Optimistic Pessimist

Madras during Y2k - Nostalgia

2010-10-18T06:06:00.004+05:30

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

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

2. Cafe coffee day wasn't the obvious place to go for treats. Kaizhandi bhavan probably was

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

4. Balcony ticket in Sathyam cost Rs 40. And Sathyam itself was just another cinema hall. Ranked among woodlands and devi

5. Talking about cinema halls, pilot theatre in Royapettah showcased adult movie those days. Hot spot, literally

6. Scooty was the 'in' thing. Guys and girls alike. Imagine guys driving a scooty now.

7. Houses in mylapore could be bought for Rs 20 lakhs.

8. School fees was Rs 500 a month and that was the higher end

9. Anna Univ was only CEG, MIT and ACTECH. All others were under madras university

10. Azharuddin was captain

11. Amitabh was bankrupt and was making movies like Suryavamsham and Mrityudata

12. Madhavan was every girl's dream. Surya and Vikram looked bad. And Vijay...

13. Pizzas could be made only at pizza hut or dominos. Noone else knew how they were made

14. Pencil boxes used to be b'day gifts

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.

16. Saravana store was primarily a 'pathra kada'

17. Ladies used to buy jewellery in chit funds

18. Opel astra, ford escort were the luxury cars. Maruti 800 was still the first step to prosperity. Maruti Zen was the second

19. Mobile phones existed. But at 8 Rs per minute. RPG Pagers were the 'in' thing. Everyone made sure people looked at their hips.

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

21. Road rash and Doom were absolutely mandatory if you had a computer

22. Rediff.com - Coolness coefficient increases

23. Velacheri was really an Eri.

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.

25. Remember those big digital diaries? They certainly bought out my awes. Best gift items among professionals

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.

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

The list is not all inclusive and will be updated as I remember more.

Vivek

Movies and Indian ethos

2010-07-14T06:42:00.006+05:30

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, "Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayal aata hai..." wouldn't have existed. No "Suhag raat hai, ghoonghat utha raha hoon mai...". What would every college kid who is about to graduate take sing his feelings to happiness? No "Papa kehte hai bada naam karega...". Or who would have inspired a whole generation to take up smoking had there not be any "Mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya...". 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 "Tu mere saamne..." 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.

Imagine had it not been for songs like "Mere khwabon me jo aaye..." 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 "kaali teri choti hai paranda tera laalni...", "Mehndi laga ke rakhna...", "Sona sona.. dil mera sona..." etc etc., Can't imagine what would have inspired people when they are low had it not been for "Ruk jaana nahi..tu kahin haar ke.." and "Lakshya ko..har haal me paana hai.." . What can better describe the emotions of new started love interest than "Pehla nasha...". 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.

PS: I have mentioned only Hindi movie songs here because of the wider range of people that it can cover.

Market is like Nature

2010-07-14T06:25:00.005+05:30

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.

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.

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.

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.

Being alone in an apartment

2010-07-14T06:23:00.001+05:30

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.

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".

Facebook [feys book]

2009-09-09T21:12:00.005+05:30

1. I dun even know you but you are my 'Facebook Friend'

2. Q:What have you been doing of late?A:Oh you should see my status messages

3. Status Message:I had constipation this mrg

4. We haven't seen each other for a long time. But we 'poke' each other everyday

5. There are people who 'like it' when I vent my frustration, am sarcastic, fool around or criticize others

6. I need random quizzes to know who I am

Like...Well, I mean...Basically

2009-09-08T20:44:00.006+05:30

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...that's exactly what I have done". One colleague of mine has a notorious habit of using 'i mean' to start every damn sentence!

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? LOL! 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

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.

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.

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 pass time if you feel bored :D

Vivek

Religion, Kisses aur Makaan

2009-08-10T07:49:00.001+05:30

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 ishtyle 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.

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'

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.

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 :)

Vivek

Friendship Day - A mockery of Friendship

2009-07-31T23:45:00.003+05:30

Friendship Day - A mockery of Friendship

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!

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.

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.

PS: This article reflect my personal opinions on Friendship day. I appreciate those who like it and love those who second my opinion :P

Vivek

The Insulted and battered face of India, the woman

2009-07-11T01:42:00.008+05:30

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

Vivek

Ideologies and Belief systems

2009-04-08T00:03:00.007+05:30

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, Vyasa, Chanakya, 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.

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 perceived 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 benefited, 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.

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 occurrence in religions of Indian origin (Vedicreligion , 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 Abrahamanic religions. Rebirth seemed to be part of the religions of the pre christian eras. The Vedic 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 Abrahamanic 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.

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.

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 Nautanki about ideologies and belief systems is worthless belaboring of stuff that destroys the few years that a person has to enjoy.

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.

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.

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.

Judiciary and Law in India is in safe hands

2008-11-15T23:47:00.004+05:30

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!

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 chamchas breaking public property when their Student leader 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)

As you can see in the video, the police watching the The Great Indian Tamasha (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!

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.

Vivek

Pappu in'Pappu'lar culture

2008-08-22T23:55:00.004+05:30

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 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.

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, 'Pappu ne ek ladki se kaha...'. 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.

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.

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 'Pappu cant dance saala...' 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.

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!

PS : Right ok there ends my stupid post. Thanks you folks!

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

2008-05-13T20:12:00.002+05:30

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

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

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: In the same boat, at the helm, to run a tight ship, on the rocks, to keep things on an even keel, and so on.

Slightly less obvious are the phrases on the wrong tack (referring to an upwind course), to know the ropes (referring to the rigging on a sailing ship), and to give someone a wide berth (or to give him some leeway or to stay clear of him).

Sometimes the link with sailing has become fairly obscure. To describe someone as broad in the beam, for example, is to refer in fact to the beam of a ship - that is, its point of greatest width.

Hard and Fast, generally applied these days to a rule, was originally said of a ship that was stuck fast through being stranded. And touch and go probably originally mean coming near to being stranded - to scrape the keel in shallow water.

The phrase by and large 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.

To sail close to the wind, 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 taken aback, or taking the wind from its sails - two more nautical expressions that have passed into general use.

If everything is going well, you might say that all is plain sailing - originally plane sailing;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 on your beam ends - 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.

Rather less reliably, the two phrases the devil to pay and between the devil and the deep blue sea have been traced back to the days of sail. When anticipating trouble, people sometimes say There's going to be the devil to pay. A longer version of the idiom, rarely heard nowadays, is The devil to pay and no pitch hot, suggesting lack of preparation for some important task. The devil here is a seam between planks on the side of a ship. And to pay such a seam is to seal it or smear it with tar. (The words pay and pitch, in these senses, are in fact related, both going back to the Latin word for tar, pix). If the sailors had neglected to prepare for caulking, then there was the devil to pay and no pitch hot. And if the captain or first mate found out about this inefficiency, there would be the devil to pay.

Betweeen the devil and the deep blue sea 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 devil, 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 devil.

It is possible, however, that the devil 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 between the devil and the deep blue sea.

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Beat about the Bush

2008-05-13T20:03:00.002+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Baker's Dozen

2008-05-13T18:43:00.002+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Back to Square One

2008-05-13T18:32:00.003+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - At sixes and sevens

2008-05-13T18:23:00.002+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - As sure as Eggs is Eggs!

2008-05-13T18:14:00.002+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - All my Eye and Betty Martin!

2008-05-13T18:06:00.003+05:30

THE UNCOMMON ORIGINS OF SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS - Acid Test

2008-05-13T17:36:00.002+05:30

Who is the Grasshopper and who is the Ant?

2008-03-31T21:13:00.002+05:30

This was a mail i received and i found it irresistible to put it in my blog. Kudos to who ever has composed it
PS: First time I am posting something thats not mine :( But this was too good

However harsh it would be, it remains a fact and we need to take it with a pinch of salt

OLD VERSION

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Modern Version

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant 's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

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.

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.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant ' s house .

Medha Patkar and Tan Shyamoli goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

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) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

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..

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act ' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

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.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice ' .

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice' .

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

NEW VERSION :

Many years later

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ....

because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!

Forget Tibet, Free Kashmir!

2008-03-21T11:17:00.002+05:30

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.

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.

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.

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 Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar. The word Hindu came from the river Sindhu (Indus) and the Sindhu Nadi 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.

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.

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!

Women's Day - A Sham

2008-03-09T22:44:00.001+05:30

Women's Day - A Sham

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?

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!

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.

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.

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

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 Idlys to make her son study at IIM?

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?

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 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'

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'

My Money, I blow it up, My Wish!

2008-02-22T19:14:00.001+05:30

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.

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.

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 Maharashtrians . 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?

If there are poor despite millions of 'Yojnas' by the Govt, is the prosperous middle class to blame? Not everyone can inspired by Rang De Basanti 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.

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 'eaten up' 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!

Of stars, stones, cards and lines

2008-02-19T21:46:00.000+05:30

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, ‘Vastu’ 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.

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.

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 Bhakti? Are we knowingly following a set of people who are ‘Proxy-Gods’? 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?

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 ‘good’ time. Holy crap, the world will come to a standstill if the Wall Street follows ‘nalla neram’ and stuff!

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!

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?? 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?

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.

Adventures of Pappu - Who moved my CAR?

2008-02-10T21:01:00.000+05:30

Eleventh standard was the worst period of my schooling. Hardly able to study for no good reason and barely managing to pass, I was finding respite in playing gully cricket! Often I would go to Jayram’s place and play with a few of the neighboring guys. Interruptions to our world class game of cricket. Vehicles would pass often and disrupt me from getting a duck quickly! LOL!

It so happened one day that a car belonging to one of the occupants of a flat in a near by building was parked directly above our stumps. Irritated at this we were contemplating calling the owner. With no idea of who the owner was, Pappu the great showed his adventurism. Dismissing others as scaredy cats and defying the pleas of our team mates I pushed the car away grunting as if I was Hulk!

Play began, and about half an hour later the owner of the car came up to us and asked who had moved the car. What fooled me was the half smile in his face. I felt maybe I had done him a great service by moving the car and avoiding the trouble he would have in starting the car and then moving it away. I proudly came up front and said with a big grin, “I did!” I was expecting applause, maybe a pat on the shoulder for my bravery although it was too far fetched! But no! this was one of those days were the saying ‘Neki kar, dariya me daal’ comes true! To mine and everyone’s surprise, that man turned red! He, realizing he can’t chumma blast a stranger like me, vented his anger at the watchman! “What do you think of yourself? How could you allow anyone to touch my car? Some bloke comes and moves my car and you sit there watching? I swear, I ll fire you if it happens the next time!” said that man and gave me the nastiest look I would ever get from anyone! Obviously the anger was ‘in’directed at me! He then said that moving the car with its gear in neutral will damage it! (Tsk tsk!) And that it was the most stupid thing to do to move it I neutral!

Holy crap! That car was just a Maruti 800! Hell! What’s the big deal? I should have asked that, but LOL! I gave a stupid grin and walked away…Boy and then I was the subject of ridicule all throughout the evening.

Sometimes even the great fall! So what? ;)

Adventures of Pappu - Miss Sharma

2008-02-10T20:00:00.000+05:30

I hardly studied during my Eleventh standard (ok no big deal here! Noone does ;)) and I the reason was not that I was hooked on to some gal or something. I simply wasn’t able to concentrate!! My close friend Jaydev had left the school and others had been shifted to different classes thanks to different group of study. Thankfully there was Jayram with me and we shared a lot of great moments together in the last two years of our schooling. Now Jayram was this amazingly tall, lanky, down to earth guy with tremendous amount of ‘WORKING’ gray cells! Mine had ceased to work. LOL! This guy was attending IIT coaching classes at a time when I didn’t know what IIT was. I was that carefree and careless. And the humiliation I had to face every time Jayram would discuss doubts in physics seems damn funny now! Ha ha ha…I would simply shake my head pretending to understand. Gosh I was just not getting it right and was barely managing to pass.

Now there was this senior of mine by the surname of ‘Sharma’ (I wouldn’t name her) who was like a bombshell dropped on us. Too good to resist she would transport me (and of course Jayram) to the heavens every time she passed by us. Every Thursday 3rd period was her biology class and she would pass by. Smiling at times probably at some wit cracked by her friends, she would pass by only to have us arguing that she has apparently smiled at us! Boy! Jayram the brilliant guy he was would very smartly try to say that she was smiling at me (to encourage me, now that I was screwing up my academics). Now that thought was the only silver lining in the dark cloudy days of my eleventh standard.

Everything was fine until one day, Miss Sharma’s classmate, the head volunteer of the school (wouldn’t want to name him) came to my class and asked for a vivek. I was in a way glad because I felt important. Screw my stupid imaginations. He immediately, along with another guy took me to the toilet. Now this was scary. Did I surpass the normal standards of manhood? Was I giving him a complex? Even if I did, how did he know? All such of stupid thoughts came up in my asinine head. He dropped the bomb when he asked me, do I know Miss Sharma? And that why was I making a pass at her! Whoa! I was shocked! How did this guy knew I liked that gal? And hell I was not even considering making a pass at her! Had I been that smart I wouldn’t be sighing to myself every time she passed by.

He was menacing and intimidating. Before even I answered he began threatening of dire consequences! Earlier I was contemplating telling him proudly that I like that gal (he he he a la Romeo!). But all guts were quashed after hearing him threaten. Acting like the proper Padips I said I haven’t even heard that name. Thanks to the typical shamattu look in my face, he considered my plea. After coming to know that there had been a misunderstanding and that another vivek of another class was the culprit, he left me. But not before he asked me not to tell about it to anyone. I was more than glad to be left alone. LOL! I was happy the way I was. Uneventful, non descript.

Adventures of Pappu - When pappu had 11 siblings!

2008-02-09T18:50:00.000+05:30

The adventures of Pappu is a new series of amusing events from my life – a la Tintin (ok am not some bigshot here! Nevertheless am giving myself the opportunity to be on the same plane as Tintin although Tintin’s adventures are much more interesting and mind boggling ;)

EAST POINT SCHOOL, RANCHI: STANDARD 1
I was a boy who had just been transferred from De Nobli, Dhanbad and had come to this school to attend I standard at half term entry. My teacher, obviously curious to know about me (i was that sweet, an instant attraction ;) ) called me to her side and began asking my name and stuff. Now here comes the best part of the interview ;). She asked me, "tumhare kitne bhai behna hain?". And here comes the talent of Pappu! I instantly, and very proudly answered, "gyarah! "(11). Teacher was stunned, bamboozled, shocked, petrified, perplexed, panic stricken and what not! She immediately asked me, "sach me beta? tumhare 11 bhai behan hain??" obviously worried at the horrible family planning by my folks! Bihar is notoriously known for its poor family planning with people having 5-6 children at an average. Now Pappu had done the impossible by shocking the Mass reproductive Bihari!

Taught from my childhood that all my cousins are my brothers and sisters, i had this firmly etched in my brains that my brothers and sisters are the ones being born to all my relatives across this country. Poor pappu is a lone kid and so was happy to have so many added instantly :). I guess my folks taught me this thing so as to avoid any adolescent adventure with my female cousins when i grow up ;) LOL!

Continuing the story, i strongly replied "Haan Miss!" to my teacher's confirmation question. but this teacher wasn't going to give up. She tried a smarter question now, "Unka naam batao (give me their names)" and Pappu the great replies "Prashanth, Kishore, Bharat, Arti, Swati, Vibhushita...blah blah blah.."! All hell broke lose now! Teacher asked me what their ages were, and fortunately or unfortunately all of them were younger to me except kishore. And the younger ones were young enough to imagine proper births with proper age gap! :)This was like thunderbolt to the lady!

Dear Parents
Please meet me tomorrow before ten in the morning
This was written in the notes section of my school diary! She strictly asked me to call my parents the next day. Pappu the great finding it strange that his parents were being called for no fault of his!

NEXT DAY
In come my parents with worried looks on their faces expecting some rather unexpected complain about me. Pleasantries exchanges, the lady got to the matter. The first question asked was "Kya aapne family planning nahi kiya?" (Haven't you done family planning?) This was like a nuclear bomb dropped on my parents. Poor they, they had stopped with one kid and here is a lady asking weird questions! Maybe more than one kid is family planning...maybe the rules have changed! Only after narrating the conversation that she had had with me, did my folks understand what was happening. Giving amused looks at me, my folks finally cleared the air of doubt! Phew! the teacher took a breath of relief and so did my folks!

Adventures of Pappu - When pappu wanted a new mom!

2008-02-09T12:49:00.000+05:30

Ok here is an incident that took place when I was 5 years old! Often there used to be advertisements on TV showing nice, soft, sweet moms caring for their kids, feeding them some stuff which was apparently nice for their growth! LOL! Ok and here was my mum who was very sweet, lovable but would feed me things that I detested those days (brinjal, bitterguard). And I used to get blasted for that! One day I couldn’t take it anymore. I shouted back at my mum saying you are a bad mum! And that all mums on TV are so good! My mum gaped back at me! And to add to her shock I said that I want a new mom!! And that am bored of you! LOL!! My folks looked at each other with a mix of amusement, shock, and the thought that the worst from me is yet to come..ha ha ha and the funniest part was that I started crying asking for a new mom! LOL! Thinking of that day, my mum and I still laugh our heads. Silent, naïve, shammattu pappu now becoming a rebel! But then it turned out to be jus a one time affair as I lost the rebel in me the next day. Guess I succumbed to the fact that my dad was too faithful to my mum; P ha ha ha…

Funny lines for showing ATTITUDE!

2008-02-09T10:42:00.000+05:30

I was browsing through a community in Orkut named ‘Funny One liners’ where there were these damn crazy lines to show attitude! LOL! Hats off to all those guys churning out this stuff in their gray cells! Makes a good read!

I DON'T WALK AS IF I RULE THE WORLD......I WALK AS IF I DON'T CARE WHO RULES IT!!
I don’t care or think about the people in my past....there’s some reason why they didn’t make it to my future!!!
I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem!!!
You have the right to remain silent because whatever you say will probably be stupid anyway
Those of you who think you know it all are damn annoying to those of us who do!
You pull me down to your level, and then you beat me by experience!!
Mess With The Best..........
Die Like The Rest!!!
Me & Ocean.....two deep dreams of god ...
Secret to success is to know who to blame for your failures
Give some people an inch, and they think they are rulers
Maybe I don't have a superiority complex. maybe I am superior
God created man...rest all courtesy us...WE ENGINEERS...
Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat
Do Or Die OR do something to die!!!
My common sense....Your philosophy!!!!
It's not enough to succeed; others must fail
The more I meet people like you, the more I like myself
I am not environmental friendly but definitely want a friendly environment]
You have ONE advantage over me.....you can kiss my ass and I can't!!
I can multi-task (talk and piss you off at the same time)
Don’t blame gravity, If you fall for me....!!!
You don't have to be a nut to ask for a screw!
Me, a cool guy;
You, a hot chick;
how about thermal equilibrium !
I did not discover curves... I only uncovered them..!

Rational or Dogmatic?

2007-09-19T18:30:00.000+05:30

The recent "Ram" issue has brought homes burning, heated exchange of words between the so called Rationalists (karunanidhi (DMK)) and the so called Dogmatic (BJP,RSS and the likes). The Rationalists denying the existence of any God called Ram and the Dogmatics vouching for centuries of faith and belief on the "Ideal" man called Ram. It is to be understood that there is a clash among people who defend faith and belief and those who rubbish the very purpose and validity of such faith. The rationalists here, seem to take the side of Science and profanely defy the existence of God. They call the believers Dogmatic, Superstitious thereby shaking the very pillars of Indian faith, tradition and culture.
Man, since time immemorial has been taking the support of faith, of the belief in the existence of God as a means of solace, as a means of inspiration, as source of optimism and hope in times of adversity. Researchers have proved that during prayer or in a place of worship the brain seems to be more relaxed and stable. Hence, the so called Rationalists need to understand that since the day man started to realize his potentials as an intelligent creature and started to be adventurous, he has sought the help of a supernatural being. Rubbishing the belief and faith of man is like rubbishing the foundations of human endeavor.
The most intriguing fact here is that these so called Rationalists are no less than the so called Dogmatics. They stick to only viewpoint and ironically don't think Rational! When Karunanidhi asks what Engineering college Lord Rama graduated from, he should himself and his Tamil Culture protagonists of which college did Raja Raja Chola II graduate to build the magnificent Tanjavur temples! Which college did Shah Jahan and his architects graduate from? In Tamil Nadu there are numerous Temples displaying breathtaking architecture. One should also ask which Anna Univ Graduate build the Madurai Meenakshi Temple! This clearly shows the Dogmatic views of the so called Rationalists!
They shamelessly display their Rational views only for Hindu Beliefs and faith. Would they dare to doubt the existence of Jesus Christ? Already many a theories have been proposed about the actual origins and life of Jesus. The rationalists brazenly advocate Selective Rationalism. Its a fad for the Pseudo secularists to take up Hindu bashing to get the tag of being Rational and a Secularist. To them, this tag holds more value than pursuing a moral code of equal treatment. The Hindus, who are known for their tolerance are slowly losing out their tolerance to this mindless Hindu bashing. Orthodox Hindus are now taking up the path of irrationality and haste.
If there is no proof on the existence of Lord Ram, then similarly there is no proof on the existence of Muhammad and Jesus! There cannot be 2 yardsticks! An important thing we need to realize is that if no one can prove the existence of Lord Ram, then no one can prove that Ram didn't exist! We need to understand that Science can prove either the existence of the absence of matter. If there are no proofs for either of them then that is faith! Faith is where Science begins! and truly Science is not the answer for all our woes! If scientists can prove the existence of the Big Bang, then they cannot prove the existence of the cause of the Big Bang! Science cannot provide answers for everything and the Rationalists need to understand that they need to prove the absence to ethically satisfy the norms of Scientific thinking
Can one ask Mr. Karunanidhi which college did he graduate from to comment on archeology and History? If the Rationalists would care to apply the same rational thinking to the existence of Muslim and Christian Gods, it would do a world of good to India because it would really put the stand of the Rationalists in true perspective. We are not dealing with Dogma Vs Rationalism, we are dealing with Rationalism vs Selective Rationalism.

WHY ARE THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE??

2007-02-21T21:32:00.000+05:30

WHY ARE THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE?
One of the most irksome things about life, (My life or any one’s life) is that why is there a life at all? What if there wasn’t called life in the first place. Will we live in a fourth dimension? Is life the only medium to reason things? Or is there any other mode of existence (If there is, will it be existence?) Is death the only opposite of Life? Or is death an entrance to ‘Life’ in another sphere? Well, I am not in a suicidal mode or it is not that I am vexed with my existence. I am fighting for life the way others are and I am not complaining, as it is the Survival of the Fittest. I believe any one who using his gray matter will realize that there is much more to life than just breathing in the concoction of 21% of oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% other gases. Okay, lets move from the confusing questions regarding Life as such. Looking into our own lives, one finds that we all grow up (at least physically), slog like asses and study, again slog to find a proper ‘Safe’ job, keep our parents happy and settle in our life with a nice family. The ordeal doesn’t end there, the process of graying of the hair begins with our juniors growing up. Now, see to it that they are properly settled in life. In the meanwhile there is all this complains about the way things run. The neighbor lacks manners, the boss doesn’t give you your due respects, kids flunk in their exams, there is a growth in the list of visits to the doctors, the inflation goes up, there is another war coming up, blah, blah. Why this kind of ‘Living’ where one doesn’t get satisfied in any way and is in one way or the other in a catch-22 situation on his next approach? If such kind of living guarantees no ‘Total satisfaction’ then why is 95% of humanity living the way it does now? (Don’t ask about the remaining 5%, nerds like me form them) To this people will say, that no solution is a perfect one and that everything has its loopholes. I then ask, if you guys out there knew that this is not a satisfactory kind of living then why live a wretched life? Or if there is another mode of living then why not adopt it? The answer probably lies in our not trying to think individualistically. I have always believed that in Individualism lie all the answers to many if not all our problems. The common notion of ‘Follow the Herd’ is the most dangerous and yet the easiest method of self-destruction. It is very much necessary that we all do things that we believe will benefit us. After all, the very struggle for existence is based on the foundations of taking things that benefit us and eradicating things that hurt us. But, the process of surviving cannot be generalized onto a population of 6 billion. It is different for different persons. Time and again children are taught to follow the examples of the bright kid in class thereby killing the poor kid’s ability to think and act on his own. It is been this way since eternity. Probably it began when man was struggling to survive as an early man among wild creatures. And suddenly one man kills animals and provides food for his tribe. The people then revere him and now everybody wants to be like him. So, ultimately everybody is ready to be guided by another or that the tendency to be a slave to anyone regardless of the authenticity of the man. Consider the example of Russia and China. Both were in dire straits before the revolutions changed them. The tsarist regime had made the peasants a deprived lot and when Lenin came to the picture, he was readily accepted because the majority had no other option available for a better living. They blindly followed his policies in the hope for a bright future and are today a hopeless lot of people. China was staring down the barrel in 1949 and then came Mao Tse Tung promising them a strong People’s China. The result, millions of intellectuals, liberals, and individualists were killed in the state’s policy of compulsory socialism. Hitler came to power for the same reason. The humiliated Germans needed a messiah and when somebody as stern as Hitler comes and promises a bright future it is understandable that the downtrodden look unto Hitler as the messiah. The rest of the history, we very well know. The primary mistake we all make is we fail to recognize what is right and what is wrong for us. We in a way refuse to apply rationality in our actions. When we say, “I can’t do that”, the hidden statement over here is “I am not willing to do that”. This leads to a situation where we stop following our conscience and follow the easiest way out of the trouble. Well, the conclusion is that we all lead a miserable ‘Life’ out here because we don’t do by natural tendencies and a blanket of falsehood shuts the eyes of our brain. It is not necessary for us to follow the steps of a person whom the society considers as Successful. Success or a failure is determined by our own rational judgment, which is again guided by our sense of what is beneficial to us and what is not. The tag of being a successful person need not come from the mouth of a loser. To a loser the mediocre is always a superior. The standards of our actions are to be set by ourselves and we don’t need a stranger to come and tell us what is good and what is not. Even if we experience what may be a failure to us let us learn Life the hard way, at least we will have only ourselves to blame. It is imperative for us to realize that our success or failure and our present status in life are the result of our own actions. So, people out there do something about the hollow ‘Life’ that you are currently living. Let there be no regrets later.
Vivek

JEALOUSY FOR PROGRESS??

2007-02-21T21:30:00.000+05:30

JEALOUSY FOR PROGRESS?
Jealousy – A state of mind where a sense of frustration occurs when one feels he or she feels that he is missing something that others have. Well, probably jealousy starts when admiration reaches a saturation point or may be jealousy is the peak stage that admiration can reach. One cannot actually say if jealousy always has a negative effect. It depends on the sturdiness of the person’s mind. There are people to whom jealousy drives them towards optimum performance and there is a majority, to whom jealousy takes them to a point of self-despair, a point of no return. Lets take the optimistic look of life, let jealousy inspire us to better our standards, to increase the limits of our endurance. But, here comes a twist, are we not supposed to set our own goals? I had always believed that one should not be driven the emotions of others. This is a different plane. Nobody is forcing you to change your plans, nobody is driving you, yet jealousy only reviews your already set plans. It need not kindle you to follow the way of the person you are jealous of. That defeats the purpose of individuality that ought to be safeguarded by jealousy. When you merely follow the person you are jealous of, it is nothing but the complete enslavement of the mind, of intelligence, of self-propagation of thoughts. X may be jealous of the way Y dances, but this should not drive X to follow the steps of Y. X may only be good at singing. But if he is sturdy at heart he may better his standards at singing. Then jealousy brings out the best out of the jealous. However it is to be known that the end result of jealousy is to be a feeling of satisfaction that comes from within. One should remember that the people around you tell you not to be jealous of others. But if you are and you successfully overcome pressures from within your conscience by achieving better standards, then the same people pass expert comments on you. That’s no way fair! The purpose of nurturing jealousy is not the verbal awards given by society. It should be a sense of satisfaction from within. Of passing your own judgment on your performance with the help of nothing but your conscience i.e., your brain, of the victory of individuality over mind slavery! Effectively jealousy is a path to progress as long as it gratifies your needs. But, one thing to be remembered is that it should in no way cause harm to the person you are jealous. Nobody ought to be accountable to your thoughts but you yourself. Just like the credit for a man’s success is taken by his intelligence, similarly the bearer of his failures or his negative thoughts should be he himself! No man should be the scapegoat for another’s whims or emotions! On the contrary imagine if one is in no way affected by others’ high standards, he or she will give way to mediocrity! It is the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, and it is unlike man’s nature to give up in the race for survival. Therefore, jealousy is a need for existence, for the functioning of the thought process. So, do not succumb to ‘Never be jealous of anybody’ and lead your life for your survival.
Vivek

Be Humble... At your own peril!!

2007-02-21T21:26:00.000+05:30

BE HUMBLE… AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Humility, the dictionary says it means ‘to be humble’. And, what does humble mean? It means to be less proud of oneself, to perceive oneself as less important! What further fuel does one need to hate the common ideology that we all follow as a yardstick to measure one’s potential. The present form of ideology called ‘Altruism’ that we all sadly follow today is the most potential weapon of man’ quest for self-destruction! Does it make sense to anyone when some body comes and says that you have to demean yourself, lose your self-esteem and in the process be HUMBLE? The Altruist ideology believes in sacrifice of our own self-interests, interests that are chosen values that determine our happiness, our success, and above all our way of life. The society asks us to measure your success by giving to others and be penniless in turn. It doesn’t value our morals, our likings and our self-interests. To explain more, take the case of an interview where two candidates appear for a single post. One of them is poor while the other is reasonably well off. Both have their vested interests in achieving the job. Fortunately or unfortunately the better of the two receives the job. Well, the idealists of Altruism will argue that the richer of the two should ‘sacrifice’ his job for the betterment of the poorer candidate! And what, subject himself to self-humiliation? The term ‘sacrifice’ is defined in a distorted way in order that it refers to an act of losing one’s object of higher hierarchical value to an object of lower value to one’s own interests. That’s unfair means of doing things! To the society not trying to gain something for one’s own happiness at one’s own hard work is ‘Selfish’ while giving away one’s emotional well-being in some other’s interests is nobility! If one were to apply the conventional definition of ‘Selfishness’ to every action of man then the very fact that a man thinks for his own good is selfishness! For a man to reason a situation in order to achieve the best of productivity is Selfishness! For a man to analyze and modify the forces of nature to his suitability is selfishness! Where does our integrity go? By Integrity I mean a man’s potential to respect his values that in turn help a man maintain a moral code of conduct that again in turn leads him to achieve his goals which again in turn help him satisfy the needs of his life that he feels is best for his existence! To surrender to some moron’s needs is to surrender one’s integrity to the moron. It is in man’s best interests as a species entitled to fight the odds for survival to respect his values and more importantly recognize his potentials in achieving his goals. It deals with his self-esteem. When a man loses his self-esteem it means he simply stops reasoning or thinking and surrenders his conscience to the code of values set by someone else’s whims and emotions. And when one stops reasoning he loses the race of survival and will eventually lead to his living as a recluse and finally to self-destruction! Does all this mean that we all stop caring a damn about others and be mean? Not until caring of other’s interests doesn’t hamper our own morals and ethics for survival. If a man is bankrupt, one can only help him stand up own his feet till he finds his own way to betterment. It doesn’t mean we spoon feed him all his life and lose our survival tactics. However it is to be noted that every person in a man’s life is valued in a hierarchical order that suits his interests best. If a man’s brother who has the same notion of seeing things and has similar values as that of the person concerned and he falls into deep debt, then it is in the best of the man to help his brother as his life depends a lot on his brothers existence in happiness. But if some outsider undergoes the same problems then it is nobody’s problem to help him out. Consider yourself in the position, will you expect someone outside to come and help you out? It is all for one and one for all. It is a responsibility of every human to lead his life his way and subject oneself to the cheap appreciation of the Altruist society that only demeans the powers of man to live his life. In all, I will conclude saying that it is very much important for a man to realize his potentials, responsibilities, and his dignity in order to face the adversities of life. There is therefore no necessity for someone to demean himself to get admiration from a group of non-thinkers! Be proud of our existence, of your achievements, and be prepared to get the maximum of your hard work to yourself and not to sacrifice your results of your hard work for the benefit of a thankless society.
Vivek

Hypocrisy In Our Bloods!!

2007-02-21T21:16:00.000+05:30

HYPOCRISY IN OUR BLOODS! – TOWARDS OUTSIDERS AND TO OUR CONSCIENCE Man, supposedly the chosen creature of God! A fact claimed again by himself. Such is the attitude of the CHOSEN ONE that he is self-praising and says that it was said so by God himself. As a young man coping with the shocks of realizing of what Life gives us (some nice, some painful) I have gravely realized how we as humans are the most hypocritical of all beings, in fact no creature shows such pretence as Man. We all lead a false life living under false pride. To start with the most basic of all examples, we get all kinds of silly and criminal ideas yet swear by the Holy books. When we see Ambani earning in Crores we wish we could get hold of such money by hook or by crook, yet we teach our children to be satisfied with what they have!! The basic reason why we do so is because of the element in our live called ‘Moh’ (desire). Every second, everywhere, we put on a mask of hypocrisy. It’s been the case from the time of our existence and will be so till we are extinct. Somebody tell me a person whose intentions are actually the way it appears from outside. We go to a temple in the pretext of practicing ‘Bhakti’ and what do we do there? We are conscious of the way we look, of being one among the so called religious people, of thinking that all problems will now be solved. We of think God in the same terms as a Govt. official, bribe him with a few coconuts; offer him huge amounts of money (a la Amitabh) and lo all your problems simply vanish! Do people take Him to be as materialistic as we are? We advice our children to be obedient, disciplined and what not, knowing the fact that the there is no such thing as the ‘Perfect Man’ (sue the Raymond’s people for spreading disinformation!) Look at our leaders, they speak volumes about poverty and in turn ride BMWs, live in castles guarded like Fortresses! Talk about setting examples and our leaders come first. We as civilized people have no rights to criticize people (if we are civilized that is, the term is again a product of hypocrisy!). Look at yourself (not literally) and ask the question: Do I deserve to pass comments on someone? As an individual I have realized firmly that there ought to be no such term called Selfishness, as I believe that once we have come in to the world as humans we all have this trait. Ever noticed small kids? They tend to keep their things to themselves & never show the slightest intention to be Angels unless noticed and taught them to be so by their elders. We all have it in our blood. Why do we keep friends? To achieve some happiness in his/her company, in turn our friend expects the same from us. In all, both of us crave for something that we don’t have!! And all that talk about some relations being unselfish in itself is Rubbish! Just like we cry when we are emotional, we laugh when we are happy, selfishness is a trait. One cannot remove moonlight from the moon, moonlight can only be hidden by clouds that too only momentarily. We can only be Hypocrites if we say we are not selfish, which we actually are and so there is nothing wrong if somebody pretends to be good (if somebody is a hypocrite). It’s a trait, just like selfishness!! All of you spare a moment thinking when was the time when you did something without any thoughts of keeping yourself happy?! When someone says that he does social service to see the needy happy and that he does not expect anything monetarily, people call him an Unselfish man. Fair enough, materially he may not be selfish but the desire to gain a satisfaction, happiness from others is nothing but selfishness. We all have a craving for happiness also called ‘Anand’’ , but does this Anand last long?? When we say that settling in a life with a Home, a nice Honda, with nice kids is ENOUGH; we are the biggest liars, because no amount of anything is sufficient for us!! Our ultimate aim becomes a Mercedes from a Honda!! That’s how it is for every one of us not realizing that this material happiness will get us nowhere and such happiness is forever declining with time.
VIVEK