A little sense

Not because we think we can

2009-03-11T23:46:00.003-07:00

Tonight I watched 'Battle in Seattle'. In the movie, a reporter asks how the protesters keep going and the the cameraman says that they do what they do because they believe they can win... but I don't think so. I think it is because we have to. It's the last stand and if we don't win, everything worth standing for is lost. That's the belief that makes us all take the beating over and over again. Be it in Seattle, Paris, Delhi or in Tienanmen!

By the way... the movie is awesome. Watch it!

72 Virgins

2009-01-27T21:18:00.003-07:00

It was May 22 1991, I was sleeping in my bed when my mom woke me up and told me that Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated. That was the first time I ever heard of suicide bombing.A 17 year old girl named Dhanu tied 700gram RDX belt bomb and killed Rajiv Gandhi and 14 other. The next suicide bomber I heard of was the one that killed Premadasa. In both cases, the culprit was LTTE. A violent group of rebels in Sri Lanka fighting for their own homeland. In both cases, they didn't die for the promised 72 virgins. They died believing that they were fighting for a just cause. It was not the promise of heaven that drove them to kill themselves and others but the hellish realities of life.

Nowadays, sucide bombings are commonplace and we suddenly found a new reason for why they happen. We simply blame it on extremism and the promise of 72 virgins. Not to say that they are not a part of the reason why they happen, but to stop there would be a big mistake. We need to learn a bit more about people who are willing to sacrifice everything they have, everything tangible for the promise of something that no one knows for sure. To die like this, the belief in the ideology is not enough. It takes much more than that. And not willing to look at it is not just ignorance but arrogance.

Pandora's box

2008-12-04T20:30:00.005-07:00

I was watching Louise Brooks' Pandora's Box, a story about a innocent beautiful girl Lulu, whose beauty dooms her. It made me wonder and draw some parallels between her and us the humanity. I wonder if we are just like Lulu. It's beauty in her case and intelligence in ours. For all the self-admiration about our own intelligence, in the end, we all are doomed just because of our intelligence.

If we look at it, Homosapiens look stupid. As a race, we are failing. In the larger picture, we are loosing to cockroaches. We are not going to outlast them. They stayed here on the earth for about 350 million years and we should be lucky to stay for a million years. Yes we are intelligent. We can launch rockets into space, we can make amazing gizmos...but we always tend to miss the bigger picture. In fact we look retarded. For instant gratification, we are making nukes, heating earth and poisioning our water streams. To put it simple, we are lighting our own house on fire. If this is not stupid... I don't know what is.

Bail me out!

2008-11-19T17:30:00.003-07:00

Read a lot about the TARP and bail out of financial sector. Reading a lot about bail out for big three. Now, I hope I am next in the line. Not that I am in any trouble, but I sure can use few extra dollars in these holidays. But I am not big enough to sink the whole ship. So, I guess I will be responsible for everything I do.

The baffling thing about both the bailout plans is the trick that was used to scare everyone. One of the very early solution from the Government was to buy preferred stocks in the failing institutions and get a controlling stake in these failing institutions. While I was against Government bailing out the irresponsible financial institutions, the whole country was held for ransom, this idea felt much more reliable than giving Henry Paulson all the money and forgetting about everything. But socialism has such a bad rap, once you call something socialist, a majority of America will fear and loath it without thinking for a second. For me, it seems like common sense. Just like I expected, all the recipients of the 290 billion dollars are trying to balance their books instead of loaning that money out and the credit freeze is still here. May be now people will realize that we are better off with government having a little say in how our money is used.

Myth of Olympic spirit

2008-04-07T11:13:00.004-07:00

Past weekend there were protests for an end of occupation of the Tibetan plateau by China. There were scuffles in London and Paris. The flame went off quite a few time before its "majestic" march through the cities of London and Paris ended. There are two camps who are condemning these protests. One is from the official Chinese sources, who brand these protesters as a few separatist who are raising hell and the other is from the people who look at Olympics as a very sacred thing to sully it's reputation with politics. I think both are absurd. I guess it is the perfect time to demonstrate and protest against the injustices that are being perpetrated by the Chinese government. Once this opportunity is lost, it is lost for ever. I think if Olympic games were hosted in US or Britain, we would have seen similar protests against war in Iraq, US treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo, secret rendition and other infractions.

I learned from my experience that the Main Stream Media (MSM) turns a blind eye towards the issues that are not supportive of their plans. After the antiwar rally in San Diego last month and few other rallies before in LA and New York, I eagerly watched news to see if there is any news about these antiwar rallies. With out a doubt, these are examples of the best in humanity. It is thousands of people marching for no selfish end( sometimes facing some dire consequences) to show their camaraderie to the people who are suffering injustices. These merit the best coverage in next day news. But this would never happen. This news is either swept off under the rug or mentioned as a small footnote. But if it were at something that is this grand, MSM can't turn it's head away. It has to cover this if it has to cover the great event. This will bring in more people in to the mix.

For people who are so worried about the spirit of games, I think they are just plain naive. It is a romantic view of the world to think that all the wars should cease for these games. Nothing stops. The injustices of the world won't stop, the sports stars peddling the brands built on sweatshops won't stop, the injustices of war won't stop, the apathy towards the starving people across the world won't stop. So, why should the protests stop?

As for me, I am not in San Francisco. But I am going to pass this information on to as many friends as possible and ask them to be there in solidarity with the people who are fighting against an unjust government while our present governments are cozying up next to a brutal government giving the trade excuse.

When 1200000 failed, can't expect much from 4000

2008-03-24T13:09:00.008-07:00

What happened to humanity? What happened to the brotherly compassion. On this Easter we reached another milestone in Iraq... 4000 American dead. But day after day the Iraqi news coverage is shrinking. The American public is growing weary of the war and even the antiwar rallies are shrinking in size. There is a sense of inevitability that is creeping into the American and the world public about the war. With a sense of helplessness, we are abandoning our brethren to their fate on all sides of the war. We are waiting for the congress to act and stop funding the war. We are waiting for an antiwar candidate to become the president and draw down the troops. But it ain't gonna happen!! Tough luck but it ain't gonna happen.

As long as we think of change as something that is brought in top-down manner, nothing is going to change. Leaders will change but the promises will remain the same. As long as democracy is looked to be the easiest form of governance, we are not going to achieve anything. As long as we don't realize our leaders are actually our representatives, not a bit will change. As George Bernrad Shaw said," Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. " It about time we realize that for things to change it is people who need start the process. The time for symbolic rallies, weekend demonstrations is long gone. The protests should be much more direct. The disagreement should have much more visibility and maturity and above all it should be that much more confrontational.

If there is a camp Casey at every senator's office irrespective of their stand on the war, if there is a camp Casey at the Capitol hill. If you don't let our representative in state senates and US senate do nothing but talk about war and do something to bring back the troops, there are chances that these protests will become so glaring that the "media" can no longer turn a blind eye... As of now, we lost nearly 1.2 million people to the conflict. I don't know about the logicality of the domino theory that was used to start Vietnam war. But it makes perfect sense with terrorism. Every person killed in Iraq is going to give birth to a new terrorist. And just like in any country, there are always opportunistic people who will try and succeed in convincing these young people that killing and dieing is solution to all the problems and there is some nobility in that.

Work for Peace - Gil Scott-Heron

2008-02-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Back when Eisenhower was the President,
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent.
So I never really listened to what the President said,
Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead.

But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed,
Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex.
Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe,
Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace.
Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex,
But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,

They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery.
The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,
they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary.

We're marching behind a commander in chief,
who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf.
but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef,
so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief.

The Military and the Monetary,
were shielded by January and went storming into February,
Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries,
two weeks ago I hadn't heard of the son of a bitch,
now all of a sudden he's legendary.

They took the honour from the honourary,
they took the dignity from the dignitaries,
they took the secrets from the secretary,
but they left the bitch an obituary.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
had us all scrambling for our dictionaries,
cause we couldn't understand the fuckin vocabulary.

Yeah, there was some smart bombs,
but there was some dumb ones as well,
scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
War in the desert sometimes sure is scary,
but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries.
Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary,
keeping the citizens secondary,
scaring old folks into coronaries.

The Military and the Monetary,
from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,
kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary.

We've got to work for Peace,
Peace ain't coming this way.
If we only work for Peace,
If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do,
we'd have Peace.

The only thing wrong with Peace,
is that you can't make no money from it.

The Military and the Monetary,
they get together whenever they think its necessary,
they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet... into a cemetery.

Got to work for Peace,
Peace ain't coming this way.

We should not allow ourselves to be mislead,
by talk of entering a time of Peace,
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the preparation for war.
Peace is not the absence of war,
it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other,
closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves
because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary.
Get together whenever they think its necessary,
they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary,
The Military and the Monetary,
We hounded the Ayatollah religiously,
Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi's son hideously.
We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians,
and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians.
Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians,
We better warn the Amish,
they may bomb the Pennsylvanians.

The Military and the Monetary,
get together whenever they think its necessary,
they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,
they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

I don't want to sound like no late night commercial,
but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world
in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help.

When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day,
I know a lot of folks feel as though that,
thats not really any kind of contribution to make,
but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays.

So this is a song about tommorrow and about how tommorrow can be better. if we all,
"Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one".

Nobody can do everything,
but everybody can do something,
everyone must play a part,
everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace.

Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace
If you believe the things you say, go to work.
If you believe in Peace, time to go to work.
Can't be wavin your head no more, go to work.

Torture

2007-12-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

Today Crooksandliars.com hosted a video from Morning Joe. It is a discussion about the legality, morality and necessity of water boarding. As the conversation went along, Joe brought up Dresden bombing by American forces. Speaking about it, Joe was emphatic in describing the carnage by the American military. He opines that though the bombing of Dresden didn't have any stretigic value, it had to be done to send message to Germany... you brought us this nasty war and this is what happens to you. We will burn your children, women, old and men. This was the message to Germans should have got from the fires and charred flesh. To add to this, he says that though its morality can be questioned, he doesn't find a problem with that and he doesn't want to see the videos of that... he is fine as is- conveniently turning his faces other side.

When the rhetoric stoops to this level, how can you even argue. When the morality becomes a non-issue, everything is flexible. There is nothing wrong in killing an innocent man to save yourself. Killing millions for better life for some others is okay and all the crimes can be justified by realistic and non-realistic threats. It seems that the world is slipping into yet another dark age. People forgetting means are as much important as ends. Now, the world is already boxed into camps of good and evil. Both camps have a mandate from God. We already waved goodbye to Habeas Corpus, right to privacy. Now, people in power are trying to strip us of our humanity and compassion. This is the time to resist. Say no to torture. Irrespective of who does it, it is cruel. Nuremberg trials, however hypocritical they were, gave us a rule book. Let's try to follow at least a few rules.

Nandigram

2007-11-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

The sad thing about the "democracy" that is being practices in India and whole world is that it is not democracy but corporatocracy. But on the second thought, is it not too naive on our part to expect anything good out of a system that is corrupt to the core? When crooks are in charge, compromise between them is not going to help anyone. Right now, the communist party realized how much they can make being "pro-development" and they know they are far behind in the game. They are trying to catch up. They are no longer interested in fame and glory anymore! Now we are seeing all around the world the insurgence of neo-feudalism or Oligarchy.
When ever I hear the word communist China I realize how dangerous words can be. I guess they are the most powerful tools one can have. They can be used to free and also to suffocate ideas. The idea of communism is so suffocated that what we see today is nothing but the dead cadaver of a beautiful idea which was murdered by the despots like Mao, Stalin and now being scavenged by vultures like Buddhadev and Chinese communist party. The soul, equality and decency of every human being, is long gone. The only rotten remnants of it are the despotic tyrannies and their paternalistic stone-age ideas. The intent and effectiveness of the Indian communists is obvious when they look up to China (the worst of communism and capitalism bottled in corporatism here!!) for ideas. The Communist Party of India which fought for betterment of the downtrodden is long dead. Now all the leaders we see are Modis, Advanis, Manmohans just in a different uniform.

In addition to this, the people's perception that democracy is going to be easy should be banished form hearts and minds of all the people. Democracy is not the smoothest, most efficient way of governance. It is just the best idea yet. In present day democracies, where free press is for only for people who own a news channel or news paper, corrupt police( sorry for the redundancy) and paternalistic judiciary, Bandhs, Dharnas and demonstrations are the only effective channels to comment on the way things are done. Even those are being hijacked by the political parties which are more worried valentine's day than poor people getting swept off the new emerging canvas of development. We have no way but to disobey the power that be and be vocal. If not, the new portrait of India will not have any green paint. It will be full of chimney stacks and SEZs. It won't have farmers and labourers but IT professionals and mega rich entrepreneurs. Not because all is well...but because they are forgotten and swept aside.

Now showing...Animal farm in Pakistan

2007-11-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

So Pakistan slides from Military dictatorship to Military Emergency. In his speech,"President" General Pervez Musharraf said that,"My guiding principal has always been Pakistan first. I am sure the whole nation thinks on similar pattern." He added to it saying , "if we don’t take those decisions then there is a grave danger to the solidarity and security of the country." The first question that popped in to my head is if this speech is plagiarized from George Orwell's dystopia classics 1984 and Animal Farm.

In his self proclaimed status of protector of Pakistan and its interests, the fist step the President General Dictator took is to tighten the nuts of the media. In his new media policy it is illegal to criticizing the head of the state, military or judiciary or showing bodies of the suicide bombers or their victims. It never surprises but baffles me to see these people in power anointing themselves as vanguards of everything that is good and common folks accepting that it can't be any other way. Time and again it is proved right to be skeptical about the intentions of these "vanguards." All the despots spewed the same garbage and time and again we accepted. It is time to realize that the adage "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" is more of a truism.

When silence speaks scrolls

2007-10-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was great!! I was in Los Angeles at Broadway and Olympic shouting at the top of my lungs....

STOP THE WAR!!
ALTO A LA GUERRA!!
JUSTICE NOW!!
TROOPS OUT NOW!! IRAQ FOR IRAQIS!!

and so on... In that hullabaloo, I realized that I belong there. That's my people and I need to stay in touch with them. Everything about the protest blew my mind. There were Guantanamo prisoners, Muslim women, flower people, ill treated immigrants, Guy Fawkes, Toddlers, students, senior citizens and people from all walks of lives protesting. When these many people from different walks of life come together and shout in unison, it confirms your belief that something is seriously wrong and further gives you the assurance that you are not insane/alone.

In the rally, everyone expected the media to keep mum on this subject. I expected the same... after all, I read Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. I wanted to confirm it with a proof. So, the first thing I did when I got back was to get on to the websites of the popular news outlets. I tried searching for the key word "Anti-war", "Los Angeles Rally" and "Antiwar rally" on the popular America news outlets and it was only MSNBC which mentioned that this rally ever happened. For me, this silence told me much more than any article would have. It told me that not doubting the corporate media is naivety, news is bought and sold and in the eyes of the corporate media, tens of thousands gathering in streets braving the bad weather and scary times we are living in is not as significant as Lindsay Lohan doing drugs!

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

2007-10-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

What can I say!!! I love it!!

Hola Senorita
Como te llamas?
Me llamo Mike, Me llamo Mike.
Donde esta el bano?
Feliz Compleanos
Que hora es, que hora es?
lalalalala
Me Gusta la biblioteca
Vivo en la casa roja
yo tengo dos bicicletas
muchas gracias y de nada
cuantos anos tienes
un momento por favor
it's the one semester of spanish
spanish love song
Mi mama es bonita
mi gato es muy blanco
perdoneme, perdoneme
lalalalala
uno, dos, tres y cuatro
cinco seis, siete, ocho
nueve diez, no remembro how to say "eleven"
Antonio Banderas
Nachos Grande, y cinnamon twists
it's the one semester of spanish
Spanish love song
Au Revoir
-http://kaysaysbleh.blogspot.com/2007/10/one-semester-of-spanish.html

Rendition

2007-10-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

I see a lot of movies but seldom I walk out silent, engrossed in thought and shame. It happened last time when I watched 'The constant Gardner' and last week when I watched the movie 'Rendition.' Rendition is the story of two couples Anwar & Isabella and Khalid & Fatima who suffer at the hands of terrorists. While the latter suffer the terrorism that masks itself in religious righteousness the former suffer the terrorism that masks itself in national moral righteousness. This is a movie that will sure make you ashamed for not doing enough to stop this kind of terrorism.

In infotainment channels, we always hear these stories. These suspects and suicide bombers are made to look like creature of a whole different species. But this movie, makes them human and gives us the picture we miss in our daily dose Hate. During sober pensive walk in the park after the movie I felt lost and hopeless realizing the sorry state we are in. It is the comedy shows like Daily show with Jon Stewart and Colbert Report which give us the reliable news and it is only in movies we get to talk about topics are very much detrimental to the future and development of the society. People are too scared to express these views....even though they feel the same.

!!!!S T A N D U P A N D B E H E A R D!!!!

Health and justice

2007-10-04T01:31:00.000-07:00

In a nation that claims to be the bastion of democracy and hope for the humanity, I wonder why is justice and health care are the two most expensive things.It just came to my mind because of recent events I've seen. Both to Indians in the USA. Early this week was by a forward from a friend of mine calling for donation for a graduate student injured in Georgia and the other my friend being implicated in a case.

When I read the news about the graduate student, my heart went out. When I saw the number of people who donated money for his health, it was a bitter sweet moment.Sweet to know that generosity and compassion in people are still alive and bitter to see that so many people had to contribute for one person's health...which should be a basic human right of the individual.

The other, my friend who was falsely accused in a case. For no apparent folly of his, now the onus to prove that he is innocent is on him. When he spoke to attorneys, the quotes came in thousands and thousands...

Come to think of it health and justice are for sale. They are in the market place and only people who can afford it, can have it. Who ever can't afford it... can't do much for you guys! It is no longer a human right but a luxury not many can afford. If this is the bation of democracy and hope for humanity, we the people are in a very very sorry state.

Abortion, what about it?

2007-09-29T23:04:00.000-07:00

In recent news, I read that Amnesty International reiterated its support to women's abortion rights. As a response to this, the Vatican responded saying, "Amnesty International has betrayed its mission." To add to that, Cardinal Renato Marino said,"Individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support for Amnesty International worldwide." Couple of things baffled me in this call to boycott AI by the catholic church. Firstly, even if abortion is a cardinal sin in his view, does this invalidate all the effort of the AI in protecting human rights all over the world. Secondly,even if abortion is legalized, does he think that it is an easy choice for a mother to get an abortion.

All around the world, Amnesty International is the vanguard of human rights.While the entire world is busy playing their war games in its third world junk yard, it is them, who were working in Darfur, Iran, US, Eastren Europe and all the other places around the world on issues like, Gay rights, prisoner rights, immigrant and refugee rights. To put it short, they were working for the faceless, voiceless and powerless. If their support to the abortion rights, in the eyes of catholic church, invalidates all the good work AI has done, may be it is catholic church that needs some soul searching.

Secondly, the idea that women, when unrestricted, will walk into an abortion clinics and get their unborn babies aborted baffles me. This very idea that the government needs to safeguard the baby in a mother's womb, I feel is stupid, naive and dangerous. In a nation, where the government run anything is painted as a monster and encroachment on the freedoms of the people, a government run and protected womb sure looks dangerous. If at all anything, I think women need more rights to protect the sanctity of their wombs and bodies. As my dad used to say, we might see bad sons, bad daughters, bad husbands, bad wives and even bad fathers, but it very rare that we see bad mother. I don't mean that all the mothers have their kids best at their heart, but I sure think it is the final frontier of love. And if they aren't thinking about what's the best for the kid, no one else would.

Bring back POTA

2007-08-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

That sounds like a solution. In India that seems to be the problem. Not enough power for the police. With this law missing in their arsenal, they are rendered useless, the do gooders. Yesterday when I saw Advani saying that we need to bring back POTA, I went back to the archives and read some articles and user comments regarding POTA and people responding to POTA repeal. It actually scared and disgusted me at the same time. As a user says, " India is voted as the most tolerant country in the world" I don't know where he comes up with this claim but for sure it can be dismissed as hearsay right away. From my observation neither we are nor considered as the world's most tolerant country. And somehow people feel that their tolerance towards these people who don't pray like them is a virtue. I fail to see it as a virtue. Tolerance is a minimum requirement of a society if at all it has to consider itself a society. And in a day and age where people are standing in a queue to barter their liberty and freedom to a false sense of security, it is tough to see if they actually posses the very "virtue" they profess to champion.

In order to believe that this law actually works, you have to believe there are two kinds of people. Firstly people who consider that good and evil are clearly demarcated and they are and can be heaped as two groups either by region or religion ( it is scary that so many people who actually this idea) or you have to be one of those few who will actually benefit from this law and finally people who don't care about civil liberties and see them as dispensable and feel the need of an authoritarian governance. I think most of the people fall into first or the last groups and sometimes, to make things worse, in more than one group. Irrespective of what motivates their support to POTA, it would soon come and bite us in the rear. With respect to terrorism, it is not a problem that needs to be solved with iron fist but with a baby glove. The terrorism we see in India and around the world is fueled by the innocent blood and enough innocent blood spilled already.

In order to solve these sensitive issues, we need to have deeper understanding. How poverty, violence,neglect and inequality are turning normal people in to terrorists. How religious fundamentalism is brewing hate when every religion claims and bonifies itself to be the path to salvation. How a nation with aspirations to be a super power tends to neglect and rob its poor. How a cannibalistic economy measures prosperity by indicators which say nothing about the plight of the common folks and makes the world much dangers for powerless and the future generations and how people who were here for the past thousand years are still considered as outsiders and have to prove themselves over and over again.

In a land of fake encounters, subservient judiciary and highly corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, giving them more power is very very stupid. In addition to this, POTA failed last time around and so did TADA ( with less than 2% conviction rates). One of the axioms of modern day justice systems is innocent till proven guilty. If this is broken( which already happened with 2% conviction rates) there would be no hope for India being at least a mediocre democracy as it is now.

At least 34 people dead in the bomb blast

2007-08-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Don't know who and don't know why... but, yet another 34 lives wasted. For someone's madness or as retribution or as a statement. The question that begs to be asked is when will we see that violence acheives nothing. I don't understand how a idea that failed time and again is still sustained and encouraged. Irrespective of who the aggressor is it is the common folks who get hurt. Be it be bombing of countries, or rebels and insurgents killing their ways to victory it is the same people who suffer and the same people who win. After enough bullets puncture the human flesh and after enough bombs shred and char them and when the very ideas that the violent factions profess to uphold are burned down to ground and buried, the same cycle continues. Hope people will soon realize... we need to give peace a chance. Violence and destruction doesn't give birth to love, peace and justice. It should be something else.

It is that time of year again!

2007-08-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

It is August 15th. It is time to get out the Orange White and Green confetti out and start celebrating. Celebrate madly... sing songs about our struggle... praise the motherland... eat some candy...watch a patriotic movie or two... renew our hatred to the enemies of the nation and then... everything is business as usual. Go back to daily lives. In this hullabaloo and meaningless rhetoric, I think, we forget what we are celebrating. Without thought, words like Independence, Freedom loose their meanings. What is this independence we are talking about and from who? And what is Freedom we are celebrating? Is it just the change of rulers or is it really Freedom of thought, Freedom of choice and a chance to live in a free world...if at all it exists.

I think, we are not free. We don't have a reason to celebrate. We right now live in country, though claims to be free, enslaves its own people. We just got new masters and that's what happened on this hallowed day. Earlier, we had masters who stole from us and who looked different. But now, we have master who just look like us. On August 15 1947, India turned in to a dog eat dog land. We have more than a million people who bear silent testament to this. The savages of the new nation began on the first day and since then, it has been the way of life. We have a government that steals money, land and lives from the poor under the pretense of development, which turns a deaf ear to the peaceful struggles. We fear police more than the ones they are to protect the people from. We have millions of people who are homeless. Our option of self governance are a party that solely functions on principle of hereditary monarchy and the other that functions on fostering hate along the lines of religion.

In a country where the religion of tolerance and the religion of peace fight each other killing thousands...Freedom is a far far land and it is a long long journey. In a land of SEZs, fake encounters, paternalistic judiciary which can never be criticized, corrupt law enforcement, trails that last for generations, POTA, doctored textbooks, how can we be free. In a land where nothing is free...everything has to be bought and everything is sold... no body is free. We need to change our perspectives drastically to achieve the freedom we always talk about. That's the day when we can truly call ours independent.

What does it take to take Nuclear option off the table?

2007-08-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

"Election time" and the Dems are trying desperate to look tough. It seems like high school all over again. Dems need to look tough, just like teenage kids need to look bad ass. I still remember when Hillary Clinton said that she would take nuclear option off the table against Iran. But now, she is all upset with Obama for saying nuclear option is off the table. In other countries, even the ones which got the nuclear weapons through the back door, pledge no first use policy. With this rhetoric, I don't know how the US administrations can think they have a moral high ground to tell rest of the world not to procure nuclear weapons. They are the only nation that every used the nuclear weapons... and that too they used them twice. It is time to be an example... rather than just preach. Today is the anniversary of Nagasaki bombing and we all now know how inhumane it is to bomb a nation with A-bomb. If Dems still think they need to be the bomb huggers, I don't think they deserve a place in any peace movements, any human rights forums...

Day of Shame and Sorrow

2007-08-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

It is a day of shame people. A day human ingenuity lost its meaning and showed its ugly face turning more than 70,000 thousand fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, daughter and sons in to ashes. A day the little boy killed many little girls... here is a befitting poem!

It is me knocking at your door
- at how many doors I've been
But no one can see me
Since the dead are invisible.

I died at Hiroshima
that was ten years ago
I am a girl of seven
Dead children do not grow.

First my hair caught fire
then my eyes burnt out
I became a handful of ashes
blown away by the wind.

I don't wish anything for myself
for a child who is burnt to cinders
cannot even eat sweets.

I'm knocking at your doors
aunts and uncles, to get your signatures
so that never again children will burn
and so they can eat sweets.

The Dead Little Girl- Nazim Hikmet

Hope at least today we see the actual cost of war. It is not just the soldiers killed and dollars spent... it is more than that. It is little boy and little girls loosing their lives to fill the pockets of ugly rich people...

W A K E U P P E O P L E...

Brave young men/women!

2007-07-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

I don't understand... are they really brave young men/women or naive/poor young men/women condemned to die for our selfish reasons. The stock question for every rightwing host to anyone who visited Iraq in recent days is... How is the troop morale? How are they brave young soldiers handling the bull crap that is coming out of Iraq... and the guest replies are equally standardized... They praise the bravery of young men and women and then go on to say though they are let down by the thugs in Washington, they have a sense of duty and they are carrying on their job...and host adds to it saying that the problem is politics and if they matters are left to military, these young people will defeat the enemy in Iraq.

For me, I think these are impressionable young people who are too naive/ poor and believed all the lies fed to them and are dying and killing to fill the pockets of the bastards who planned this war and the bastards who are supporting this war. These are the young people we are turning in to monsters and unleashing them on the help/hopeless people. Neither of these folks deserve what we are doing to them.. and all this for a thick wads of cash... not for them... but for the scheming folks back in Washington. It is time to say enough and do something about it...Let's do something.

Time to step up

2007-06-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Two nations ravaged, more than two million people made homeless, 600,000+ people lives lost and still the war seems justifiable for the crazy neo-cons. American talk Radio hosts, the television pundits are all now in sync condemning the war. But they do so not because the war is illegal. Not because it results in senseless murder, rape and destruction of everything that should be sacred. It is not even because it is costing US taxpayers billions. It is because there is no point refereeing a 1400 year old rivalry. Once this idea was expressed, everyone in the media started agreeing to this with a cult like fervor. Now thinking about it, the opportunistic plan to abandon Iraq to its fate was initiated by the Dems when they started calling this a Civil war. The stupidity of the sheepfolk surprises me. The way they all agree to the nobility of the American intent in going to Iraq and their deep regret that they are no longer in a position to achieve makes me think that the US is suffering from acute groupthink.

The mass delusion- in the best case scenario- can be clearly shown by quoting John McCain from the third Republican debate. He goes on to say

' My friends, this is a transcendent struggle between good and evil. Everything we stand for and believe in is at stake here. We can win. We will never surrender. They will. I am prepared to lead.'

I sure believe this idea of a fight between good and evil is going on right now and I believe that the lines of good and evil are not along their alliance with the United States but along their approval of the carnage by either sides. People who think this carnage is wrong and the people who think this is all necessary. Though the warring sides claim that justice will be served by their victory, the fact of the matter is that we are far from justice. Justice is long dead, burried, burned, raped, shot and blown off into pieces. Justice is burried along side of the dead in this war.

Right now, American punditry found a new scapegoat. It is the Iraqi people. How can one build a country when the people don't want it and want to finsh each other off? This rhetoric is now on full throttle now days. How dare they? How dare they put blame on the Iraqis? If at all there is any party that has to be blamed most for this war, apart from the present fanatical regime in the US, it is the punditry. They cheer lead the war, They dumped reason for rhetoric and now, they are trying to wash their hands and point fingers at the victims. These are the people who made this war a war of unintended consequences. I am not an saying what the insurgents doing is the right thing and I don't think the insurgents are pursuing any noble goal as they claim. They are also just a bunch of impressionable, poor young men who are cheer led by opportunists, propagandists and lead by Machiavellian megalomaniacs... Just like the other side. In this meaningless battle, both sides loose young men who are the future of both the countries for things that are least sacred...Valor, nation and religion.

Hey Dems!! listen to this!

2007-05-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside...Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside...

Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside...Ain't gonna study war no more...

I ain't gonna study war no more...I ain't gonna study war no more...
Study war no more.
I ain't gonna study war no more...I ain't gonna study war no more...
ain't gonna Study war no more...

Gonna stick my sword in the golden sand
Down By the riverside...Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside...
Gonna stick my sword in the golden sand
Down by the riverside...Gonna study war no more.

Gonna put on my long white robe
Down By the riverside... Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside
Gonna put on my long white robe
Down by the riverside....Gonna study war no more.

Gonna put on my starry crown...
Down By the riverside...Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside...
Gonna put on my starry crown...
Down by the riverside...Gonna study war no more.

Gonna put on my golden shoes
Down by the riverside...Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside...
Gonna put on my golden shoes

Gonna talk with the Prince of Peace
Down by the riverside...Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside...
Gonna talk with the Prince of Peace...
Down by the riverside...Gonna study war no more.

Gonna shake hands around the world...
Down by the riverside...Down by the riverside...
Down by the riverside...
Gonna shake hands around the world...
Down by the riverside...Gonna study war no more.

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

2007-05-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

When I learned that Brave New World, an evergreen classic, got very bad reviews, I wasn't surprised. I think the book was so ahead of its time, that there was no chance that anyone could appreciate the book. I fell in love with the book after reading just a few pages. Once I started reading the book...I just could not put if off. I was wandering in Mr. Huxley's “Utopia” till 3 AM and finally somehow came back to the the real world and decided to sleep. The story was so profound that I felt that it was not just one story. You can churn out as many contextual interpretations of the story as you want... and that's the beauty of it. The social structure of the “Utopia”, the conditioning of the Alphas, Betas and Gammas, the Soma heaven, idea of hating solitude and love for consumerism all these amazing social constructs seemed to be very much part of the present and past societies.

After reading the book, I went to see if Mr. Huxley had any idea about the Hindu social structure and my hunch was right. I don't know if he was inspired by the caste system in the Hindu society but the grading and conditioning of people as Alphas, Betas, Gammas and Deltas just looked like the Indian social structure and there is a drink called Soma which was a hallucinogen. I think these are some parallels I could see from what I know about Indian culture and I am sure people from different places can find these societies in their societies if they look for the signs...

Bill Moyer's Journal

2007-04-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Veteran journalist Bill Moyer's is back and has a new show called Bill Moyer's Journal on PBS. After watching his piece about plantation mentality of the media on Democracy now, it didn't come as surprise to me to see where he stands. But I should say, it came as breeze of fresh air in the present 24 hours news channels' clamor about all things unimportant about the war. In his opening piece, Bill Moyer talks about the way the the media collaborated in the deceptions of the administration to make the American public to buy the war.

There was nothing new in the documentary that wasn't known already, it was good because of the stature of Bill Moyer. He brought it into the “speakable” arena. I hope at least now, there will be a conversation about the responsibility or lack of it on the part of “fourth estate.” For me, it puts the famous theory “Manufacturing Consent” of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman into context. I guess this selling of war to the public serves as a classic example for their theory. If at all there is a necessity for some insights into the way Washington works, it is now we need the most. I don't if it already happens but I love to see someone fact checking the White House instead of just reporting what ever they say!

In it's second installment Bill had Jon Stewart and Joshua Marshall as guests and you can expect a great show whenever you have Jon in it. Though Jon Stewart deny being a journalists, as Bill Moyer said, he might be just kidding or being too modest. For me, I get my everyday quota of news from Jon Stewart and Amy Goodman. I tried to watch rest of the 24 news channels and I found they are just like the magazines you find at any grocery store check out. So, though Jon doesn't agree with me, he and Stephen Colbert are much better journalists than a lot of people who claim to be journalists and we need them right now the most!

The Indian Taliban!

2007-04-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

So... finally we nailed him...
Richard Gere had it coming. How dare he kiss an Indian actress on stage? It offended so many people and corrupted our culture...so much! He deserves a 3 month prison sentence... I guess may we just should stone him to death... that will restore out culture.

I wish to see these people who are so angered and protesting on road for the honor and dignity of Mother India actually fight for something useful. There are so many problem right now in India and if these people are so free that they can find an effigy of Richard Gere and burn it... I guess they definitely have time to work for the ills of our society. I too see a lot of offensive things happening in India which are deplorable when we take our culture( or at least what it says ) in to perspective. In a culture which ends every holy ritual with “Sarvejana Sukhinobhavantu” (May everyone be happy), having more than 300 million people under poverty line is very offensive to the culture... a nation which claims so much about it's tolerance, killing of thousands of people every now and then is offensive to the culture. But a kiss on the cheek... between two consenting people and they are fine with that, it is nobody else's business to pass on judgments.

In fact, I have a question to these morons who are so upset by the peck on the cheek... what about the poet Srinatha who describes Parvati in a graphic detail? What about the nude and sexual connotations that pop up so frequently in Indian literature? How about all the nude picture on our temples and the book Kamasutra... may be we should burn them all and prove we are sexually chaste!!

Johnny got his Gun - Dalton Trumbo

2007-04-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

...and I got the book. Just got the book and started reading. To be pithy about how I feel about this book, it is painful..very painful. This book is about war... not about enemies, not about guns, not about bombs. It is about human costs of war. It's about what happens to those numbers you listen on news. This book starts where the news ends. It's about 3000+ dead and a lot more wounded soldiers... what happens to those kids who are wounded? The harrowing stories of these kids who are forgotten and neglected. This is one of the books I love to see become irrelevant... a book about ills of past. But with the present day culture of death and destruction, I don't have much hope.

Just to show powerful the book is here is an excerpt:

"This was no ordinary war. This was to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy made safe, then nothing else mattered- not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives..."

When I read this, I thought that we as a human race have a handicap...we never learn from history and hence we are condemned to repeat it!

It's a boy!!

2007-02-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

Well this Sunday is really special. We welcomed a baby boy to our family. Latha delivered a healthy baby boy and it felt easy at least for me! Sarvesh now is the big brother and it seems he is a natural. When I went to visit the family at the hospitals, I should say I didn't know how to feel. It is something new... I haven't felt like that before and seeing such a huge change in such a short time... it feels different. This sure doesn't match with any emotion I experienced earlier.. something totally new and for some reason... totally unknown to me I was a bit tensed.

I don't know how Sridhar is feeling right now.. but if it were me, I would have sure felt as if I were on the top of the world. Just the tender proud moments made me Jealous... I wanted know and feel how he felt... and that just might be the incentive enough for me throw away all my principles out the window and start dreaming to be a part of that!!... I hope not!

Suspect and kill?

2007-01-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

Suspected terrorist groups killed
50 suspected insurgents killed in US strike
Ethiopia's PM says suspected terrorists killed in Somalia
China says 18 suspected terrorists killed at camp
Jordanian police kill a suspected al-Qaeda activist
Teen burglary suspect killed
Afghan Police Report 15 Suspected Taliban Killed in Fighting
15 Suspected Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Are we back in the pre-Habeas corpus days?

That's the question I want to ask when I see this sort of headlines. The more disturbing fact is that these are accepted just as if there is nothing wrong with what happened. Even the media doesn't follow up these to see how many of those suspicions are real and how many were just "collateral". This is especially a non issue when the lives are of the third world people. It just seems they just don't count as humans. Though this kind of apathy is consistent with the history, it is amazing how blind humanity is to the suffering of people who are not in their vicinity. Though there are billions of people who justify the killing because of suspicion (especially when they are state sponsored), it is very hard to find people who find these things to be sanitized murders.

Matrubhoomi - A nation with out women

2007-01-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

I recently saw a movie called 'Matrubhoomi'. It is a harrowing dystopian tale of a land with out women. The movie is vulgar, unrealistic, offensive, harsh and far fetched. But I felt it is necessary to be like that to impress up on people who are too apathetic to issues like this. The movie impressed me from the beginning with its stark ironic title and caption “Matrubhoomi – A nation without women” it says almost all the story. The movie starts with a ritualistic murder of a new born baby girl and gets worse as we get ahead in the story.

The protagonist is the sole survivor of this murderous ritual. Her dad saves her during her birth and keeps her hidden from the society and his dream is to get her married into a good family. In the parallel, a village which has no women and a lot of sexually frustrated youth satiate their frustrations by substituting women with cross dressers, porn and getting involved in bestiality. The protagonist's father, marries her off to five brothers for a sum of 5 lakh rupees. The following story is about the suffering of the girl and the events this girl sparks in the village.

For people who deny anything of this sort is happening in India, the huge disparity in the number of women and men in India should open their eyes. I guess it is high time and the inequality between the perceived worth of the genders should change. Though this inequality is not because of sinister motives all the time, if has to be corrected and I hope this movie at least starts a few debates. coz... closing eyes never solves a problem!

Just merit

2006-09-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

I read an article where a white guy wrote about his assent to his successful position as a professor in the US. He narrated his life story in two versions. One version, which was the regular rhetoric and the other one is the rhetoric with a racial component. It inspired me to write something similar to that. I want to write about a person of the same color, same religion and for all I know, he can be me. The only difference between two of us is where we were born. I was born into a family of educated people. My mom is a graduate and my dad is a post graduate and he was born into a family of not so educated people. His dad is a fireman and my dad is a software engineer. Today, when I look back to see what brought me to this place, I can't say that it was just merit. There are many more things that helped me along the way. My friend, Bhagavan, was the top ranker in our class. Though I gave him a very stiff competition in academics thought out schooling, I remember getting more marks than him only a handful times. He was better...almost always.

After ten years, we traveled two totally different paths. I went on and got a foreign masters degree, earning big bucks and planning to do some big things in my life. On the other hand, I met my friend who kicked my ass all the way in school. He is earning Rs. 1000(~ US $ 22) per month working as an assistant in a medical shop. Certainly it is not just merit which took me places. There is something much more than that. He never had the opportunities I had. In addition to this, my father used to take utmost care to provide me what ever I needed whenever I needed them. It will be very unfair to say that these didn't contribute to my success. They might not be the only reasons for my success in life but they were of very high importance. They were the critical components for constructing a career. All these building blocks that are essential for a career are not available to every one in the present day society. So, before we call a society with out provisions which make it a level field, meritocracy, we should stop and think for a bit. Are the meritorious of India really the best the India could offer or are they the best in the lot who could afford to buy their opportunities. In fact, if we really are worried about merit and the good of the country, we should be fighting for free high quality education. The present day fight against reservations is nothing but a fight with selfish ends. We are not concerned about what happens to our country, all we care is that we are not getting as many opportunities as we like to have. For sure the reservation system is not working as it should be but scrapping it all together is not a solution. New ways to uplift these people are to be thought of and in my opinion, free high quality education is the minimum we have to have before we speak about meritocracy and a level playing field.

Did they think of terrorist in Geneva?

2006-09-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

In the US, there is a huge discussion if the "terrorists" captured have any human rights. Did they think of terrorists when they sat at the discussion table in Geneva. The conservative spin machine at Faux news is once again busy spinning the issue into something totally different. So, what did Geneva address? It is about people treating people right. This was the question from aeons there was a doubt if blacks were people and had soul, if women can think and deserve a voice, are gooks really human beings. These questions baffled the us and more than once they were proven wrong. All these cases, when the oppressing forces were proven wrong, it was not because of some change in the victims but realization in the oppressors. The way we treat others tells more about us than others. If we are barbaric, we treat others barbaric. It is as simple as that and in Geneva exactly this is addressed. Are they inconveniences ? Certainly... But these are the only protections we have in the non-democratic international arena.

Welcome to Walmart ... ?

2006-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

People who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it... but what about people who don't learn from what's happening right around them? What's their fate? This question poped into my mind when I heard about the FDI in retail sector in India. Who is insane enough to actually think that this is a good idea.I can understand how people can be fooled into believing that opening up technology sector for FDIs can help....but how in the hell once can convince anyone with any functional IQ to this deal. After agriculture, it is what the maxmum number of Indians live on. How much every I try to decipher this move, I am not able to understand....please somebody help me!! Is India the next South America?

Vandemataram

2006-09-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

Let me first say.. I hate Sriki... Just when I was about to write a blog entry about this topic, Sriki had to email and make mine look like a reply when I wanted it to be a starter. So, there I said it. Now coming to the controversy surrounding Vandemataram, I surprisingly agree partly with Srikanth... these bastards who want to become stars overnight issued a Fatwa against singing Vandemataram... as Vande makes it a prayer and it is against Islam to bow to anyone but Allah ( can be broken as AL Illah meaning The God) as I said, I agree with Srikanth partly... the other part is about the patriotic right wingers trying to instill the goodness we are missing in our hearts... if singing Vandemataram does that... damn it why did no one tell me this till now.. I digress... with all due respect to every one, I don't believe that the intent was that benign. This issue about vandemataram is as old as the song itself. Even Tagore said that... and it was a burning issue since then. By making it mandatory, the Hindu right wingers are doing what the Muslim right wingers are doing... for me, I think the important part [at least for me] in "Vandemataram" is the defiance... it is not about bowing to anything, it is about standin up... saying screw you to the imperial powers... I think that's what vandemataram stood for. Even today, a Muslim kid singing the song in a congress ruled state is keeping up the spirit of vandemataram.. a big screw you to the guy who issued fatwa... and a kid who doesn't sing in BJP ruled state is also doing the same. I still believe that we are independent and are capable of independent thought we don't need any thing imposed on us.... if I don't like Vandemataram.... I won't sing it... if I love it I will... It is me who should decide.. no one else has any business in it... If the slogan is sing or get out...the answer is ... YOU DON"T OWN THIS COUNTRY AND I NEED NOT PROVE MY PATRIOTISM OR LACK OF IT TO ANYONE...

War...the despicable

2006-07-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Idiots! How many times should it be explained? Rich lives are more valuable than the poor ones. Rich are good and poor are evil. While the intentions of the poor are sinister the rich always have very noble intentions. It is about time people accept this as universal truth and give total power to the rich… it works.. previous millennia proved it completely. It is war again in the middle east. The depraved Muslims once again harmed the noble Israelis. The Israelis are cornered and had no other way but to attack the depraved people and establish Justice.

I don’t mean to side with the Hezbollah. They are a bunch of bastards for taking chance with the Israelis humanity. For them it is just a gamble. They just gambled and don’t care for the human toll that might be inflicted by their actions. They are not willing to budge even after numerous Palestine and Lebanese deaths. This of course gives us an idea how much they value the lives of their brethren. So, condemning the war doesn’t mean siding with Hezbollah. It is condemning all the warring rogues and their supporters.

This war bothers me very much for that matter, every war bothers me a lot. Not because of the lies perpetrated by the warring factions but because of the obvious lack of public scrutiny. The ease with which people can be convinced that killing children, killing strangers, killing bystanders is alright. While talking about this war, I’ve heard the historic justifications, the “actual” justification but the missing part in every argument is how all these explanation justify the killing the people they are killing. How come historic persecutions of Jews justify killing a one year old baby and counting it as collateral? These questions are never answered by these arguments. In fact these are some how thought to be obvious, logical and unavoidable for greater good.

Are we too naïve or are we too insensitive to care about these things? What is that in us that makes us totally disconnected to the suffering of the other? Is the humanity suffering from attention deficient disorder? Sometimes I feel that we are institutionalized to think collateral is fine. In any movie, the killing of bystanders, the killing of the extra characters doesn’t even touch us. It only pains us when someone in focus dies. I don’t know why..but I don’t think it is right. We need to change because collateral is not acceptable. Collateral is nothing but a murder with a nice wrap.

Mumbai blasts! what to do?

2006-07-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Call me a pussy, call me a pseudo-secular.. I condemn violence in all its forms. What happened in Mumbai is yet another manifestation of this evil. Now to the question if you should bomb the "terrorist camps" I don't think so. There is no way one can reach a solution with war. War is just an acceptable form of terrorism and people who support wars are terrorists in my eyes. It is high time people see a pattern with use of power...Surprisingly mighty are always right... The saying truth prevails should be rephrased to what prevails is truth. This is true with British empire when bleeding heart British wanted to civilize the barbarian Asians, Africans, native Americans, it is true with similar Spanish dream to save the souls of the barbaric Aztec. To cite a recent example it is true with America bombing Vietnam.. To save the yellow bastards. This vice is shared by the "armed struggles". The Bin-Laden, Zarqawi, Dawood Ibrahim, Prabhakaran, Tagodia [bastard]clan people are not at all concerned about the fate of the oppressed. They are just opportunity like the enemies they want to fight. You need to brain wash people to go and die for any cause... Nation, religion or any thing else. The bastard clan brain washes poor disenfranchised youth and turn them into terrorists and the patriot clan brain washes poor youth to go become soldiers...

So, what's the solution? Belief in humanity. Poor people don't have motivation to kill. But when they are cornered, they can be ruthless as they have not much to loose. Work towards eradication of injustice in the society.. All these problems can be solved sooner or later. For now, try to track the leaders of these atrocities and bring them to justice... In a civilized way! Democracy is a huge onus... It means we have to fight with one hand ties back. You can't become the enemy you want to defeat... If you do, they enemy has won.. May not be physically..But for sure ideologically.

Where do the pussies stand?

2006-07-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

It is very frustrating to take a stand against any issue once it is given the nationalistic justification. It is tough, but people should take a stand against things based on their merit and try not to get biased by either nationalism or anti-nationalism. Today, I had a conversation with couple of my friends. It was interesting as they had apparently two different perspectives and inherently the same sort of guiding principle. One of them thinks that American invasion of Afghanistan is justified as they are harboring terrorists and the other guy thought that it was illegal as it was of America's making. Both these views thought seem completely opposite; don't condone War as an illegitimate action. It is just that one guy believes one side of propaganda and the other person believes in the other side.

In fact, it is stupid to consider Afghan and Iraqi conflicts as wars. For war is between equals. These are just invasions, illegal invasions chocolate coated to suite the pallet of the public (I don't know if it really cares!!). These two nations are in no way comparable to the US in military might. These were the nations ravaged by the "international community" for a very long time. At least for me, my opposition to these invasions, for that matter any violent conflict comes from the idea that violence is a very poor way of solving any conflict. In these two particular cases, forgetting the argument that these are of the USA's making, these are inherently illegal and illogical and that's where the anti-war movements stand. The anti-war movements are to condone wars as a solution. If we consider the premise for these "wars" and the way these passed the moral standards of the public, it is mind boggling to see how easy it is to convince people, that too of highly industrialized communities, to accept absurd philosophies.

In these two "wars", the mighty righteous (somehow these two words go together always!! It seems powerful nations are always the good ones) USA delivered the weak, barbaric people suffering under the tyranny of two evil governments. The most logical and righteous way of doing this is by bombing these very victims! How bad is the public scrutiny? How enchanted is the public by the propaganda going around? It is always an evil nation being confronted by a do gooder. This sort of rhetoric is prevalent on the both sides. All the people who fight and die are lead to believe that they are doing it for a noble cause. Sometimes it is religion; sometimes it is nationalism and sometimes something else. For any war, the reasons given are always altruistic and these invasions are not any different. If the altruistic reasons of one side are credible, irrespective of the track record, I don't see why the rhetoric on the other side should not be credible. I guess this is one of the schools of thoughts opposing these illegal invasions. People after listening to this kind of argument; try to diminish the points made by branding it to be anti-Americanism. This smear is actually works very well and is being used very often. This can't be any far from the truth. People who are against war say that war is not the solution and common people never win the wars. It is the people who order common people in to the battle are always the winners. It is an enterprise where the rich and powerful always win irrespective of the side they are routing for. For example, in the present Iraq and Afghan "wars" it is very obvious that the poor people of the invaded countries paid in blood for the riches of the corporate America. There is nothing nationalistic about these wars. While the Iraqis and Afghans paid most in blood, the American military paid a part in blood and the American public picked up the tab. The Military industrial complex flourished because of this war.

While analyzing these wars, though it angers punditry, there should be a moral equivalence. Both sides should be judged based on their action as the said intentions are not credible. Be it be for the insurgents or for the American side. Believing in American claim of bringing in peace and liberty to the middle-east is as naive as believing in Santa Claus bringing in gifts for you on the Christmas night. The same goes with the other side of the fence. Believing that these Zarqawis are poised deliver the will of Allah is too naive and I hope the punditry will at least think about this possibility before they analyze the situations all round the world.

Billy Holiday - Strange fruit

2006-07-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

In my journey to New York, I met quite a few interesting people. As always, I spoke about nothing but politics all my way. One of my co-passengers was an African American Muslim. I enjoyed his company for most of the part... of course except for the religious rehtoric. He told me about a song called Strange fruit by Billy Holiday. This song had a very humble begings and a very rich history. This song was considered as the Anthem for Anti-Lynching movement. The very idea that they needed a mass movement to convince people that lynching black people was wrong is itself mind boggling. This makes this song that much more awesome... I felt that this song deserves a standing ovation!!

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

The world I see

2006-06-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

Fuck God! Just fuck Him
If anyone sinned it's Him
If he acts in mysterious way..just ignore him
Trusting him all these times we suffered for other's sins
Now its time for us to give up on Him
Let's Take things in to our hands and be humans again

I am a little shattered today. In a very short span of time, I had to endure too many pains of being human. Early today, I was reading an article on BBC about the atrocities of the US military. US military killed another 11 people in the town of Ishaki. This time, they have all the cover up setup so, they are not criminals. As Billy boy explains, the US military retaliated to the firing with gun fire and air strikes and killed 4 insurgents and 11 other people of them 5 are kids. Thanks god.. they didn't break into the houses of innocent civilians and kill them brutally in cold blood. They just retaliated. The bastards who were shooting, who were using these kids as human shields died... the US army was not fooled by these bastards. They shot through the kids... this insurgent bastards sure under estimated the will of the American army to bring democracy and peace to the middle east. They are wiling to kill anyone in their path... democracy has price tag on it... both in blood and dollars. The highest bidder gets it all.

Some how, I was not shocked by these news articles which came out. I think incidents like these are the norm for any army. The exception is the leak. Which ever army we take, it sure did commit these atrocities... Be it be Indian Army in Sri Lanka , US in Vietnam, UK in the subcontinent... everyone is guilty of it...

JAI JAWAN!!

JAI KISSAN!!... oops!! screw kissan.. no one cares about him.. he there just coz it sounds good. These are the people who are incompetent.. grossly merit-less lazy bastards who instead of working hard like you and me in the Air conditioned cubes are taking life easy under the sun.. just playing with soil and dieting to keep their figure right. These morons also gamble with their lives and just for the greed of our hard earned money, commit suicides... screw kissan...

Screw Kissan they are worth no good
Look away from them if you could.
Read the stories only if you should..
Give them pesticides it's their food.

Sorry I am wandering too much... I need keep my eye on the ball. As my professor said I am not focused. Right I should be focused. I should be focused. I should be thinking about my life, my job. I guess only great people can be so detached from the world. Normal people like me are just sentimental fools... just like my dad says.. just sentimental fools. These sentimental fools don't understand that for pragmatism, sometimes, they should just avoid looking at the bad in the world. They should think about the birds and the bees. How can we do that? How can you look away from these things? Would you look away if one of the kids died was me? Would you say that life goes on if it's me who was killed brutally? I guess you won't... sorry.... I meant I hope you won't.

Why are we so narrow?
Why does the pain of others doesn't bother us?
Why is our circle of pain so small?
Why is killing in the name of country great?
Why is a poor man is always the threat?
Why is being human is so unpractical?

I am really in search of some answers. I know these are very naive questions and I don't stand a chance in the real world. If that's your answer don't even bother to answer. I firmly believe that we can be compassionate and still survive.

We need not kill each other to stay alive,
Neither for God nor for the nation.
I don't accept that this all struggle to stay alive.
We humans are killing machines for a very long time.
We killed “others” all the time.
It was not the last resort
but the first idea we have...
that how we solve all the problems we have
It is a disease we pass on to the next generations
and that's the disease we celebrate with passion...

Memorial day!

2006-05-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

It is Memorial day last Monday and it is 7 year anniversay of the Kargil conflict. I guess this song reflect the futility of war very well!!

Jang To Chand Roz Hoti Hai
Zindagi Barsoon Talak Roti Hai

Sannatey Ki Gehri Chhaon
Khamoshi Se Jalte Gaon
Ye Nadiyoon Par Tootey Huye Pul
Dharti Ghayal Aur Vayakul
Ye Khet Bamoon Se Jhulse Huye
Ye Khali Raste Sahmey Huye
Ye Maatam Karta Saara Samaa
Ye Jalte Ghar Ye Kaala Duan

Mere Dushman, Mere Bhai, Mere Humsayee
Mujhse Tujhse Hum Dono Se
Ye Jalte Ghar Kuch Kehte Hain
Barbadi Ke Saare Manzhar Kuch Kehte Hain

Barood Se Bojhal Saari Fizaa
Hai Maut Ki Bu Phelati Hawa
Zakhmoon Pe Hai Chayee Laachari
Galiyoon Mein Hai Phirti Bimari
Ye Marte Bacche Haathon Mein
Ye Maaon Ka Rona Raaton Mein
Murda Basti Murda Hai Nagar
Chehre Patthar Hain Dil Patthar

Mujhse Tujhse Hum Dono Se
Sun Ye Patthar Kuch Kehte Hain
Barbadi Ke Saare Manzhar Kuch Kehte Hain
Mere Dushman, Mere Bhai Mere Humsayee

Chehroon Ke, Dilon Ke, Ye Patthar Ye Jalte Ghar
Barbadi Ke Saare Manzhar
Sabh Mere Nagar, Sabh Tere Nagar
Ye Kehte Hain
Is Sarhad Par Phulkaarega
Kab Tak Nafrat Ka Ye Ajgar

Hum Apne Apne Khetoon Mein
Gehun Ki Jagaa, Chawal Ki Jagaa
Ye Bandookein Kyoon Botein Hain
Jab Dono Hi Ki Galiyoon Mein
Kuch Bhookay Bachche Rootein Hain

Aa Khaye Kasam
Ab Jung Nahin Hone Paye
Aur Us Din Ka Rasta Dekhein
Jab Khil Uththey Tera Bhi Chaman
Jab Khil Uththey Mera Bhi Chaman
Tera Bhi Vatan Mera Bhi Vatan
Mera Bhi Vatan Tera Bhi Vatan

Mere Dost, Mere Bhai, Mere Humsayee
Mere Dost, Mere Bhai, Mere Humsayee

One Tin Soldier by Coven

2006-05-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Listen children to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folk below
On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore they'd
Have it for their very own

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill
Came an answer from the kingdom
With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain
All the riches buried there

Now the valley cried with anger
Mount your horses draw your sword
And they killed the mountain people
So they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
Peace on earth was all it said....

Thanks Rohe

2006-05-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks Rohe!
... thank you very much.

I had to thank her. She taught us all a lesson. This 21 year old had guts to say what she wants to. I am not going to judge if what she said was right or wrong. I felt it was right but there is a segment of population who thinks what she said was wrong. I respect their opinion. The point that made me feel very happy was that she spoke to power. She didn't think that she is just one "young woman" with an opinion. She didn't worry if what she said matters. She did what she did because she recognized that even a single voice counts. That's why I have to thank her. If we all start believing that one voice counts, one step matters.. we can certainly make the world a better place to live in.

Once again.. Thanks Rohe

Davinci Over the hedge

2006-05-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend went to Phoenix to meet Analija who might be leaving Phoenix very soon. We planned to go to Da Vinci Code at 10:00 PM which was eventually pre-phoned to 7:00 PM. But the scorching heat of Phoenix and the crappy air-conditioning at her place drove us out to the movie theaters. So, at 4:00 PM we went out to watch a movie before we get to watch Da Vinci code. We went to the movie 'Over the Hedge'. I've been waiting for this movie for a very long time. Ever since I saw the promos I wanted to go to this movie. I was not disappointed. It is one of the very funny animations. It was hilarious. It has an all-star casting with Bruce Wills as RJ... the Raccoon, Wanda Sykes as Stella the Skunk, Eugene Levy as Lou the Porcupine and last but in no way the least, Steve Carell as Hammy ....the Craaazzy Rabid Squirrel!

The next movie was the critically thrashed, Tom Hanks starer, Da Vinci code. I agree that the movie was less than indulging for a thriller. But I think knowing the plot before hand and abridging the book for the movie had the toll on the movie quality. Though it is not a very great movie, it kept people wanting a little more of it. Coming out of the movie, all my friends who haven't read the book expressed a wish to read the book. I hope they will read it.

The Iran question!

2006-05-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

"Iran headed by a nut head president is aiming to make the Bomb!! "

I don't know but I don't see anything that scares me anymore than I am now about the bomb being in hands of nut heads. It is already in their hands. It is in the hands of the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, (Israel??). All these nations have glorified their aggressions and have a history of violence against humanity in their history books. So, what's going to change if one more nut job get the bomb? I guess nothing, Infact, there is no concrete evidence which suggests that Iran is working for the bomb. Why then all this uproar? Why is everybody so upset with Iran? If it wants to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, it should be able to. For that matter why is anyone worried that Iran might get a “WMD”? Is it not it's right to protect its citizens from 'evil forces' and nut jobs of the world? How does a nuclear nations and nations have any right to say that another nation can't get a nuclear bomb. What makes it okay for the dirty 8/9 to have the bomb and not okay for any other nation to have. I'm dying to hear the reasons. Please someone enlighten me!!

Jiddu Krishna Murthy on Organized truth

2006-05-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

My buddy Sudha suggested me to read a passage from Jiddu Krishna Murthy's works. This is an excerpt from his speech addressing the 3000 odd members of the Order of the Star. On 2 August 1929, the opening day of the annual Star Camp at Ommen, Holland, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order.

"You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, What did that man pick up? He picked up a piece of Truth, said the devil. That is a very bad business for you, then, said his friend. Oh, not at all, the devil replied, I am going to let him organize it."

Reading this, I couldn't help but see a parallel between this parable and organized religions.

Hurray for firemen!

2006-05-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut keeps on impressing me day after day. Thanks to "Daily show with Jon Stewart", I came across Kurt Vonnegut. I started reading his "Breakfast of champions or Goodbye Blue Monday." Initially, I was not enthused by the book. The narration was sporadic, with phases of random mumblings and some very interesting observations and comments. But as I read the book, it slowly grew upon me. Once I'm done, I had to have more of it. I read the book again. This time, I got it. The narration was chaotic but it had to be... the chaos in the real world and the story is conveyed most effectively by Kurt Vonnegut's narrative. Now I am a big fan of Kurt and truly appreciate his works.
Now, I'm reading Vonnegut's Timequake... yet another example for great satire. This particular part resonated with my feelings about many everyday heroes...
"Hooray for firemen!
Scum of the Earth as some may be in their daily lives, they can all be saints in emergencies.
Hooray for firemen!"
This just a glimpse of Kurt Vonnegut... he gets better and better with every story he narrates!

Pirates and Emperors

2006-05-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Came accross this interesting song... the title is pirates and emperors

Well our
Story begins, you know, with old St. Augustine.
Way back in days of old he reported on this theme:
A mighty emperor had caught himself a pirate who
Was a-terrorizin' people who were sailin' on the open seas.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: What meanest thou by keeping hostile possession of the sea?

PIRATE: What meanest thou by seizing the whole earth; because I do it with a petty ship, I'm called a robber, whilst thou who dost the same with a great fleet art styled emperor.

NARRATOR: And old St. Augustine thought that was a pretty smart answer!

'Cause there are
pirates and emperors, but they're really the same thing
When they go and try to reach the same ends
By using the same means.
Well they do it big
or they do it small
From a little tiny boat,
or from hallowed halls.
Bully is as bully does, that's plain to see.

NARRATOR: Speaking of bullies, what would you say about a gang of vicious, low-down thugs who were trying to overthrow the government by attacking undefended civilian targets like schools, farms, hospitals, & outreach centers?

UNCLE SAM: Why, I'd say they were terrorists!

[BUZZER SOUND and SUPER: "Wrong!"]

NARRATOR: I'm sorry, the correct answer is "Freedom Fighters." At least that's what you called THESE thugs, a.k.a. the Contras, when you funded their campaign of terror and indiscriminate killing to overthrow the government of Nicaragua!

There was trouble in the land of Nicaragua in the '80's, it's true.
And Uncle Sam has always said this kind of thing just really won't do.
So he paid for a bag full of dirty tricks
And turned killers into heroes with a P.R. blitz
Well freedom's sure a funny word for what the Contras did do.

Y'know there are
pirates and emperors but they're really the same thing
Even the ones who say they just wanna let freedom ring.
Well they do it big
or they do it small
But only one goes down when they break the law
While the Big One claims "This really don't apply to me"

NARRATOR: The funny thing about "pirates" and "emperors" is that they often start out as pals who get into a tiff somehow and end up enemies.

KID: You mean like Lex Luthor and Superman!

NARRATOR: Yeah, except Lex Luthor was a nice guy before he lost all his hair, whereas Manuel Noriega, Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were all known thugs and mass-murderers when they were on Uncle Sam's payroll. That's why they got the job! Either that, or Uncle Sam is just a really bad judge of character.

UNCLE SAM: I don't understand why this keeps happening to me?!

Well not so long ago we thought Saddam here was a pretty swell guy
And we helped him get the goods to make the Ayatollah Khomeini cry
But Uncle Sam decided it was not Saddam's fate
To be the leader of his Middle Eastern client state
That was sitting on top of a big huge oil supply.

Big and little thugs got thuggery in common
Even if one's got stars and stripes on 'im.
Bully is as bully does, that's plain to see.

'Cause if it looks like a duck
And acts like a duck,
And quacks like a duck,
It probably is a duck.
You know a rose is a rose
no matter how much it stinks.

DUCK: I resent that comment.
I'm not a duck, I'm an anti-duck!
I'm a counter-duck!
Well I'm more of a mallard really...
Why, I'm fighting a War on Ducks!
Any ducks come around here, I'm gonna blast 'em!

THE END

Scary!!

Thanks Colbert!

2006-05-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

By now, you must've heard, what happened at White house correspondents dinner. Stephen Colbert, from the fake news clan at comedy central gave the key note speech. Initially started with the stock joke about Dick shooting his buddy. It immediately switched gears with an NSA wiretap joke. Immediately, I realized that this is going to be one hell of a performance. To quote him,

"if anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail."

"I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

"We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias."

"I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."

"He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will."

"Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side."

"Over the last five years you people [press] were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out."

"Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!"

"It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is."

"Senator McCain, it's so wonderful to see you coming back into the Republican fold."

The most interesting thing is not Colbert giving this key note speech, but media totally ignoring that this ever happened. Entire media thought this doesn't deserve the importance Anna Nicole Smith's law suite, Tom-Kat's baby deserved. There was at the most a mention of this on Monday. But thanks to blog-o-sphere, media had to finally acknowledge that this happened. And once again, the entire media shared the same opinion on this piece... they said it wasn't funny. I accept that... but the point is that it is not supposed to be funny.

The main reason I want to than Colbert is for the reason that he gave me one more data point to understand Chomskian propaganda model. As Chomsky says, if the media sources concur, there is something very fishy!!

Khoon Chala....

2006-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

khuli-si chhoT lekar, baRi-si tich lekar ahista ahista
sawaalon ki ungli, jawaabon ki mutthi
sang lekar Khoon chala
kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala

kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

Heros never quit

2006-04-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

A bit off beat but felt like I should say something about the present day sports...and fans.

Yeah..that's true. Hero never quit...that's the reason they are heroes. When the odds are not in favor, it the hero who stands up and says I can. Sometimes he is right and sometimes he is wrong. When he is right, the world praises him and if he wrong... everyone booes him... everybody thinks he stupid... everybody gives upon him. But the best part is, for a hero, what doesn't kill him...makes him strong. Well I am talking about every hero here. Not just my cricketing hero Sachin Tendulkar. heroes never quit when they still believe... they fight till they are completely done. heroes don't need us... we need them.

Movies I've watched recently

2006-04-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

Going through my blog, I saw that I haven't updated my blog with movies I've seen recently..so here is an update.

V for Vendetta

An awesome movie and from Wachowski brothers reputation, I hope that there won't be a sequel. The movie as you might have read from zillion sources is a dig at the present day branding of any kind of protest to terrorism. I loved it and if you share any of these views.... it is a must watch for you

Rest...

Freedomland ... a good movie with great performances.

And these following movies stole my money!!

Date movie

Pink Panther

When a stranger calls

Final Destination

Bob Dylan's Masters of War

2006-03-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

A great song...just came across today!

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Wealth creation...what is it?

2006-03-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Creation of wealth has been the main focus for a greater part of the human history. But this concept is surprisingly unfathomable for me. When ever I hear this, the question that pops into my head is are we really creating wealth? If we are really creating, where are we creating it from? We create gravel..for this we destroy mountains, we build houses but for that we fell trees, we create wealthy and for that we deprive poor. I don't think that there is anything called creation of wealth. In this world, we are not creating anything but we are securing our share of the bounty. The stronger we are, the more we can secure. In this process, we became so blind and so self indulged, we don't care a hoot for all the suffering around us. We try to turn a blind eye to all the trouble and enjoy the pretentious ignorance.

Distribution of Burden

2006-01-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

As a kid, whenever I come across something and stretch my imagination, understand and formulate something, every time, I used to find it a week, a month, a year later in my class books to my disappointment. This lead me to think that I am born in the wrong time. The childhood ignorance led me to believe that almost everything is already discovered/invented and I can be nothing but just be an average Joe. All this just because I don't have new things to discover. But later on my education revealed the realms of undiscovered, the new ideas the world is waiting for and well I am happy again. This is just a scientific component of the story. I used to hold a similar perspective on the social conditions of the world. As a kid and a teenager, I used to think great challenges make great men. Gandhi, Dr. King, Nelson Mandela had big issues to bring out the best in them and I don't have them. I thought that the major issues in the world are sorted out and there is no need for yet another rebellion, revolution and hence I can't do anything big. To put it simply, I was blind to suffering. Though everything around me indicated suffering, I was blind to it. May be it was too chaotic for me to understand. I knew wife beaters, I knew exploiters, I knew child laborers, I knew corrupt public servants, I knew beggars, I knew dowry demanding grooms, I knew sexual predators, I knew intolerant fanatics, I knew absolutely poor people, I knew bitching intellectuals who always fail to notice their mistakes. It's not just me who will have this kind of environment. Anyone who walks down a busy market in any town of India, anyone who lived in a village for a few days will be meeting all these people. I think some these stereotypes can even be found in our own living rooms. But somehow I failed to notice who they are and what they are . I thought that world is cured of all the ills. The only thing I might have to fight is the bunch of idiots trying to intimidate my girl, the corrupt RTO who is issuing licenses for money(...may be not, how would I get a license if he is not there?) and the corrupt cop who lets me go with/without license but only after I bribe him.

What I think I was missing in those blissful days was the big picture. I failed to realize that most of these people who are not complaining about their conditions are ignorant that things can be better, don't have proper forum to air their grievances or may be just they don't have time to stop and complain in a rush to fight for their living. But the real question is why these things go under the radar. Why don't we realize? Is it just because it is not us who are facing these issues or is it just we don't look down because we fear what we might see? When ever we are at a crossroad, we take decisions with callous disregard for the suffering of these people. In these days where being greedy is not a vice and is accommodated, we need to look back and analyze once again to understand what should we do in order to achieve basic rights like justice and fairness. We need to realize that these are basic requirements not some unachievable idealistic goals. People who talk about them are not dreamers, hippies, lefties, commies...none of these words means them. They are just humans. Simple people like anyone else. The only difference is that their families are extended beyond the immediate family, their countries extended beyond their country.

In this scenario, there are many people who vehemently disagree to the concept of wealth distribution. It is viewed as a impediment for human development. I personally think it is but a naive view. Why can't we afford to share the bounty? In fact, what the development we are talking about? Is it just the number of laptops we produce, our FDIs, our GDP or our SENSEX ? What determines development? This is the point where the capitalist and the humanists differ. These indices just point at the well being of the stakeholders. People who are left out by this don't even count for determining how a country is doing. So, I feel that these show very small piece of the picture. I don't think that it is prudent to deduce anything from the partial picture we are looking at. In recent years, whenever a third world government speaks about reforms, it is always about cutting out subsidies for farmers, making hirer friendly labor laws and every "reform" that can undermine the bargain power of the poor. Why should the cuts go there? Why is it so wrong to enforce these sort of cuts on the rich class. Why should we snatch all the power the poor and destitute classes have and develop on that? If this is not exploitation, I wonder if somebody changed the meaning of that word. In any society, when there comes a situation where someone has to sacrifice something, it's everytime the weak people's rights that are sacrificed. The intellectuals who are driving these decisions are not fools to deprive themselves first. As Jahwarlal Nehru said, "If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country." He may be right. But why should it always be the poor? They are poor, that means they don't have anything. What else can you deprive them off?

People who support this kind of deprive the poor first doctrine, People who are pro-capitalism, say that to everyone to his/her worth. This I personally feel that indicates inherent arrogance. I certainly agree that the concept of ' to everyone to his worth', but I cannot agree that capitalism as we know it today follows it. It is more about to everyone to his greed. If it is the individual worth that the most important factor that takes a person places, how come most of the successful people come from successful families? In order to say that we decide on worth, we should see if we have a level playing field. In rearview, if I look at what I would I have been, if I were born in a slum dwelling family, I am certain that I would not be the same person. I most probably, would not have been what I am now. So, there is something more than worth that determines where you go in life. If we are not able to provide people with a platform where we can bring everyone to the level playing field, we can't even dream to boast that we are what we are because of mettle. We suffer the poor, we deprive them of basic necessities like food, clothing, education, shelter and health care. We still expect them to give up the few things they have for the good of the country. Does a society that suffers them and says that they don't deserve a better chance at life, really deserve their sacrifices? Thought concepts of Communism failed very bad, it has a very noble idea of collectivism. A way to treat everyone in a country to be members of a family. It certainly puts a cap on how much one can earn but we should see that this concept also assures that no one will go to sleep on empty stomach. I think it is a great system. But it failed because of brutal homegenizatioin of individuals. That tells that we should go back to the chalk board and fix the mistakes of communism while preserving the collectivism. A system which treats everyone as an individual, a system that takes care that people and don't let them starve to death while someone dies of over eating.

Trader Joe's Habanero Lime Salsa

2006-01-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

Heaven for just $2.29. This one is arguable the best salsa I ever had. If you've tasted it, you know what I am talking about...if not, you don't know what you are missing. Last week, I went down to a Trader Joe's and started looking for a xtreme spicy salsa. Knowing the reputation of Habanero peppers, I picked this one. Well as you know, I got more than what I asked for... this one though not spicy but has a wonderful flavor.

If you have a Trader Joe's anywhere around run...run fast and get one of these bottles. Open a tortilla rounds bag... and enjoy.

Religion a facility, not a necessity

2005-12-13T01:46:00.000-07:00

Half through the documentary final Solution, I couldn't go any further. I had to take a timeout and digest everything I've seen. Even if a little part of what I've seen happened, I am ashamed. Ashamed that I am human, ashamed that I've held a view which didn't condemn this atrocity when it happened, ashamed that I didn't condemn people who thought 'miya log' deserved it. It struck me hard, real hard, when a brave lady started describing an incident where she lost her sons and her other family members. The second blow came when a kid told how she is dealing with loosing her mom, when asked if reporters asking about her mom brings back the painful memories, she told that it's okay as they need not ask her for the painful memories to come back. The final blow came when a lady described a pregnant woman stripped and the baby gutted out. All this in retaliation to the Godhra train coach burning. In no way, the killing of 2500 (a conservative estimate) and displacement of 75000, fits the crime of killing 59 people even if everyone held the sword. But I am certain that the unborn baby and the mom carrying her, weren't the ones who killed the people in Sabarmati express.

The ugly part is the way the right-wing parties, BJP, VHP, RSS and Bhajrang dal used these events. I almost puked when some politician (May be Togadia..I am not sure) compared Sabarmati express S-6 compartment to Hanuman's tail which was lit by the Ravan...Muslins for their own peril. The effort to legitamize the knee jerk reactionary, politically motivated killings of 2500+ people tells us that there are deep flaws in the system and our understanding the system. As said by one of the survivors of the atrocity,the rioters were not only alcohol but also by religion. What is a religion for which we need to kill innocent people. If any one is trying to justify this I think they are not human or deeply ignorant.

Ownership of public schools

2005-12-07T22:55:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of some sort of solution for many problems plaguing India. I certainly feel that most of the problems in India are solvable with generating public awareness. But in order to succeed, we need perseverance and belief in the common man's innate morality. I think that the present day problems in the society are not due to malice but due to indifference/ ignorance. Once people are educated that there is an alternative to just taking the abuse and suffering in silence, many wonderful things can be achieved. The reason for the of lack of active public response to the problems, which are also self-inflicted, is due to the lack of hope that the problems can be solved and lack of sense of public responsibility. It is our responsibility, responsibility of the citizens of the country, to discipline the government. Our responsibility doesn't end at the ballot box once every five year. It is out full time job. We fought countless years to achieve democratic governance and it is too irresponsible on our part to stop participating in it. There are many problems plaguing India and I feel that most of them can be more or less be associated with lack of accountability in the present day system. Of most of the problems India is facing, I feel that lack of proper public education system is a very basic problem and this might just be the magic pill India needs to solve most of the other problems. Moreover, it might be one of the easiest ones to solve.

So, in order to revamp the public education system, we need to realize that we own it and we have a right to have a good education system. We should not be waiting for someone to come along and revamp. Once we realize that we deserve a good educations system, we can have a good education system despite of the unaccountable bureaucracy. I am not saying that it is our fault that we don't have good education system but we are part of the problem for doing nothing to make it better.

In this model, we start with bringing in parents of the students in public school into the picture forming Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs). But there are some problems in bringing in parents to the table. But we need to find out some way to bring them as they are the only ones whose participation would make a difference. In order to start this, we can try with parents who are most probable to get involved. From what I've seen, parents of kids doing good at school are very proud of their achievements. If we can make them realize what is at stake if they don't get involved and make them realize what all can be achieved if they participate we can certainly get some attention from the parents. By these PTAs, we can bring in a force that would check the functioning governing body. People who are effected by the school get to ask questions and demand answers. Initially, we might not have results. But if we persevere and ask questions and demand answers we can see some positive changes in the functioning of the schools. As these schools are under either a district/town/city,we can easily bring pressure over the elected representatives of the area and may be even on the bureaucracy.

If we succeed in doing this, this can be easily duplicated to other regions. The beauty of this system is its sustainability. We are not depending on charity for solving our problems, we are not creating anything new. We are just using the presently available model and just trying to make it perform in the way it is supposed to perform. I need all the suggestions I can get from everyone of you. This way we can make it a multi-dimensional solution. I think this would at least provide a probable solution which can be tweaked a little in order to incorporate the complexities of the real life.

Price gouging, what is it?

2005-11-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

Gas price gouging seems to be one of the biggest problem in the US, not Scooter, not Iraq, it is just the pain the hard working class American has to endure at the pump. For me, it sounds plain bull shit. It is just a distraction to divert Americans from the real problems, i.e. Iraq, Libby and the list goes on. I feel that's the reason why religion is being stressed so much into politics. Now that I made it clear that I don't consider the present day oil price 'gouging' to be the biggest problem the Americans are facing, I want to bring your focus to the problems with capitalism perpetrating into all the Fields.

As the Exxonmobile CEO & Chairman Lee Raymond said, the oil price is decided by the free market and nothing can be done about its price. Asking for a excess profit tax is nothing but anti-thesis of capitalism. Capitalism is all about free business enterprise where the profits, investment, jobs, loyalty everything is just controlled by free market. So, bitching about loosing jobs (exporting America as per CNN), oil price gouging(O'reilly) are all part and parcel of the package of capitalism. People don't want to speak about relaxing patent laws so that cheaper drugs can be produce in Africa battling with various disease but it will be done if US faces a Anthrax scare. Capitalism doesn't work with heart, it is simple math. So, it doesn't care if someone is dying or being tortured to death( IBM sold machines to Nazi Germany for data management in the concentration camps), they don't care and that's the reason, I feel and wish that will be defeated pretty soon.

GDP, Per Capita and the real story

2005-11-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

Am I dumb?

Am I ignorant?
Am I indoctrinated to be delusional?

These questions always pop into my head when ever I try to understand the pro-capitalist successful people I meet all the time( after all I am in the US). Everyone thinks that present day India is shining and this growth is some how going to translate to prosperity for all. Is it true? How is this going to impact the masses who are left out? My guess, in a very bad way. This brings me to my questions, does the present day parameters like GDP, Per capita can be considered to be the real parameter to measure development? I don't think so. I feel that the GDP and Per capita tell you just a very small part of the story and sometimes, a very wrong story. If we consider India and Switzerland for comparison, first if we check the GDPs of the two countries, India has a GDP of US $665.071 billion and Switzerland US $357,969 billion. If we use just these figure, India is certainly shining. It has a GDP twice that of the Swiss. India has 12th largest GDP and Swiss is 17th on this list. But if go one step ahead and try to check the per capita, we will find out that Swiss have a per capita of US $50,000(3rd place) while India has a per capita of US $620( 133rd place). This shows the grim picture in India. The per capita being low, is an indicator that we are not doing very good. But if we further look at the per capita of the world, it is about US $6000, but is the world doing that good? Africa is starving, Asia is starving, central America is starving (WFP/FAO 2003). So, this per capita doesn't tell the story either. We need to have something better, something which even tells the distribution. Something like the standard deviation in the incomes. This might reveal some of the dark stories these GDP and per capita are hiding.

Anukokunda Oka Roju

2005-10-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

Anukokunda Oka Roju we wandered into the theater. At last a sensible movie in Telugu, a movie where the heroine is not just for singing and dancing. The movie starts with a brief drug bust and a cop letting them go for a 'fee'. This scene leads in to titles of the movie with a beautiful hum. The leading lady Sahasra is a chorus singer aspiring to make it big, living with her timid father and inconsiderate stepmom who were to leave to Tirupati for 3 days . To make most of the few days of freedom, on her friend Shweta's persuading, she goes to a Birthday party and ends up unknowingly drugged. She wakes up only to know that she missed one day.

This follows with a chain of unexplained murder attempts on Sahasra, a cab driver keeps asking her for money for a trip she doesn't even remember. What happened that day? To know this, I think you need to go the theater. It is a well made small movie punctuated with beautiful music. The camera, makeup and direction make the movie a treat. Charmy is wonderful as Sahasra. She acted well and look absolutely beautiful. The comedy track, which not a separate track, is wonderful with Harsha Vardhan, Jagapati Babu( a pleasant surprise, a cop with good sense of humor). Shashank did a very good job as the student cab driver who falls in love with Charmy. It's hat-trick for just yellow. I am waiting for their next venture with a lot of expectations...

It's not crime, it's the cover-up

2005-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's the hot one nowadays. It's not crime, it's the cover-up. I think I can never understand, at least in the case of indictment of Mr. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The charges against him are 2 counts of perjury, 2 counts of false statements and most importantly, the charge of obstruction of justice. So, actually, he is charged that he lied to the grand jury and obstructed them from doing their job, hence they were unable to decide if the real crime is committed. So, I think that the indictment neither convicts or acquits Mr. Libby from the crime of CIA leak, but just tells that the jury is not sure enough to charge as he obstructed and lied to them. Just as CIA leak ended in some different charge, the jury trail mightas well end up in much different charges and sentence.

This was what I wrote as I was listening to Patrick Fitzgerald in the public conference. I reacted to the previous days and weeks analysis how this can be made a jury trap and how it is not a crime to lie about a crime that never happened. But after watching Fox news for their analysis of this issue, I felt somehow I need to write a little more and hope someone who doesn't think that Libby's indictment is fair reads this. Someone like Sean Hannity, O'Reilly and the list goes on. Mr. Libby is neither guilty nor acquitted, he is charged with a crime and the justice system will take its course and his guilt/innocence will be proved. After listening to all these so called pundits, I feel I can easily be the best pundit. Either they don't get it -which I don't think is true- or they don't want to get it. You need to be really dumb not to understand the case even after Patrick Fitzgerald clearly explained the case with a beautiful baseball anology about a beamer. In the process of explanation, Mr. Fitzgerald said that there are many reasons that the pitcher threw a beamer, it might even have slipped unintentionally. There is a presumed innocence, but there is a chance of guilt. That's what an indictment is.

When he explains about kicking sand in the eyes of the umpire, that's the part about obstruction of justice. Everybody knew that the cover of a CIA covert operative is blown. People who don't have a clearence got the information. Somewhere in this process, a cleared guy transfered the information to a guy who doesn't have any clearence. So, there was a crime. In the hunt for the culprit, Mr. Libby allegedly lied and hence created a doubt. Hence the indictment for obstruction of justice in itself encompasses the issues of espionage acts( all three of them). Not charging him for these doesn't mean that he is acquitted. It means that there is no substantial proof (these are very tough to apply) to charge at themoment, but a there is a doubt because of the smoke screens. As per my understanding, an indictment means that there is a doubt of guilt and a conviction means that the guilt is proven beyon a reasonable doubt.

Am I happy with these developements? Certainly very happy. Because it feels good to know that even the presidential aides can be indicted and convicted if guilty. If Mr. Libby is guilty, I hope he is put in jail and if he is not, his honor be restored. I am rather surprised to see Mr. O'Reilly's compassion for the man. I don't think that's bad. Everyone is presumed innocent. But the bothering factor is that the right is dismissing the chance of Mr. Libby being guilty of the real crime of outing the CIA operative. If Mr. Libby's guilt is proved, the reprecussion can go to much higher ups. This might even bring some very much needed accountability to Washington.

Ban on Cow slaughter

2005-10-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

SC upholds ban on cow slaughter

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the 1994 Gujarat government order banning slaughter of bulls and bullock over the age of 16 years.A seven-judge constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti set aside the judgment of the 1998 Gujarat High Court which termed it as unconstitutional. The High Court had held that the government order imposed unreasonable restrictions on the Fundamental Rights of some petitioner who were involved in the trade.The apex court upheld the constitutional validity of the Gujarat government order in a six to one verdict. The matter, which was heard by a five-judge bench earlier, had been referred to a seven-judge bench for the interpretation of provisions of the constitution, specially with regard to status of directive principles viz a viz Fundamental Rights as well as the effect of introduction of article 31(C) and 51(A).

Meanwhile Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi termed the SC verdict as significant and said it would have an "impact on national life". "Our Constitution provides for cow protection. Mahatma Gandhi also used to advocate it. But unfortunately it (ban on cow slaughter) was not done due to vote bank politics. The Gujarat government had banned it and we are victorious today," Modi said. He said the verdict was very significant for those who love the cow and believe in non-violence and it would have a major impact on our national life. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad also termed the apex court verdict as heartening for Hindus throughout the world. "Cow and its progeny are the backbone of our economic, social and religious development," Parishad senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore said. He demanded that the centre and state governments immediately ban cow slaughter "as provided in the Constitution and as desired by the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi."

This is a article on Rediff.com. Before saying anything, I don't think slaughter of a cow is right. But if we consider this judgment, it excuses just cows while hundred other species of animals are marched to the slaughter house. Is this not violence? Is this judgment non-secular so to speak? Having to killing some animal for food is bad. In the best case scenario, I don't want any animal to be killed. Be it be a chicken, goat, lamb, fish whatever. But this discrimination really bothers me. Is it some legislation from the bench or our constitution really has these kind of provision..? It really bugs me.

The red pill works

2005-10-25T01:03:00.000-07:00

In the recent times, while watching the American news shows (Bill o'reilly et al) and reading rulings of Supreme court of India, I start thinking if I am the unreasonable one. I find it very difficult to understand the present day conservativeism, at least the one that is being perpetrated, not just in the US where I live but also in India, where I am born and belong. I find holes in most of the theories put forward by the conservative commentators. This phenomena of constant disagreement with the conservative commentators, yet times makes me think if I have a skewed vision of the world. I wonder if the it a world nowadays is just as it is being reported, with a clearly marked rich, honest, god fearing, freedom loving good guys and religious fanatic, oil owning, anti-developmental, anti-capitalistic, poor, immoral and brutal bad guys (assorted bad guys with variety of combinations of the above qualities) . The good guys are trying hard to forward all the good causes like spreading freedom abroad, universal suffrage and doing all the good things. But unfortunately, are being plagued by obstacles. There are some minor glitches like $600 million contract frauds by a company once headed by the second in command, no bid contracts to same company, Enrons and some other corporations are just some bad apples and not worth mentioning because they are some discrepancies. This makes me think, may be matrix is the real one and the Zion is the virtual reality. May be the world is a little scary place and the good guys( mentioned above) are trying real hard to making it a better place. May be we should all trust the good guys. May be we should all drop all our arms and concentrate on the things that take the world further because the good guys have all the weapons and can protect us from may be an alien attack, meteor attack or most importantly may be from ourselves.

But this, scenario has a small bug. Many pointers say that this is far from reality according to my perception. Therefore, I have two options, first one is to think that the reality I see now is not real. Think that it's alright and go about my life as I would if everything were alright. Secondly to trust what I see now and do something about it. It basically boils down to what I want to believe to be true. If I am wrong, which I hope, I will be a very happy person. The only loss would be to me and may be my family. But what if I am right and am able to bring in a fundamental change in the dynamics of the world and make it a better place. What if , if what I fear is happening is really happening and I just chose to turn away from these issues. These are the what ifs that make me wish for a rewind button in my life. I know that I can't answer all these what ifs off the bat, but hope to answer all these pretty soon.

Good night, good luck

2005-10-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

Three words, impressive, interesting and scary define the movie. It is an impressively made movie. David Strathairn did an impressive job potraying Ed Murrow. It is very interesting to see the corporate pressures on Ed Murrow. But what scared me is that we are living the worst case scenario where the media is completely overtaken by the corporate sponsors and became a corporation. Its relevance to present day scenarios dealing with ' the fair and balanced' news on many channels is a wakeup call to everyone.

Terrorism can't be justified...?

2005-10-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

You can deal with the cause, you can deal with the grievance, but you can't justify terrorism
-India's National Security Adviser M K Narayanan

Quite catchy, considered true. But what about war? For case study, let's consider a the characteristics of war and terrorism. Both of these are rather inexact operations. In process of achieving their respective destination, both tend to create destruction. These not being exact operations, many innocent lives are lost. Till this point, both of these look very similar. Enormous bloodshed and suffering of innocent civilians. But the striking difference is that one is always justified and the other can/shall never be justified. May be it's just me, but this sounds absolutely hypocritical to me.

As a famous Telugu poet Sri Sri says 'Ye desa charitra choosina emunnasdi garva kaaranam, tara tarala manava charitam, para peedana parayanatvam' ( Which ever country's history you look at there is nothing to be proud of, our age old history is nothing but violence against others), but the real question is why? If we check the history, we find that no country ever fought a wrong war. Every country has just reasons and every country is great. India-Pakistan, Gulf war, Vietnam war, Indo-China, World wars all these are very just wars not just in one country, but in all the countries which took part. But how can two people/ states/countries right and still have a fight. This tells us that the perceptions of right and wrong are some what flawed in the present day society. If it is okay for one group to do anything for their perceived good , then everything can be justified and that's what a war is. Then how come it is different from terrorism. How come supporting it makes you morally right( patriotism is considered a great moral virtue). How can it be justified.

In an age where attacks of 9-11, Afghan invasion, Iraq invasion, attacks on Indian Parliment, Gujarat massacre, Sikh massacre of '84, Rwanda genocide of '94, East-Timor genocide of '75, Cambodia genocide in '75-78 and numerous events are justified by a big number of people and countries, we need to stop and have a hard look at ourself. Each and every act above stated is a crime. Some of them are called crimes and other glorified as battles. But the loosing team is always the same, the poor people who have to take the brunt of these acts.

My take on Patriotism

2005-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, I decided to move back to India and appear for civils. Yes, you are right I want to hold a post of authority. This way, I can do things I feel are right. Though my decision to get back to India was received with mixed reactions, hearing some supporting voices made it worth the fight. Most of the reactions are fervent skepticisms about the motivations I had. The perceptions range form being emotional, fickle and so on. A few people who supported me where happy to see me patriotic. I feel that I owe these people a much deeper explanation as they extended their support to my decision.

In deciding about my future, I have considered many parameters and sadly, patriotism was not one. I don't see why patriotism is such a glorious virtue. I am not an Indian first and then everything. I think that it is similar to saying Hindu first and then everything. I feel that patriotism too is a narrow mindset. But it is just glorified. Thinking this way, we may never be able to approach any feasible limit to broad-mindedness. So, I fixed my consideration limit to ethical treatment of all the people. If at all we can learn something from human history, it is that nationalism and religion were reasons for most of the conflicts in the world till date. Most of the huge conflicts can be tracked to one or another or both. Because of this reason, I really want to give up both these affiliations. For me, being a human being is first and foremost.

In school, I studied about words loosing their meaning. In the same way, I think the word humanity lost its meaning. As my dad says, human is the most inhuman word. In the present day world, most of the inhuman things are done in the name humanity. So, I really need a substitute word for that. But till I find it, I will stick to the word humanity in the real sense. I feel that humanity is the ability to see beyond 'I'. Ability to know right from wrong. Ability to help without expecting something in return. Ability to stand up for the what is right( what is right is yet another entirely different question). I feel that this humanity, has the ability to patch up the deeply fractured world. With this hope, I am packing my bags. I chose India after a lot of consideration as it is where I have some credibility. I know about the problems there. I know the intricacies of the problems. Hence, I have a very good chance of being helpful in India. I think it is where I can be helpful the most. Above all, India certainly can use some help.

Earthquake in Pakistan: Time to forget petty differences

2005-10-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Nature proved how small we all are. Now is time to show how big we are. I hope that the entire world reacts to the natures fury on Pakistan and India with a humanity. These are the moments when we need to put all our petty differences and start helping each other.

Operation Iraqi pullout

2005-10-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

The US has two options in Iraq, cut and run now or a little later. I think we need to consider that these two are equally immoral to consider. Under the present circumstances, if Iraq is left alone to defend itself, it is going to crumble under civil unrest. In order to arrive to a solution in Iraq, we need to understand what happened in Iraq in last few years. We really need to dig into the past and see what happened to the country. We should not confuse Iraq with Saddam. In order to understand the problem, we need to establish something. Saddam was a bad dictator and US helped him when he was good for their business.

Iraq, though not a democracy, was not a crumbling state, certainly better than what it is today. It was not a terrorist hub. In 2003, in the dubious search for WMDs, US invaded and destroyed the a functioning government and in this process killed thousands of Iraqis and lost couple thousand of US soldiers in process. All this happened against the will of ever incompetent UN and the rest of the world. We all saw how UN is nothing but a dummy in hands of the rich west just to rob/coerce the weaker nation and subdue them. During the war itself, people were fighting about who all can be part in the rebuilding and US was indifferent to the idea of sharing the pie with any one else except UK, Australia and POLAND. Somewhere down the track, the story changed form WMDs to liberation from the cruel dictator Saddam and US suddenly became the altruistic nation which liberates other countries. The image change was rather hypocritical, sudden and surprisingly unquestioned.

All said and done, we have a country that was destroyed by US and the incompetence of the UN. So, I think the entire world should share the responsibility to rebuild Iraq. But this is going to be a very tough road and with many a sacrifice. The world has to bear the yoke as they failed the Iraqis (we need to be sure that the aggressors pay for this). But this is not the entire solution for the problem, we just addressed the reconstruction. We have to punish the perpetrator. In this case, US, UK, Australia and Poland. We need to punish the people who deliberately planned this war with callous disregard to the human suffering. They should be tried for their crimes against humanity. In this war, there are no winners but the people who are in business of war/ reconstruction and OIL. People in both US and Iraq were wronged and died in an immoral war which they had nothing to do with.

The Constant Gardener

2005-09-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Just came back form the movie. It is a great movie with great performances and a great plot. Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes delivered powerful performances. The movie is about the scandalous pharmaceutical companies using people in Africa as guinea pigs. Coming out of the theater with a knot in the throat, I said to my buddy Sudha, " even if 1% of this movie is true, these people are unforgivable." It's a movie that makes people really think.

Iran, too dangerous to have a nuke...?

2005-09-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

In the recent turn of events, a majority of the powerful nations thought that Iran is too immature/ unstable to have nuclear weapons. The Indian vote in support of resolution to report Iran to UNSC came as a huge surprise. Though the reasons are obvious, India is trying to search for reasons to support its new stand on the nuclear proliferation.

The world has a justified fear that these nuclear weapons might get into the hands of some crazy leader who would annihilate the world for his own selfish gains. This is a very justified fear. But before we consider Iran a possible candidate for doing this, we need to see if the present day scenario is any different. Can India, USA, China, Pakistan, France, Israel, UK, N.Korea, Russia trigger a nuclear holocaust. A basic fact that needs to be understood is that all these nuclear systems are armed and ready to be launched in a matter of minutes. So, if one nuclear power starts, it is going to be a chain reaction. So, we need to understand if any of these present nuclear power can be the first to start.

India, is a country very well know for its political crooks. When we have criminals at the top of our political system, it's very hard to give moral bindings to be the controlling factors. People supporting Indian position point out towards the no first strike policy and India abiding it all the times. This can be changed at anytime with a majority vote by the administration. In Indian political system, the Prime Minister is at the top of the political ladder and the president is just a nominal head of the state. These decision can very well be in hands of one such political crooks.

Founding father of US divided the power between three branch governance. President, Senate and judicial system. The only possibility of hegemony would be if all these three branches are controlled by same sect of individuals. Now, in the US, the republican party has control over the Presidency and Senate. In the recent turn of events, this president would get a chance to nominate one or more judges to the supreme court. Hence bringing all the three branches of power under same group. Hence, it is not a very tough for president to use nukes if he wishes so. Which is very possible and recent suggestions about mini-nuke warheads and first strike policy changes suggest that this scenario is a possible one.

Indian justification for its acquiring nuclear weapons is that they not for offense but only to be used to protect its sovereignty. US wants the world to think that it is special and would never let anyone in the world to suffer. It won't attack any nation for unjust reasons. How can someone believe this looking at the track record of US? When people starts placing sovereignty of one country above other, it is just a sign of hypocrisy, double standard and self-righteous behavior. If these are not the reasons for the Indian vote against Iran, then it is definitely US coercion. People around the world should understand that every country has its people just like themselves. They are not just a statistic. They are just you in a different situation. They desire and deserve everything you do.

India ditches Iran

2005-09-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

In the recent turn of events, India voted against Iran. India voted for reporting Iran to the UN security council. Firstly, UN should think about its relevance. In the post Iraqi invasion world, how relevant is UN. I think UN is just there to protect the West. I am not interested in what UN tried to do against the crimes of the 'Veto' five nations. What concerns me is what it did. I think the answer is 0. Somehow, India learned the lesson that being principled is not good for its survival. Non-aligned and supporting the under-dog, is not economically or strategically good for itself and joined the bandwagon of the hypocritical west( nuclear nations). What is the grave necessity that Iran doesn't have that gives India a right to have nuclear arsenal? I don't see anything. But Iran does have some reasonable justifications. They have to deter US and its allies form attacking them in the present day corporate wars. Recently, the world saw the how these bullies deal with a non-nuclear nations ( Iraq) and nuclear nations(N. Korea). I feel that this nuclear technology can't be contained. It should be eradicated or else, every nation would be force to develop its own nuclear arsenal.

The only thing that I can confer from these recent events is that we are slowly loosing our character, dignity and self-esteem and being reduced to yet another hypocritical, sidekick nation to the west and this is not going to be good for us in the long run. I really want to be a proud Indian.. India please help me...

India and freedom

2005-09-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Yet times, I wonder if Indian constitution is built to handle any dissent. May it be religious, political or social. In recent years, starting off with Fire, Water, Jo Bole..., Black Friday... the list goes on, are banned for one reason or another. Mostly in fear of hurting sentiments of one group or another. These incidents make me wonder if Indian constitution has a clause providing freedom of expression. Movies and press are the reflections of the society ( atleast are supposed to be). One being the artistic and the other realistic, we can't suppress them. It is like turning a blind eye to a problem to solve the problem. We need to allow dissent, free expression is the only way to debug a society. I don't understand what are we afraid of? Why are we turning away from our problems instead of confronting them? We need to confront or we will have bigger problems in future.

We are the society which survived by free thinking. We questioning everything around us. We have radically changed our perceptions of the world with the changing world in the past. I think this was the reason why we were such a flourishing culture in those days. I don't mean aping west is a sign of open mind but we should try to question everything happening around us. That's the only we can progress.

Google Bombing

2005-09-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

I came across the this rather "interesting" piece of news on foxnews. This is a segment called My word by John Gibson. In this segment, Mr. Gibson tells the world about google bombing for the word FAILURE. It is quite hilarious how these so called reporters with no knowledge what so ever on most of the issues are so opinionated about every issue. I think this is the major problem with the news nowadays. There is no more reporting nowadays. Every channel is just airing their take on the issues.

Lord of war

2005-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've seen this movie last weekend. Went into the theater with no expectations but only hope that Nicolas Cage won't disappoint. But the movie turned out to be a wonderful satire. In this movie, there are some tough questions put forward to the audience to rethink their positions on many issues. If you are a blind patriot, you won't like the movie ( irrespective of the nation). If you watch this movie, watch it as a citizen of the world. Not just one country.

Double standards : Iran Nuclear program

2005-09-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

I think 'double standards' is the perfect phrase that defines the reaction of the west to the Persian nuclear aspirations. I don't understand why Iran, a nation of 70 million people, can't have nuclear weapons. Iran needs nuclear weapons just for the same reasons USA, UK, France, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan need the nuclear weapons. With the recent developments in USA - thinking about preemptive nuclear strikes to protect it's interests- adds another dimension of justification for any nation to have nuclear arsenal to deter hostile nations from attacking them.

I think only chance of non-nuclear world is if the guys who have weapons get rid of them and stop working on the technology before asking rest of the world not to try them. It is meaning less to expect nations with no nuclear weapons not to work on them when big guys don't let go of what they have.

Ipod Nano

2005-09-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday went to bestbuy to check the latest Apple sensation Ipod Nano. It's just great. Mp3 player..which is never a trouble to carry around. In an Ipod nano, everything is similar to the older Ipod but just smaller. With a price tag of $200 for 2 gig nano and $250 for a 4 gig nano, certainly the 4 gig nano is a better buy. We just need to wait and see how this nano evolves with the recent realese of Samsung's 16 gig compact flash drives..

India.. What happened to you?

2005-09-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

When I read that India is donating 5 million dollars to US for the recovery effort in New Orleans I was shocked. I do feel that people in New Orleans are wronged just because they are black and poor. But still don't understand why India is doing donating $5 million . Is New Delhi trying desperately trying to impress US? The 'aid' India provided to US would not even count as pocket change for the US( in turn might hurt right wing sensibilities) but the same would have been a boon for Darfur, Sudan. I don't understand why we are not caring for what's happening in Sudan when are so caring about everything? India needs to be the super power that cares, that's compassionate. We can be that. Once we start behaving that way, we need not shout at the top of our voices that we are super power. People will crown us as super power. I think it is a much better way to be a super power than anything else and that's what the world needs right now.

In defense of Iran, N. Korea and other countries with nuclear ambitions

2005-08-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

I wonder what the solution is to end nuclear proliferation. I am not 100% sure but I feel that only logical solution is total disarmament of nuclear arsenal by the nuclear countries is the only feasible solution. I don't think any nation has a moral standing/ right to ask any country to stop working on nuclear technology. The present day drama going on in the world about Iranian and N. Korean nuclear program is just a clear example of hypocrisy we have. When countries like USA, Russia, Britain, France and China can have legally have nuclear weapons, and can further their work on perfecting them, why not the rest of the nations.

With the recent pentagon paper approving use of nuclear weapons for preemptive strike is a major push towards intensification of nuclear tensions. With the present day 'accuracies', is there any assurance that the next preemptive strike won't be another Iraq? Even the suggestion of using small nuclear weapons for busting bunkers is also another example of the callous disregard for human life shown by US administration. I wish the world responds courageously to the big bullies.

Blogging

2005-08-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks Satish.. you've given me a jump start to blog. I've started blogging too. Now guys, you have a chance to have a look into the senseless meandering of my thoughts. I take this chance to write about a variety of topics like politics( my fav.), sports, movies and may be some other stuff. I am really sorry that you have to go throught this.. but u've made ur choice to enter here..

Have fun..