Thinking aloud

Congratulations to Egypt and her people. To stand up without ammunitions, with only peace, hope and belief as their weapons, they have achieved something which many of us had written off as impossible.

Like rest of the world, I am just another sympathizer. Fair enough, because it did not happen close to my home or in my country. But when people tweet and retweet, when they post updates on facebook and write about in their blogs, I wonder, why don’t we have the guts to stand up.

Each and every day, I come across stories of horror fueled by corruption and spread by a supposed invincibility. We all know. Most of us dismiss as ‘normal’ and conclude ‘what can I do’. But when people can say things on twitter, when many Indians can waste time on facebook liking pages about TV shows and trying to become tycoons and millionaire farmers, why can’t we stand up? Why can’t we make the buffoons realize that we will not tolerate it.

I am not talking about the poor. I am not talking about those people, who we think do not exist. I am talking about you and me, who are ready enough to bribe a police man when caught, who are ready enough to curse the same police man and at the same time sympathize with him. I am talking about us hypocrites.

We live in a pseudo-democracy. We are in times when newspapers are willing to accept money for publishing articles, when news channels no more report but propagate, when you no more know what is reality.

All of us,know about a particular man who was behind the whole Commonwealth games and what he did. We tweeted, we created facebook pages, but why weren’t we able to do anything about it? Because we accepted it as right. Right of that class of this country to steal and do whatever they want. We are sadly, happy enough to sit in our A/C rooms and cabins and let things pass. We are couch/recliner rebels. We dare not do anything about it- for our rights begin and end with being able to talk about something.

We are expected to believe that one man can steal unbelievable amounts of money. We are willing to let ourselves be divided in every way possible, without doing anything about it. We are willing to accept that it is alright for traffic to be blocked for hours for one person to go.

A certain Sen, can be put behind bars, without 99% of the country having heard about the case. And the media shall show you an actor’s wedding even when there are floods or droughts in another part of the country.

We are in a free country. But every choice has a cost- the cost of choosing to stand up for our rights is increasing even as we brush aside everything as ‘normal’ and go on with it. We cannot support our neighbours when they are pressured by certain people, we cannot fight for those people whose lands are stolen, we cannot even be without paying for a college seat.

It is depressing to think about these things. The choices we have are- a) take the ‘wheel of the bus , b) get out of the bus , c) show support to someone who is willing to take the ‘wheel. Most of us can’t drive a two-wheeler properly, so let alone a bus. We cannot get out of the bus, simply because we are in the middle of a jungle and do not know where to go. But if someone is willing to take the ‘wheel, why don’t you show support?

We do need someone to take the ‘wheel. Unfortunately, to appeal to the masses, to garner support from the educated Indians who work in big offices, you need a lot more than them merely having faced the blunt of the various negative forces. They are like fishes, who refuse to believe that a bigger pond is just a jump away today. Tomorrow our pond is going to become so small, that we are going to die here.

To the usual readers of this blog, these things I say are nothing new. I ask myself what have I done? Nothing. I am just another 19-year-old who refuses to grow up – I still believe in those good things which people said when I was a kid. I wish I can do something. But I have come to realize that that something should be big enough to not fall. It will be hard work, to build this force, brick by brick, but I am willing to do it. What is in my head, stays in my head, till then.

The above might be just to convince myself that I am not turning a blind eye to the things that bother me, but I am hoping that isn’t the case. Youth Unite was an experience. I saw how people react when posed with even a simple thing like writing about what they think on various issues. I will continue to have hope and believe in what I believe.

End of rant. Thank you for reading.

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Sometimes all it takes is a leap to create faith

He stood at the balcony- he was a score stories high.

He watched as the evening sun dealt its oblique rays on to the transgressed shore. The waves crashed in hope to win back the mile they had lost to the thick boulders of the city. Under the heavy cloud of the city’s spirit and pollution, the panorama was breath taking, literally.

He was long used to the choke and wicked whispers of this city built by Britannia and concrete. The bridges that seemed to connect, also cut through the arteries and brought to an end the tracks left by the last generation. Anachronistic cenotaphs to iconoclasts and sensationalists, served to remind anyone who would look- the origins of the parimutuel progress of the city’s neighbourhoods.

Today, he stood on the balcony with a railing painted black and potted plants hanging in proportional chains looking at the sunset, waiting for the right moment, to do what he wanted to do.

The sparrows, parrots and crows, flew in tight groups keeping shape, towards their distant homes, cemented into the souls of every growing area. The decadent heart, was slowly being to be troubled by the clandestine wheels, which clogged the cycles and caused the tired black cells to curse and honk their way to a place of hopeful quite and peace.

The city with its sundering cacophony was a furlong away from where he was- caught in the mesmerising magic of the sunset. The ravenous sun, which scorched hard on works and toils, was now bidding its adieu for a few hours. It first dipped behind the miranda glasses of an assurance company- he moved a couple steps and could see it again. It then hid behind the veils of a corporate- he again moved.

The sun now hung, on a few yards of open horizon, between the corporate and a newspaper company. It pressed on now, a few yards from the translucent waters of the sea. By now he was at the end of the balcony. To get a better view he climbed over the spiky railing and stood confident on the edge.

A crowd gathered below- reporters hoped to scavenge a scandal,  police to ponder a rescue and others out of abject curiosity. He saw the finally minuscule crimson dive- he jumped.

As the crowd rushed fast towards him, he heard them scream and could feel the din. He was a star- he was a son of the sun. When they noticed who he was, the crowd was stupefied and a wail hung over.

The implications- the heir to the horizon of bridges had leapt over a rail! The parks laden with waste newspapers, airport with incomplete hangers! The shock. Who would bear the riots and rage of the malevolent men?

But their worst fears failed to come alive. He hung on from a shock cord. The sun after all never dies- it sets, only to returns to arise and awake.

The crowd noticed he wasn’t who they supposed. Neither was he a bud with two leaves – he was a someone, who they never knew was there.

Sometimes all it takes is a leap to create faith.

Hopeless-hagen

Googling- hagen means noble boy. Well the nobel boys(and girls) of the world, sat down to discuss and (try)  agree upon some common measures. Well it didn’t take a genius to predict the inevitable-nothing positive has come out of it.

Sure, globalization means that we the people of the world, with our wonderful rights to speech, voiced our despair; But no one heard us. Maybe, as the Delhi CM said, when asked about the Commonwealth games, let us pray.

The Accord by the way is this(click on the link to read it). And the flaws just present themselves to you, unless of course,  you don’t happen to understand English. This clearly shows that no one gives a damn. I had mentioned in the podcast, that a solution is going to be tough to arrive at and also discussed some of the problems- well pity our leaders, seem to crying over spilt milk and more bothered about other things- this shows we still cannot see ourselves as humans first.

I am not going to write a huge post, about this, mainly because those who read my blog are clever enough to understand things anyway, but I agree to most of what he has to say.

Recently, I went for a debate, where the topic was ” Climate change a conspiracy against the developing world” and well it seems true now. I had talked about in my podcast- pledging money etc, shows us that the “West” is still after control over the others.

The US portrays itself as a champion of modern “free” values, but it is the main culprit(or so it seems). If you are so wise, why don’t you just set some examples? We have enough hypocrites here and we know how you people work, so if you give a damn about “global warming”(  when your cities are covered in two feet of ice), then you better start doing some work.

Transfer of technology and establishing a fund sounds great, but where is the technology? And USD 100 billion? You mean, that the developing world needs only that much to change, when your companies need more to bail themselves out?

Shifting the burden on the developing world is fine, but the main aim here is to try to provide a square meal a day to our entire population, providing gainful employment(how about cleaning the environment?) etc. If you indeed have the technology, why aren’t you already using it?

I have already mentioned(in my podcast) that this is not about saving Earth, but this is about saving humanity. But the treats are apparently not visible to many. Whether the scientific results are true or not is a question, this is a critical issue. Yesterday we fought over our resources, today we fight over who religion and sects , tomorrow we will be fighting over our waste.

And rationing the amount of energy a person can use is absurdity. Unfortunately we(who have the technology and the rest) use (and emit) more than those who are living in refugee camps and fighting for survival. Maybe as a specie, we will survive through this. But it is not about that, we are talking about living-as “the most intelligent race”, we deserve better(?). Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of humanism among our leaders.

The way forward- come up with “green technology” for the primary industries first- no drying(and polluted) rivers is not going to help reduce the amount of water in the ocean. If nuclear is the way forward, then well better start using to produce energy, before Uncle Sam decides he can’t answer questions and throws one at us, to shut us up and as for the nuclear waste, well I am sure the deserts make a very good dumping yard(hope you get the sarcasm).

Maybe manufacturing goods which last long( just try your international brands here, to make a washing machine work for more than a year, you need waste about  Rs.5000, make calls, threaten to sue etc) and follow some basic norms. Improving public  transportation facilities will help( seeing people hanging from foot boards isn’t let’s say isn’t going to make me take a bus!) and also reducing traffic jams will help. Planting more trees in urban areas, will help lower the temperature(caused due to concrete and metal) and reduce the need for ACs.

I did feel that dividing industries among countries(to avoid duplication of resources), might be a solution, but then it has many flaws. One thing is for sure- time to see ourselves as humans first and the rest.

Well to end this post ,let me quote  Shelley–

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Happy Children’s Day

Since blogger’s who are younger than me, don’t seem to exist(put your hands up if you are one) , as a handsome young thing, I want a gift from all my reader’s. Just remember to cross check and make sure you don’t get me the same thing as someone else(you are welcome to discuss the gift in my comment section) 😀

And well all you adults out there(for 24 hrs I am kid), Don’t worry you are still a child, or at least your mom will tell you so. If not you’re a child at heart, you can start crying when someone scolds you. So Happy Children’s Day.

And well it’s supposed to be Nehru’s birthday let’s not forget. So is the Congress Government going to give gifts and hold a party for the entire nation? Why not? Make sweets for the entire nation, maybe for once we all can eat sweets, when there is no food? See you give sweets today and when the kids grow up they will vote for you. That is effective bribing or one for the future.

Quite crude, I guess. But don’t worry, once Rahul become’s our PM, we will have a Teenagers’ day. Yay! Not the one where we can’t sing our national song but the one where our tobacco industry lives only on exports(really bad bad me). But let us not be mistaken, we should have a common language by then. I am planning to invent one.

Goooo goo gaaa giii – that’s happy children’s day. Gaa? Giigeek?

Hmm..What is that a free domain for 100 years?

I thought the world was supposed to end by 2012. Don’t make people richer unnecessarily. And well I am too bugged of working on photoshop for two continuous days, so no banners and yes I think my blog is banned in China *sigh* , so again,

HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY EVERYONE 🙂 Get yourself a big rose, on my behalf(after you have sent me my gift 😛 ).

A comment

I have been off politics and anything to do with it for a while .Simple because I can afford a shoe right now and maybe afford to even throw it (things look like a luxury only till you can’t afford them) .But still there are a few posts which draw you to read on(very very few bloggers have that ability) and so this post.  The reason for me not eating anything political is because I have had  too much of masala –  by nature my teeth are sweet(no they are not made of candy or gold :P){and get it I am making fun of things [people now days!]} so just don’t want to trouble my senses.

As I mentioned there are a few who just draw you into reading and this particular post is a very good read especially for a fellow who loves history ( how much do I love it? Enough to ask doubts in a history class) .

Here is the post – Pseudo Secularism and Congress. And this was my comment to it:-

I do not know. Simple right? But what you and me say doesn’t matter…you see kids are thought to say all Indians are my brothers and sisters…then where does it go wrong? It doesn’t matter who are the people we keep pointing fingers at ,for they will keep coming . By doing that we are not identifying Mr.Satan himself but only lending a face to him and once we burn/he burns us at a stake,we just go back to where ever for a while, nodding our heads as if its all done . I have repeated it over and over , the biggest mistake in this country is that the people with quality have now been discriminated and the country handed over to people ___________ .

And the old bus thing too . You and me write just to appease ourselves . No more and no less. Why don’t people like you or me take to being the Hero? is that we can’t ? No, we know the way people behave. I was sent out of class today ,when I hadn’t done anything wrong .The fellow in question was just yappin yappin without give us time to think , I stopped tried to think and then when I missed what he was saying looked into my neighbour’s book and he sent us out. But thats the gist of what is happening , if you try to think , they send you out.We have to learn and go on…for it is about us and not them…

Of course to a few , my comment may seem from another world and not  looking at the reality . All I can say is , I haven’t seen that reality and so I cannot talk about that . The place where I live is relatively peaceful for the people here have better things to do ( Or at least I hope so) . To actually think of people killing each other in the name of religion , I can’t . But I have seen instances where it is the audacity of a few people which leads to some tension building up . One thing I hope I always would remember would be that

arrogant are those who are ignorant
Tenacious are those who are diligent .

Anyway I don’t think I will be posting about politics as such , even though it seems to be everywhere. I personally think that there isn’t much use talking too much, we need to get into doing . Someone ,pointed out to me that changes are always happening . True. While we cannot change things but are mere catalysts , we need to remember to play our part properly . By looking at each other , no one is going to take the onus .

The “bus thing” which I mentioned above is this :-

The country is a bus and a person whom we all feel is not a good driver is driving . We have two options one to get out of the bus or take over the wheels . So in a way I have decided to get out of the bus for a while , so I am going to shut up and not talk about it . Without full information we cannot judge what is happening . We are but seeing those things which a few people want us to see and hear what a few people want us to hear . We need to dig deep and try to evaluate after we know enough .

To sum it up , religion was started for something and now is being used for something else . Personally I take God to be a metaphor(read this poem – a metaphor called God and this one too – God ) so I cannot understand why people should fight so much . We are on Earth to live and not survive .Using that thing up there , we have created a world for ourselves ,why instead of enjoying do we bicker and try to make it all worse for each other?

The Angel Of God by Jyothi Menon – Book review

Picture from the Author’s site(link at the end).

 

A pretty ‘warm’ book and a lovely story. Something about it makes you feel comfortable,maybe becuase we Indians already have heard about people,whom she has created . This book would have welcomed more superlative appraisal from me, if not for a few places where the ‘ HR ‘ sticks out.

The story has three main characters , the first one being a  underworld  don called Moosa . The character is someone who you would like to encounter in real life,in fact you do wonder where are such good , kind hearted people, but then you realize that something is not right and well he is ‘ bastardised by the circumstances’ – his childhood in the world famous Dharawi and the various illegal things he gets into make him into a black sheep,but a sheep never the less.

The second is a character called Bhaskaran who is from an ancient family in Kerala. He grows in a place a close to Dharawi where he happens to meet Moosa during a row. He later goes on to achieve ,thanks to Moosa Bhai’s help.

The third is a orphan called Abubacker,in Khozikode,who , with the help of Moosa become a ‘Muthalali’. The book has vivid descriptions of the illegal businesses both in Kerala and Mumbai. Moosa helps in the making of two men,both different- one educated in MIT(Bhaskaran) and the other educated by experience in the underworld. The book also moves a lot – Kerala,Chennai,Mumbai, Libya,Middle East ,Nagpur etc.

As I said,the book seemed to have bit too much of the HR angel. This being fiction, every paragraph helps in molding the story and the reader being a person who picks up this book from the best seller stand,is bound be at loss,when he is faced with description of running a business,it catches you out ,when at about 1 0r 2 in the morning between a nice story someone talks about business.Also if it were so simple,then everyone would be a entrepenuer . But maybe that is the cynic in me,rather maybe it is a reaction to the fact that a particular part towards the end , seemed to add a certain degree of reality to it and rob it of the ‘cho cho sweet why can’t this be a feel good movie/ wah wah a fairy tale at last’.

I never like to reveal the story,except maybe the main characters,because my belief is that,reading a detailed review,takes away a bit of the charm of reading a book. I would say,read this book,if you want a something light and feel good(there are a few bits of harsh reality,which seeing other stories now days,would make into a fairy tale anyway) .It also gives you an insight into a few places and ways of living(ya well I guess it is better than travel and living).  Though I just criticised the HR part,there are a few messages which have been put in with a bit of euphamism which we all can use,when we deal with people( Okay, I am not know for my patience when dealing with certain type of people,so yes,maybe I should learn). I might be over rating this book,but anyway..

 

Rating – 8/10. Makes a nice little quick read.

Author’s page.

49-0,Chinese double sim and unity in diversity(cartoons)

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Interview with a bear,Ops the bear!

From misc2

I was browsing through my photos and then came across this one. I quickly searched my blog posts to see if I had posted this interview and I was shocked to find I hadn’t.Such a crime!  I had of course posted him,but what about the conversation? Well I would to my best extent try to have another conversation with this fellow here 🙂 

Me:- Good Night, Mr.bear how do you do? 

Mr.Bear:-Oh! better than in the wild.You know,all the ice is melting away,I saw my bro yesterday in Animal Planet while you were asleep,my, he is suffering.

Me:-True,it is bad..but then we humans have better things to fight over,life discrimination ,equality etc..we are having trouble saving ourselves,let alone other creatures..

Mr.bear:- Well why not put a big AC for us then? And ya I saw your news channels too,my you do sleep a lot! Your kind has no sense,we too fight but not by blowing our kids insides out,just because one is a girl! You guys don’t even know how to respect each other..you don’t gift others any fish,you all are just fishy!

Me:- That is rather bold and what is it that I sleep a lot? You are the one who sleeps for months together..Cold storage!

Mr.bear:-Oh ya? Well well,you are just as human as any other human..now you know ,I can sue in court? Only thing ,the lawyers are demanding too much money,they claim it is easier to buy justice and even Citibank has come up this scheme to help it improve its profit-they have this system where the money gets transferred from any account to another without any one knowing,not even they know…apparently,all these days they were testing it ,they gave it to the CEOs in US.

(note :- I realize only now,that he knew about the recent events even before it hit the main stream media!)

me:-Wow! Bear! Where did you learn all that?  I mean I thought you were just another little brown bear,but my even Teddy should be proud of you! Where did you get all these information? 

Mr.Bear:-OH! my sources keep updating me..I am just hiding here,because I am their  in the most wanted list..they want me to run the world,in fact they wanted me to become the president of the world,ops US,but then I refused..

me:-My,you are such a celebrity! I am honoured to have you here..how did you land up in my cousins hands ?

Mr.bear:-Ya well I was running away from the media..you know how it is down there in the Antarctic,all those penguins and seals,we used to eat them,but then they grew wise and decided to join the media.So if we kill them,they flash across the ice,”Bears kill free media and freedom of expression’…and all the while you dumb humans are killing us all..

me:-Wow! Guess that is what is happening here..they scream at us and blah blah! But the real fellows just stud them with bullets and knifes and even kill us civilians in the name of someone in the sky,sad..I thought media was the fourth estate,but they seem to be good enough just to report about some bad real estate markets..

Mr.bear:-Oh! ya that was clever of you..ya I understand,they keep telling  that we bears take up too much territory and all the while,the ice bergs are taking a chilling dip! Can you on the AC? The hole is only getting bigger,soon Tiger better start teeing from the Berumda Triangle for the hole in Ozone..

Me:- you follow Golf? Wow! you are very very well educated..And a business man too…you were telling me how you landed up here..

Mr.bear:-Oh! ya,I dived in and guess what,I landed on top of a Nuke Sub,which someone was trying to sneak in…I landed up in the states,where a brat in LA took me and thought I was cute,he took me on a trip to Singapore there I got down and landed up in ur Cozs hands..

Me:- Such an eventful life,no wonder you keep sleeping..any idea of coming out of hiding soon? 

Mr.bear:- No not yet..I am having a new media protection suit developed in my secret lab.They are testing it on Osama if he doesn’t get caught,then they will take it away from me and I will use it…

Me:- now that is bad,you selfish bear! I am going to expose you..

And after that i forgot what happened..I think he wiped my memory,that is why it has taken me so long to remember.. *sigh,will get to interviewing him soon now that I remember…updates soon

Education and Making sense of it all

Over the past few weeks ,I have been reading and seeing a lot,both in the main stream media and the blogosphere.
And trying to fit it all and make sense of it all seems pretty tough.

First of all frankly I am disappointed both by the action and the reaction.The actions were strong,the reactions stronger.It did give me satisfaction to see that those who tried to sell the devil’s trap got some knickers on their face.But then thinking again into the root of all this,where did all this start?

Over 60 years have gone since independence,yet such primitive values stick around.We shouldn’t forget that emancipation started with the times of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.Yet after all these years, medieval values still have managed to survive.What is more startling is the amount of people who are ready to take such values and infact go about trying to enforce them.

I had written a post ,saying that these have risen from the society and education is the way. Yet how are going to do it is a good question. From what I have observed,values are  not thought,they are acquired.I don’t think I would need to give an illustration for that,just think about it.

Now then what do people who subsribe to such lowly values find attractive in them that they take it? What comfort does morally binding others into their homes get? From past we can take it that this is a threat to very priniciple of lazies faire ,what starts today with what we wear,might tomorrow lead to the idea that money is the root of evil.

At first reading Ayn Rand’s books,I was left with a lot to think.What disturbed me was her discription of human society. The illustration of what can happen to the society with the sacrilegious principles was condescending. For someone who essentially believed that goodness is the “eternal fountain” suddenly seeing a scrummage of parasites against humans was shocking.Surely such a juxtapose is an exaggeration? And there are enough white cells to kill the viruses?

And then it made sense.I just saw the world around.And then the slow build up of events.I looked closer and true enough,there were enough Viruses(no these weren’t parasites,these were viruses) to keep us humans under check.And the fact that man has dominated other creatures seems to be more the reason for these creatures to survive and wear a human skin and breed.More like a Trojan,I would say.They have waited patiently and now they seem to be out in the open breeding and spreading again.

Yet many of us dream of a utopian world.And that made us react.Abeit a aforementioned happiness,something still doesn’t seem right. True enough,it starts as a bud and then blooms into a revolution,but are we watering the right flower?

Let us say ,we do manage to control this out break. Let us say we manage to cure AIDS ,but that doesn’t mean we are free from it just yet.The virus can evolve.Now are we ever going to cull something like that? As you know once the bug enters,you don’t immediately become sick,it wears you down,that is the ultimate aim of it all.How do we know if something is in us,if it doesn’t act? What is society’s blood? 

India is her villages,is something we all know.Then there lies our blood? even though there has been an exodus and the agri drain to the cities,our test should lie there.All of us,are comfortable with our cities and our surroundings.Yet this wonder drug will be fought by the creatures,they would still want to eat you(I mean the principles not the people) . Then the only solution is to give this drug to the sick.Development then would be the alive.Yet how can you teach a person who can’t read and write to use a computer? 

How can we make a lazy man who is willing to sell himself get a skill and then sell the skill? How can we simply put ,make sure our food isn’t poisoned? Surely their is enough jealousy to make them want to drag us into a negation of ourselves? The very thing they try to do is make us fight against ourselves and destory is from within.I am not talking merely about the villages now,the blood flows and the heart my friend are the cities.

And we are living in the heart.And we are the brains too.So a judicious mix of both can get us out of this.If we do find a wonder drug,we not only need to cure them of the disease but also give them enough support to rise above this negation .Simply put we need to make them realize that for a person who can work,there is a world waiting and that suffering isn’t everything without restrictions there is a world.I know it tough to actually make them realize that they have brains,but then we can make them feel it if we try hard enough.

And to start that,we need to use education as the tool.Prevention is better than cure.If we clean the upstream we don’t need to pick out the waste downstream.If we put this wonder drug called “education” , progress then is possible.

And to conclude my comment on Indyeah’s blog

well when you talk of art and freedom,it is a question of principle….what is happening today is simple,few people are talking us all for a ride…we have the option to kick them out and take the wheel or get down and walk…

 

 

I had asked a question,is religion necessary? And I had many varied answers,but the majority are convienced that what we have to day is not necessary and I would agree, we have painted the core values so much that we are afraid to even look at it,but still when ever says it is ugly,we take a stick to them.I think it is time we paint it white before the melee makes it black.

And again ,I leaveyou  all with a question to ponder,

” WHAT IS EDUCATION? ” 

P.S:- 

Few posts which I found really interesting:-

–Of freedom and expression and the right not to be offended 

–Freedom

–Indian Culture

queen of cards,chelsea manager,orange-green and thinking cap-cartoons

 

 

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Don’t these two colours look good together?

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