was not right and had to be replaced was the foundation of what is happening today among every human that inhabits this planet. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> I am more concerned about how Idea replaces the very existence of a human. Today, man has come to a point where the idea has more value than the human itself. It is now believed that idea is eternal but man is not. This startling deviation from the selfish, self centered life that cavemen had is something so conspicuous. I find it hard to digest we become so obsessed with our principles, our ideologies and our beliefs that we fail to recognize the most fundamental thing about human existence. That all humans are born the same and work towards the same thing. That of achieving happiness in their lives. Regardless of the means, the objective of every human is the same. He wants satisfaction in what he does, happiness in what he gets. Of course, the means by themselves should not harm the prospects of another individual. I would not want to dwell on that part for now. What ideologies, belief systems do is give a set of instructions telling an Individual to lead his life and seek happiness. It turns nasty when ideologies fail to recognize what the Individual perceives as happiness. A cliched yet perfect example is that of an ambitious guy in a Communist country. The communist ideology denies any individual rights to hold property, hold demonstrations against the state, make free speeches and expressions. To be concise, the individual is stripped of any right to a happy lifestyle that he desires for. He is caged in a cage that tells him what to do and defines his lifestyle. That is a perfect example of how ideologies grow to the extent where an Individual loses his value.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> What I observe is that one section of society always tries to force its ideologies and principles on other sections. Its a constant battle for owning the right to rights. For example, religious fanatics in SIMI, Ram Sena, Pentecostal Mission and many more constantly trying to prove other beliefs and ideologies wrong. At times resorting to violent means to prove their point. What starts as a morally and spiritually uplifting cause (Religion) ends up taking up people's life. The Korean peninsula was divided into the North and South after the defeat of Japan post World War II. The south was taken over by the US and the North was administered by the USSR (in both cases by puppet governments). Within a span of 3 years, the peninsula broke into a war of ideologies that has forever changed the way of life for the Korean people. Differences in ideologies ensured that what were proud, ethnically different, culturally rich people, were now fighting each other not because of differences in race, politics but ideology. Entire villages were massacred in the south for being suspected of nurturing communist ideals. And thats only because of suspicion. Imagine if any case was confirmed. The partition of India in 1947 is another story of an ideological divide. Religion is one of the biggest ideological reasons why the world is in shambles today. 'My God is better than your God', 'Follow my God, or else you will forever burn in Hell fire' and many such violent and preposterous statements are made to force people to change their beliefs. The point is, regardless of a belief system, we all want the same things. The preachers fail to realize that no matter what a man believes in, he still has to work to earn his bread, raise a family, have social interaction, satisfy his needs, get old, achieve his dreams etc and etc. Who has seen what is after death? Does it even matter what one believed in after he dies? The guy is dead! He is one with the elements and the ones who are alive mind their own business. All the <i>Nautanki </i>about ideologies and belief systems is worthless belaboring of stuff that destroys the few years that a person has to enjoy. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div></div></span> For the first 15 years of our lives, we are fully dependent on our parents who try to instill in us the best of behaviors, care and affection (not that it ever stops from their side) and providing us the platform to face the world. From the age of 15 to 20, we are the most confused in our lives. Social pressures, peer pressure about career, love life burden the first time mature brain bit too much. Then to come out of that, we are faced with the career building years of 20 to 30 within which we work hard to get a strong professional base, get married, fall in love (this time for sure), plan further for the future, party hard, go places that we always envisioned as kids, word towards achieving realistic ambition etc. 30 to 40 is devoted for the family with lesser holidays, more bad hare days, more bad evenings, insurance policy registration, kids going to all kinds of classes (dance, karate, classical music) apart from carrying a ton of books to school, lesser haircuts, tighter trousers and I can go on and on. 40 onwards is another struggle. The kid goes to college and takes to all kinds of 'cool' things thanks to its peers, kids now write competitive exams, bank loans are to be taken for the astronomical rates for college education, and if a recession happens then one in his 40s is in his worst position in the company. Highly vulnerable, he has everything to lose. Post 50 there is nothing much to say. So, the bottom line is that we have only about 10-12 years wherein we have the ability and the means to have lots of fun. And in that, if ideologies, principles and dogmas make us hate or refuse people then thats a sad state for humans.<br /><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Its very interesting that these man made ideas, man made rules, restrictions kill the very lifestyle of its creators. A baptist doesn't like a catholic, a Shia detests a Sunni, caste Hindus hate the dalits and so on and so forth. We fail to realize that life has much more to offer than petty ideals set by people who claim to work for social well being. US fought many a failed wars against communist countries so as to negate the attempts to spread communism. How much more can humans as a race stoop to? A point where we fail to see each other as humans but as walking ideologies. Even if a person subscribes to an idea, he/she has no right to refute the claims to others. One can believe in stones as long as they don't throw them at others. Man's progress is best determined by how much easier he makes his life, both mentally and in his surroundings. Strong ideological subscription leads to complicated thought, complicated actions. The reason these things intrigued me a lot after I came to America was because here I came across people of various ideas, belief system and behavioral attributes. The most conspicuous thing was that people were quick and unflinching in their attempts to express their subscriptions. Land of the free and Home of the brave indeed! The influence and the craving to attach oneself with a particular idea. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> I would conclude by saying that ideologies will come and go. The permanent truth remains that man is here in this earth to survive and make the most of the one life that he has got. Taking anything seriously and in the process struggling to disclaim others is a futile and useless attempt. At the end of the day, no one really cares. Ideologies will not provide one with food, shelter and clothing. Ideologies will not make our dreams possible. Man's own willpower, own courage and hard work can take him to where he wants. </div><div><br /></div></div></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-81907515587602108022008-11-15T23:47:00.004+05:302008-11-16T00:17:30.797+05:30Judiciary and Law in India is in safe hands<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-size:10px;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IKkkJTyU550&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IKkkJTyU550&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The Judiciary of our country is in great hands. I mean it. See the video and you ll see the talent students exhibit. They can pudgel their fellow college mates with amazing skills. And not to take the credit away from those taking the beating. They can get their hands reduced to boneless mass of fibre and yet survive! Wow! Hats off to the youth of our country! And look at how they respond to caste discrimination. They ll not tolerate even the slightest of insult of their leaders. Not even the faux pas of not including a National Leader's name on a plamphet. Commitment. This proves that the students of our country are pro-active. And not to forget they are all Law college students! They know how to find loopholes in law. Oh its so heartening! And yes, they can handle dangerous weapons like sickles, iron rods, wooden sticks (that should not be called a weapon considering the ones getting beaten can survive sickles and iron rods). Boy! Hail the youth of India! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Sigh... This is the sorry state of affairs in this country. In Chennai's Dr.Ambedkar Law College, students clashed among themselves over an issue of National importance. And why not? Dr.Ambedkar's name was neglected from the name of the college in a pamphlet. Hell! How can they keep quiet? Before the PMK, DMK and the left parties could blame the Brahmins for the faux pas, the students made sure they held the dignity of the student community flying sky high. In fact so high, it blew away. The Central Govt Institutions of India (JNU,Aligarh Muslim University, DU) are places where Indians have a first hand experience of how this nation runs. From Democracy (like beating up anyone against popular ideology), conducting rallies, making inflammatory statements against a section of society or indulging in slander, campaigns for elections, corruptions, not to forget </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">chamchas</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> breaking public property when their Student </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">leader </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">is offended or criticized. After all, children learn only from the elders. And these students end up as our leaders. Now noone dare ask why our dear Politicians are like this (remember the mic fight in UP assembly a decade ago? or the one that broke up in the Parliament? and also the constant walkout that the opposition conducts)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> As you can see in the video, the police watching the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The Great Indian Tamasha</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> (somebody should file a copyright suit against NDTV for hosting a show by the same name.There is hardly any tamasha there). I ask anyone to debate with me if they doubt the commitment and lawfulness of our Police. They did not interven when the students were busy protecting their caste identity. Because they simply did not have orders! The Gita says that duty comes before everything. The police respect that and abide by it. How can they ignore orders and barge into a situation where there is a fight for life and death? I mean how can they allow the stooges of PMK,Dalit Panthers to stop fighting for their caste? That is against the Human rights of the Dalit Cause! Talk about being oppressed for centuries, Dalits have to be given a free hand. And what best way than giving the representatives of the dalit cause this freedom? Schools, primary education for the dalits can wait. This is more important. Oh... I cant be more proud of my country. Our leaders have made sure noone takes the law in their hands and they do not spare even the police when they try to! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The final word is, a few bruises here and there, a few stitches and...ah not to forget one dead. Naa... Big deal. The cause for caste identity and protection of caste won. And Indian politics is saved. Socialist thought indeed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Vivek </span></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-91232285341627861362008-08-22T23:55:00.004+05:302008-09-06T19:25:45.291+05:30Pappu in'Pappu'lar culture<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have fallen in bad times. Instead of churning out intellectual, useful articles I am now made to write an article on, of all things, Pappu! What can be worse to my intellectual</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> abilities than a write on Pappu! Anyway so let me start filling some space here. I have been a model of humiliation, insults and ridicule thanks to a 'pet name' kept by my folks. Since my childhood they have called me 'Pappu'. Everytime I come from school, my mum would beam her 32 and say, 'Pappu! how was your day my dear! Blah blah blah'. I have saved some more ridicule by transalating her words from Hindi to English. Anyway now it so happened that I find that Pappu is now a Happening word! Out of the blue, I am now envied because people call me pappu (I believe now out of affection). Imagine this, I am walking on the road and my friend calls me, "Hey pappu!' and I turn around to see how many giggles it has generated. Whoa! People in fact think its cool. Nice:) nice nice.<br /><br /> I am now trying to trace the origins of this change in attitude towards Pappu. Search for Pappu in google and you will see all dirty jokes starting like this, '<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pappu ne ek ladki se kaha...'</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span></span>And its a dirty joke! I have not shown the full text of the joke here because then you guys will visit my blog only to see the joke!. Now Pappu means someone who is stupid, dumb basically a loser. Now I seriously do not understand why my parents had to call me dumb and with affection at that. Anyone you don't like call him 'Pappu'. If you are angry at your boss and want to quench your self prestige by calling him dumb (which is a mild word in English compared to the indignitives we Indians are used to), call him Pappu. Pappu is a common name parents name their kid in Gujarat and in Up, Bihar. Now I was born in UP and raised in Bihar. Guess my parents saw Bihari parents affectionately calling their children Pappu and it might have appealed to my folks. For heaven's sake Mom and Dad, why didn't you research on the name? It would have saved me the effort to write this post.<br /><br /> Anyway, Now there was a song sung by Amitabh in a Cadbury Dairy Milk ad where he sings, 'Pappu pass ho gaya!' followed by chanting of the same by a chorus. Grrr...I was in high school when the ad was released and I was fuming! I was too young to file lawsuit for slander. Then came Pappu Yadav, a Member of Parliament in Bihar who was charged of killing a fellow politician. You should see him boldly caressing (is that the right word? Sorry I am inherently short of the right words as you can see) his moustache with his 'followers' and showing no signs of remorse for the crime he did. Great! Now Pappu is associated with crime also! Thankfully my high school being in Chennai, people did not follow much of politics, especially in Bihar and so I was spared of further ridicule.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"> In college, thankfully it was a good experience and I feel that is when my good times with Pappu started. My best friend used to call me Pappu. Sandy being popular in college, the name stuck on with many and many felt it was actually cool. Boy! for once! I was proud of my name :) yeah! And then this song '<span style="font-style: italic;">Pappu cant dance saala...'</span> from the movie 'Jaane tu..Ya jaane na' came and then I was banging my head, literally this time. It damned my name, my prestige and every God damn egoistic word one think of. 'Pappu cant dance saala' was hitting me where it hurt. Fact of the matter is I really cant dance. My body structure is not made for dance and subtle movements. God am a disgrace to fine body movements that Indians are usually good at. This song made me wonder if it was made for me knowing my fluctuating emotions with the name Pappu.<br /><br /> But then there is God I believe and he heard my prayers. This song was a super hit and everyone was chanting it. Yohooo! Pappu was now happening! Now people called me pappu more often than not much to my happiness. Joining Grad school in US was also good because people knew me as Pappu (I had once used the name 'Vivek a.k.a Pappu' in my Orkut profile). So landing here, everyone knew me more as Pappu than vivek. Boy! And so, Pappu sahi me pass ho gaya :) And Pappu CAN dance saala, cos I shook my legs in a party and yes, I can actually dance. Things are good! :) Thank you Mom, Thank you Dad. LOL!<br /><br />PS : Right ok there ends my stupid post. Thanks you folks!<br /> <br /></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-89129065131545860332008-05-13T20:12:00.002+05:302008-05-13T21:52:07.912+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expre</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">ssions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA<br /><br /> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Britain's history as a sea faring nation has left its mark on their language. Dozens of common English idioms have their source in shipboard life during the age of sail:<span style="font-style: italic;"> In the same boat, at the helm, to run a tight ship, on the rocks, to keep things on an even keel,<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span>and so on.<br /><br /> Slightly less obvious are the phrases <span style="font-style: italic;">on the wrong tack </span>(referring to an upwind course), <span style="font-style: italic;">to know the ropes </span>(referring to the rigging on a sailing ship), and <span style="font-style: italic;">to give someone a wide berth</span> (or <span style="font-style: italic;">to give him some leeway </span>or <span style="font-style: italic;">to stay clear of him</span>).<br /><br /> Sometimes the link with sailing has become fairly obscure. To describe someone as <span style="font-style: italic;">broad in the beam</span>, for example, is to refer in fact to the beam of a ship - that is, its point of greatest width.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Hard and Fast</span>, generally applied these days to a rule, was originally said of a ship that was stuck fast through being stranded. And <span style="font-style: italic;">touch and go</span> probably originally mean coming near to being stranded - to scrape the keel in shallow water.<br /><br /> The phrase <span style="font-style: italic;">by and large </span>too is nautical in origin - to sail by and large in a sailing ship was to sail at a slight angle to the wind. Perhaps because this was 'by and large' a safe and effective way of sailing in the direction of an oncoming wind, the phrase came to be used in this more general sense.<br /><br /> To <span style="font-style: italic;">sail close to the wind</span>, by contrast, was a more risky business - it was to steer as near head-on as possible to the oncoming wind. Hence the general sense of the expression today: to take risks, or to verge on the irregular or illegal. The risk was that a slight shift in the wind might suddenly press the sails back against the mast, causing the ship to lose its stability and be <span style="font-style: italic;">taken aback</span>, or <span style="font-style: italic;">taking the wind from its sails - </span>two more nautical expressions that have passed into general use.<br /><br /> If everything is going well, you might say that all is <span style="font-style: italic;">plain sailing - </span>originally <span style="font-style: italic;">plane sailing;</span>that is, navigating by means of a simple plane chart, based on the assumption that the earth is flat or a plane. if things go badly, on the other hand, you might be <span style="font-style: italic;">on your beam ends </span>- the beams were the diagonal struts across a ship, used to buttress the keel; so when a ship was on her beam ends, she was tilted over her side and in danger of capsizing.<br /><br /> Rather less reliably, the two phrases <span style="font-style: italic;">the devil to pay </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">between the devil and the deep blue sea </span>have been traced back to the days of sail. When anticipating trouble, people sometimes say <span style="font-style: italic;">There's going to be the devil to pay</span>. A longer version of the idiom, rarely heard nowadays, is <span style="font-style: italic;">The devil to pay and no pitch hot</span>, suggesting lack of preparation for some important task. The <span style="font-style: italic;">devil</span><span> here is a seam between planks on the side of a ship. And to <span style="font-style: italic;">pay </span>such a seam is to seal it or smear it with tar. (The words <span style="font-style: italic;">pay </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">pitch</span>, in these senses, are in fact related, both going back to the Latin word for tar, <span style="font-style: italic;">pix</span>). If the sailors had neglected to prepare for caulking, then there was <span style="font-style: italic;">the devil to pay and no pitch hot</span>. And if the captain or first mate found out about this inefficiency, there would be <span style="font-style: italic;">the devil to pay.<br /><br /> Betweeen the devil and the deep blue sea </span>suggests a simple choice between two equally unwelcome options. Perhaps there is a more specific seafaring reference - to 'walking the plank' on a pirate ship. Dictionaries list, as one meaning of <span style="font-style: italic;">devil</span>, a sharp-toothed or spiked tool. A captive walking the plank would have had the deep blue sea before him, and a pirate behind, prodding him with a marlinspike or <span style="font-style: italic;">devil.<br /><br /> </span>It is possible, however, that the <span style="font-style: italic;">devil</span> once again refers to the seam in the side of a wooden sailing ship. To caulk that seam, a sailor might be lowered by a rope from the deck - a precarious and dangerous position to be in, with little room for manoeuvre, suspended <span style="font-style: italic;">between the devil and the deep blue sea</span>.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-7479004906729555412008-05-13T20:03:00.002+05:302008-05-13T20:11:41.887+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Beat about the Bush<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expre</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">ssions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH<br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The roundabout approach to an awkward problem is considered by foreigners to be a British speciality. What to many Britons is simply good manners is often interpreted by others as evasiveness.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Beating about the bush </span>was originally, in the 15th century, a way of finding game birds at night. Hunters or poachers would tap a stick on the ground or rustle the leaves with it to try to flush out the game. This was just a preliminary to the actual capture or killing of a bird, and the phrase came into to general use in the sense of a roundabout approach as opposed to a direct and forthright approach to real business in hand.<br /><br /> </span><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-39231473857596237922008-05-13T18:43:00.002+05:302008-05-13T19:01:27.419+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Baker's Dozen<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expre</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">ssions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">BAKER'S DOZEN<br /><br /> '<span style="font-family: verdana;">Consumer protection' is nothing new. Even in the late 16th century, when the phrase <span style="font-style: italic;">baker's dozen</span> is first recorded, tradesmen were subject to heavy penalty for cheating customers - short changing them, selling them shoddy goods or short weight, and so on. To be on the safe side, bakers would add an extra roll or loaf when filling an order for 'a dozen'. Even if they happened to bake underweight rolls, the extra one would ensure that the customer received what he paid for. So as a rule, a customer who ordered a dozen rolls would get thirteen - a <span style="font-style: italic;">baker's dozen</span>.<br /><br /> There is a different theory, equally plausible. Bread and rolls were sold not just by the baker, but by pedlars and stallkeepers too. In buying their supplies from baker, they might expect a discount for their bulk. Whether they got one or not, the baker would make it worth their while by supplying thirteen batches for the price of twelve. The origin <span style="font-style: italic;">baker's dozen</span>, then, according to this derivation, was thirteen batches or trays, rather than thirteen loaves or rolls.<br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-86122067407914822062008-05-13T18:32:00.003+05:302008-05-13T18:43:46.359+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Back to Square One<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expre</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">ssions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">BACK TO SQUARE ONE</span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;">In the early days of BBC radio, sports commentators adopted an experimental system for soccer broadcasts. The field was divided into eight theoretical squares - and listeners were shown these diagram in newspapers or in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Radio Times</span>. The commentator would indicate the position of the ball and players by the square that they happened to be in at any one time : 'Hodgkin dribbles the ball diagonally across from square 4 to square 5...' and so on. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The system lasted at least until the Second World War, but was eventually found too cumbersome, and abandoned. But the expression survived. It must have been frequently heard in comments such as 'The full-back taps the ball safely back to square one, where Simpson the goalkeeper picks it up', and so became a widespread catchphrase. The idea of 'back to beginning' seems so clearly suggested by the words <span style="font-style: italic;">back to square one</span> that the phrase quickly acquired this sense. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> There is an alternative theory about the origin of <span style="font-style: italic;">back to square one</span> - that it derives from board games such as Snakes and Ladders : one unlucky roll of the dice, or one miscalculation, and your counter might be sent all the way <span style="font-style: italic;">back to square one</span>, from which starting point you will have to speed it on its way across teh board all over again.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span> </div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-57005666004802207802008-05-13T18:23:00.002+05:302008-05-13T18:32:08.271+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - At sixes and sevens<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expressions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><br />AT SIXES AND SEVENS<br /><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana;">This phrase probably derives from dice-games, and seems to have developed from a 14th century idiom <span style="font-style: italic;">set on cinque and sice</span>. So originally the numbers were not six and seven but five and six, and the expression was used in connection with the elements of chance and luck in human life, rather than disorder or disagreement.<br /><br /> There is a far more colorful theory of the origin of the phrase, though its historical accuracy is questionable. Two of the old Livery Companies (originally the craft guilds) of the City of London had a longstanding quarrel over their order of precedence. The Skinners and the Merchant Taylors, both founded in 1327, ranked sixth and seventh in priority among the guilds, but which was sixth and which was seventh? In ceremonial processions, the two groups were at <span style="font-style: italic;">sixes and sevens </span>over the right to claim sixth position, and the ensuing fights no doubt had the whole parade <span style="font-style: italic;">at sixes and sevens. </span>In 1484, a settlement was eventually enforced by the Lord Mayor to entertain each other annually to dinner, and the companies were to take turns year by year at sixth position in processions.<br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-69075131997631518312008-05-13T18:14:00.002+05:302008-05-13T18:23:14.530+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - As sure as Eggs is Eggs!<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expressions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">AS SURE AS EGGS IS EGGS<br /><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana;">How did this peculiar way of saying 'without a doubt' originate? In all probability, <span style="font-style: italic;">eggs </span>is here a deliberately comic distortion of<span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: lucida grande;"></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-style: italic;">x</span>.<br /><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana;">In algebra, a basic equation is that x always equals x. If anything is accepted as true by all mathematicians and logicians, it is just that - that <span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-style: italic;">x = x</span>. So if you want to give a guarantee of the accuracy of a prediction, for instance, you might emphasize that it is <span style="font-style: italic;">as sure as <span style="font-family: georgia;">x is x</span> - </span>or <span style="font-style: italic;">as eggs is eggs.</span></span><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-41666252926969304472008-05-13T18:06:00.003+05:302008-05-13T18:14:29.935+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - All my Eye and Betty Martin!<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expressions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><br />ALL MY EYE AND BETTY MARTIN<br /><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana;">A rather old-fashioned way of expressing disbelief is to exclaim <span style="font-style: italic;">My Eye! </span>A fuller and still more old fashioned expression is <span style="font-style: italic;">all my eye and Betty Martin. </span>One theory is that this dismissive phrase originated in a garbled or mocking version of the Latin prayer to Saint Martin that begins with the words <span style="font-style: italic;">Ah mihi, beate Martini</span>: 'Oh, to me, blessed Martin.' Perhaps Protestants in the old days scornfully distorted the line when referring to anything they considered to be superstitious nonsense or <span style="font-style: italic;">hocus-pocus</span>.<br /><br /> The term <span style="font-style: italic;">hocus-pocus, </span>incidentally, probably developed in much the same way, going back to a Protestant mimicry of the Roman Catholic Mass - the latin words of consecration begin <span style="font-style: italic;">Hoc est Corpus</span>: 'This is the body'.<br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> </span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-63515002793583910882008-05-13T17:36:00.002+05:302008-05-13T17:54:28.366+05:30THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Acid Test<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In this series I will write the origins of some of the most common expressions of phrases that we use in ours day to day life. The facts given here are extracts from a book by the same name that I got long time back from Reader's Digest. I wholeheartedly thank the author 'John Kahn' for this amazing book of trivia<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">ACID TEST<br /><br /> </span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Any crucial or decisive test - whether of a soldier's courage or a motor car's suspension - is today referred to as an <span style="font-style: italic;">acid test.</span>This phrase dates back to the early years of the 20th century. But what was the original <span style="font-style: italic;">acid test</span>?<br /><br /> It was not, as might be supposed, a test of an acid's strength, or a test for the presence of an acid. It was a test <span style="font-style: italic;">by </span>an acid - the test for trhe presence or amount of gold in a given metal object such as a ring or a spoon. The acid in question was nitric acid, which dissolves the base metals in an alloy but cannot dissolve gold. The test is still used by jewelers when making valuations or checking for forgeries. <br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"></span></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-28667911965541583892008-03-31T21:13:00.002+05:302008-03-31T21:24:37.541+05:30Who is the Grasshopper and who is the Ant?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This was a mail i received and i found it irresistible to put it in my blog. Kudos to who ever has composed it</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">PS: First time I am posting something thats not mine :( But this was too good</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">However harsh it would be, it remains a fact and we need to take it with a pinch of salt</span> </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><u>OLD VERSION </u></b><br /><br />The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.<br /><br />The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away<br /><br />Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.<br /><b><u><br />Modern Version </u></b><br /><br />The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The Grasshopper thinks the Ant 's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.<br /><br />Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.<br /><br />NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.<br /><br />The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?<br /><br />Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant ' s house .<br /><br />Medha Patkar and Tan Shyamoli goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.<br /><br />Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.<br /><br />The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .<br /><br />Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.<br /><br />CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers..<br /><br />Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.<br /><br />Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act ' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.<br /><br />Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.<br /><br />The Ant; fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.<br /><br />Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice ' .<br /><br />Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice' .<br /><br />CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'<br /><br />Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.<br /><b><u><br /><br />NEW VERSION :</u></b> </span> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" >Many years later<br /><br />The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .<br /><br />100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ....<br /></span><span style=";font-family:Verdana;color:red;" ><b><br />because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!! </b></span></span></p>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-41778851500724889442008-03-21T11:17:00.002+05:302008-03-21T12:03:36.908+05:30Forget Tibet, Free Kashmir!<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;">A lot of hue and cry has been raised over the protests by Tibetans against the autocratic rule of the Chinese. Human rights violation they say. A lot of Tibetan refugees in India are taking to the streets demanding action against China, asking the Indian Govt to intervene. Our good old take-law-into-our-own-hands media is being the Judge passing ridiculous judgment over how Tibet is being exploited and how India as an 'South Asian Superpower' should play a role and how Indians should stand solid against the Chinese atrocities. Send support smses they say, and our poor easily fooled public spends money for the cause of some people who don't even belong to this country and the media just finds another way to rake in profits.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Now, I ask, if China is having problems with Tibet, so be it. If Tibetans break rules, shoot at the police or even jump into wells who cares? We all know how sensitive China is with regard to Tibetan issue. It went on an all out war against us just because we sheltered the Dalai Lama. Thanks to it, we lost a great chunk of Arunachal Pradesh apart from numerous military posts being occupied. What did we gain? Dalai Lama is a celebrity all over the world. He goes about roaming the whole world, meeting big shots. And we got labeled as a perennial threat to the Chinese and in the process are in perennial threat from the Chinese. True, the Chinese can never be trusted but they at least do justice to their sovereign rights and maintain their policies no matter what.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> If the Chinese strictly adhere to the policy of selling their products everywhere including India, whats wrong? They want to be global leader in manufacturing and do everything to make their presence felt. If Indian industries are being hit by the Chinese presence, why should the Chinese be blamed? They are practicing something they never advocate, Hard core capitalism.If we fail to capture our own markets then the problem lies with us and not the Chinese. We need to portray an image of a nation that never gives in petty emotions and strictly safeguards its borders. Our foreign policy is so weak, that who knows someday we might give away Assam and Kashmir to our illustrious neighbors to please them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Everyone cries about human rights violation in Tibet. What about Kashmir? Who cares about the Kashmiri Pandits? Two million people made refugees in their own land. There is also a belief that Hinduism has its root in Kashmir, with Kashmir being mentioned many a times in the Vedas. There is a strong presence of Hinduism in Kashmir. Adi Shankaracharya himself came to Kashmir and even today there is a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar. The word Hindu came from the river <span style="font-style: italic;">Sindhu</span> (Indus) and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sindhu Nadi </span>is primarily in Kashmir. What have we done for Kashmir? Article 356 has literally made Kashmir an autonomous region. The region is highly militarized and the defense expenditure in Kashmir is escalating by the year. There is literally no productive output from Kashmir. Kashmiris are hardly represented anywhere in this country. Ironical because the whole Nehru family is one of Kashmiri Pandits. You will find even North Eastern people as air hostesses but how often do you come across a Kashmiri? Majority of them wouldn't have come even to the most visited city of Mumbai.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> We keep having talks and deals with the Pakistanis but i believe i will be a grand dad and even then our Nation will be having 'Peace Talks' with Pakistan. Two Nations which fiercely protect their sovereignty are Israel and China. They would never tolerate intruders in their land. Chinese will intrude our posts in Sikkim and we would still deny all reports. All so as not to hurt our neighbor!! Our politicians will sell the nation in order to please every other nation in the world. Communists play a vital role here. I bet they would be feeling bad for the fact that Chinese don't play cricket. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The bottom line stays that Tibet and China can quarrel as long as they want to. we need not have any role to play. Support for Tibet would mean unnecessary diatribes with China. Charity begins at home they say, lets do charity in our country by doing something about Kashmir. Lets educate their mass. Let them never have the feeling that they belong to Pakistan. Lets secure our interests first! Let the media propagate the widespread injustice done to the Kashmiris. All Kashmiris regardless of their religion have suffered for six decades , violence, oppression, economic laxity and loss of identity. Let us do something for our own countrymen first!</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-8482539918549620462008-03-09T22:44:00.001+05:302008-03-10T11:30:52.101+05:30Women's Day - A Sham<span style="font-family:verdana;">Women's Day - A Sham</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Its that time of the year, Women's day or is it Woman's Day :P Seems like there is a coterie of women who flaunt themselves before the media every year for 'the cause of women'. Funny things is that, invariably it is the same coterie again and again every year. Any social event for Women's day is marked by appearances by 'Women who achieved great things in Society' like Preity Zinta, Nita Ambani, Smita Thackerey, Sharmila Tagore, Sweta Nanda Bachchan, Ekta Kapoor and so on. Now these faces will be the ones repeatedly shown with gleaming smiles, showering praises on the 'Woman of Today'. Aah...one must really applaud them for their efforts. You know why?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Nita Ambani - Wife of India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. Was gifted a 240 Jet crore by her husband! They have so much wealth that they need to buy just to avoid taxes! Now, with so much of money at your disposal, you wouldn't expect the lady to be at home making roti and dal. After all, you cant be always called the Wife of Mukesh Ambani with no identity of yourself. So what do you do? You indulge in media watched charity. Now charity is good no doubts but does it involve any sort of labour or effort on this lady's side? She has money that she doesn't know what to do with. She just has to dispose them! Hell and she gets awarded for that!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Priety Zinta - She made only movie last year and that too flopped badly at the box office. An affair with Ness Wadia, the heir of the wadia group would only mean social status and money. More glamor, more media outings, more media glare. Crores being spent on their IPL team, Chandigarh and all whose money? Well, investors, wadia group etc...What did she have to do? Wear big sunglasses and power suits and talk to the media as if they have just conquered Mars. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ekta Kapoor - Daughter of Jitendra 'Jumping Jack'. Lots of family money. I don't say she has not become the boss of Indian Television out of nothing. She has done her bit of hard work. But then, give me all the backing her father gave in terms of finance and contacts and i would have achieved the same. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The other women you guys should know. Sweta Nanda Bachchan, the daughter of the biggest superstar of Indian Cinema, Amitach Bachchan and wife of Nikhil Nanda (grandson of Raj Kapoor). Do i even need to comment? Smita Thackerey, the Daughter in law of Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackerey has so much power at her disposal that big cinema stars stoop to being servile before her. See filmfare award functions and every single award recipient would thank her for achieving the award ! Beats me! How is smita thackerey involved in their achieving an award?? Sharmila Tagore, needless to say was and has always been in an environment of prosperity. One should see the horse races she and her husband, the Nawab of Pataudi indulge in</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> So, looking at all these, one wonders where is the real woman of India? One who languishes behind veils, one who works day in and day out in households as a maid earning as little as youngsters like me spend on coke a month. Where is the woman is struggling in construction sites carrying heavy loads, facing abuses of fellow men and making sure her kids have a meal to eat everyday. Where is the woman who is struggling to create an identity for herself when she tries to get a job as conductor or a driver of a bus in a highly male domain. Where is that woman who sells </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Idlys</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> to make her son study at IIM? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> More and more women opt for divorce and many indulge in extra marital affairs says the newspaper. The changing face of the modern woman it says. Boldness they say. Is boldness all about snapping relations and being infidel? Is that all is there to a woman? Does breaking the bastions of a male dominated society mean infidelity and intolerance to relations? Is the partying, boozing woman of today the new face of women? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> There are women out there who break all odds to bring their family our of poverty by making remarkable achievements like the World Carrom Champion </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ilavazhagi for whom everyday survival is a battle. They have to literally plead for attention whereas the rest, affluent go away with all laurels and applauds. Who is the real achiever? The lady who despite her husband's demise makes a good citizen of her son. The lady who sustains various complexities of her in laws and still manages to keep the family in one piece. Let us salute that woman and value her and not make a mockery of 'Women's Day'<br /><br /> Every day is to be a woman's day. They, as humans have equal right as all men. They have equal share in enjoying life as much as men do. The whole concept of a Women's day is a sham when political parties come out asking for a reservation for women in the parliament for reasons only they know. Why should transport authorities have women drivers only on Women's day? Why should Kingfisher Airlines and Air India have an all women crew only on this day? It is like saying, "Ok thank you for giving this day exclusively for us. The rest of the year is for you men". Let us stop demeaning women with such a 'Day'<br /></span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-16234310874581457202008-02-22T19:14:00.001+05:302008-02-22T19:22:00.307+05:30My Money, I blow it up, My Wish!<span style="font-family: verdana;"> There has been a lot of debate recently over the social responsibilities of the Millionaires, Industrialists, Rich Sportsmen (ok apart from the Cricketers very few cricketers are rich! LOL! ) and so on. The media portrays them in poor light showing clips of their flamboyant parties, weddings and asking if they would ever contribute much to society in terms of charity, uplifting of the poor, their participation in social causes and stuff. thanks to this media portrayal, the issue of reservations to be allowed (in fact to be enforced by the Govt) in Private Enterprises is also seen as an appeasement of the poor and a way of giving back to the society by ruthlessly money minded capitalists.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Vijay Mallya, the liquor baron was interviewed once (i guess it was in Devil's Advocate in CNN IBN by Karan Thapar) and asked if he never thought about the millions of poor dying of hunger on the streets, of all the unemployed on the streets and stuff. He was like asked what he had done for all of them. To this, the man replied saying that he was a businessman first and that he works hard day and night to make money and that he has the right to spend it the way he wants to. The fact that his company provides job opportunities to many, suffices for his responsibility towards the unemployed. Because, he, as a single man has created jobs apart from making money himself is fair enough. As for his social responsibilities he need not go about beating the drums that he does charity. And moreover he pays huge amounts in tax to the Government which should be reason enough for him to perform his social duties. He said that because there are so many poor masses of people in this country, it doesn't require of him to change his lifestyle and live hypocritically.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The same holds true for IT professionals who are accused of spending lavishly on parties and pubs. Amitabh Bachchan is accused of not spending much on Maharashtra and Maharashtr</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">ians .</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Again the point remains that in all these cases, the people under scrutiny earn of their own hard work. They spend money that is rightfully theirs and are in no way a burden on the society. The whole purpose of earning money, making a living is to enjoy the small pleasures of life apart from sustaining the basic requirements of a livelihood. Who doesn't want to spend that extra to gain that fine moment of pleasure? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> If there are poor despite millions of '</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Yojnas'</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> by the Govt, is the prosperous middle class to blame? Not everyone can inspired by </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Rang De Basanti</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and try to change things in the system (of course non violently). People need to satisfy themselves firstly. If i start making millions tomorrow, i would at first make sure that i satisfy my requirements of a nice posh home, of a strong financial security, of assuring the better future of my family and my parents. Only in the event of making surplus money would i venture into charity with full fledged intention. My taxes need to be used properly and that responsibility lies with the Govt. I am honest to the Organization where i work for, I am deemed a good employee. I don't cause nuisance to the public i am deemed a good citizen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I don't think anyone needs to pass judgments on the way i live and dictate terms on where i should spend and how i should spend. The same holds true for all the IT professionals, Film Stars, Industrialists etc., The people who should be really judged should be politicians. They are the ones accountable to the public. Every function organized to felicitate Old warhorses in politics costs the exchequer a huge sum of money. Money that should be spent on public welfare funds is '</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">eaten up'</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> by corrupt bureaucrats .Well we all know at lengths about the corrupt system. No point belaboring about it.To sum up, i would say that, its My money, i blow it up and thats my wish!</span>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7426637439244121744.post-75745354800365173852008-02-19T21:46:00.000+05:302008-02-19T21:55:18.061+05:30Of stars, stones, cards and lines<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>This is a superstitious country. Yes, I don’t really care if some ‘patriots’ accuse me of spoiling the country’s image! Hell! This is really a crazy nation that is fast forgetting the basic tenets of spirituality taught so deeply by our ancestors and instead is following Godmen, Astrologers, ‘<i style="">Vastu’</i> experts, Tarot card readers and all those people who are actually making the working strata of society utterly jobless, and rendering them low on their self confidence! People now fail to believe in themselves and instead believe in some stones worn around their hands, on the throws of a pack of cards that have crazy looking pictures drawn on them.<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>My belief from all kinds of superstitions faded when I saw conflicting versions of my Horoscope. I mean there is this horoscope where I was told that I am a womanizer, a drunkard and an utterly worthless guy! Boy it took me 18 years to draw courage to talk to a gal! Believe me 18 years! Even now when I am surrounded by females I get freaked out. And there is this sheet of paper that’s supposedly my past, present and future based on the movements of a few stars! Nothing can be more degrading for Human spirit than this! Another horoscope said that I would live up to the age of 91, have a house by the age of 25 and have a peaceful life. How contradictory! And the astrologers are very quick in giving crappy reasons for these stupid papers. <o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>I ask all people out there, should we, as worthy men let a few stars decide our destiny? What happens to the law of karma that has been told as the supreme tool of judgment in all our sacred texts? What happens to the concept of <i style="">Bhakti? </i><span style=""> </span>Are we knowingly following a set of people who are ‘Proxy-Gods’?<span style=""> </span>Does the Western Society have anything like Horoscope? Aren’t they prosperous? Where has all this superstition got us to? We have been labeled as a nation of snake charmers, of mysticism, of chaos and of the occult! Do we really need such branding? What are we trying to do here by getting such labels? Attracting tourists?<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>High time people realize that all that matters is work and human spirit. We have been given a pair of eyes, ears, hands and legs. People do wonders without a pair of hands. History is witness to men who have boldly defined the course of civilization by sheer belief in their self and in their abilities. They aren’t the ones who sat at home waiting for the right time or rather ‘<i style="">good’ </i>time. Holy crap, the world will come to a standstill if the Wall Street follows ‘<i style="">nalla neram</i>’ and stuff! <o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>The most atrocious of recent beliefs is the tarot card! Here are a pack of cards that hardly ever make sense. They have the pictures of strange looking beasts, objects and angel like things. The tarot card readers ask the client to throw them with their left hand (unbelievable considering what we generally do with the left hand ;)) and ask them to throw a few on the floor. And lo! Magic! Our future is right up in front! I tell them the same thing that Einstein exclaimed once, that God doesn’t play dice! Tarot cards invariably lead us to believe that God plays dice with our destiny!! God isn’t that cruel! He hasn’t given us the most superior brain among all species to play chances with our destiny!<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>I am also told that my first wife will die and that I will marry twice. Now does that mean I check up on the medical condition of my love that I want to marry and if it turns out to be negative I ditch her?? <span style=""> </span>For the sake of money there is this fast growing group of people out there ready to cheat us till we are broke. And once we are really broke after constantly paying them, they would attribute it to bad luck! Stones that are a natural formation of rocks formed in river beds are worn on the fingers to bring good luck. And we call ourselves educated! And this is supposed to be the Technological age! I really pity all those who out there who really believe a magic would occur out of those stones. And those who don’t have hands don’t have future eh? Are they zombies?<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>People fail to understand that we need a developed, intellectual and an understanding society that needs to nurture men of caliber and potential to sustain humanity in the right direction. Not men who take each step on the basis of the motion of stars and on the color of the stones they ought to wear. The gypsies are a backward lot of people precisely for the same reason. It makes no difference between them and us if we stoop to such medieval beliefs.<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010297450060003365noreply@blogger.com2