Inching to number one in various area, in population growth, in software production, in tea exports..would like to be first in so many other areas, but 118th position in accepting change. I read in a daily that 117 countries had legalised and acknowledged the freedom of a homosexual individual's sexual preference as a natural right before an Indian high court could take a change of stand about it, 2 days ago.
Still not without opposition, religious 'leaders', self proclaimed moral polices and all and sundry rising the cry of violating the order of nature, India finally, but not totally willingly opens an eye to what its majority considers a stigma. On a landmark day, a landmark judgement was made and now love is legal for a special minority. Indian judiciary does not consider homosexuality a criminal offense anymore. The judgement was passed in the high court, yes, media people are debating the fact that there still could be cranky straight people who cannot accept this judgement and might appeal in the supreme court. That possibility is not entirely closed.
Though things look nice and pink on paper, few more decades may have to pass before Indians stop looking at homosexuality as a stigma. What is very worrying is the level of ignorance among people about this. Many still think that homosexuality is a choice of the individual. We have spent so much of time designing and refining our 'orders of nature' that it is not going to be easy for us to realise that our design is not actually perfect.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A sunset a day
Yes! I was there! on the cleanest beach that i had ever seen. Now you would say 'thats not saying much!'. Thats precisely why I uploaded the photo. check out the different shades of blue on the waters. While some blues are caused by cloud shadows, most shades are caused due to difference in the depth.
And well, i have photos of almost every sunset of the 2 weeks that I had (!) to be there. But then you see, it will use up my blog space. So I am gonna spare you for now. Bay of Nacala in Mozambique, south east coast of Africa. Jokes apart.. the place is really beautiful.
The purpose of boasting about the crystal clear waters, the pristine beach and the sunset is not just to get you jealous. Its to get you jealous over the fact that I was there, not on vacation, but on work!! Yes, I am evil again >:D
And well, i have photos of almost every sunset of the 2 weeks that I had (!) to be there. But then you see, it will use up my blog space. So I am gonna spare you for now. Bay of Nacala in Mozambique, south east coast of Africa. Jokes apart.. the place is really beautiful.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The voting face
An image by Times of India, no mention of the photographer. The photo is reported to be taken in a village near Hyderabad called Pargi.
This is a photograph that shows the faces of the majority of the voting population of the nation. The 'aam' aadhmi.
Though educated, though drilled down with all the civics that the education system could afford to provide, its people like me who dont go to their home towns, leaving the jobs/family/etc., to cast their vote. I am not proud of not doing it..
Anyway..with TATA tea doing the public service advertisements and the movie stars endorsing and recommending voting to all the citizens, if the netizens do decide to take some pain and vote, I think the BJP will almost win these elections - considering just the fact that the prime ministerial candidate has been spending money like water on internet advertisements. People spending time on websites are sure to start thinking that L K Advani is 'a leader with a difference'. Thats not to say I like the party coming to power, thats like one of the country's nightmare coming true. Was just wondering how the BJP/Mr.Advani have so much of funds for spending for all this net presence..
Besides those ads are great stress busters. gives me a good laugh.
This is a photograph that shows the faces of the majority of the voting population of the nation. The 'aam' aadhmi.
Though educated, though drilled down with all the civics that the education system could afford to provide, its people like me who dont go to their home towns, leaving the jobs/family/etc., to cast their vote. I am not proud of not doing it..
Anyway..with TATA tea doing the public service advertisements and the movie stars endorsing and recommending voting to all the citizens, if the netizens do decide to take some pain and vote, I think the BJP will almost win these elections - considering just the fact that the prime ministerial candidate has been spending money like water on internet advertisements. People spending time on websites are sure to start thinking that L K Advani is 'a leader with a difference'. Thats not to say I like the party coming to power, thats like one of the country's nightmare coming true. Was just wondering how the BJP/Mr.Advani have so much of funds for spending for all this net presence..
Besides those ads are great stress busters. gives me a good laugh.
Well, my point is..that was some great photography.
Not so great scanning though..sorry folks
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Move over pink chaddi, its Shoe time!
The new icon of human emotions, the one piece of human belonging that effectively exhibits human wrath - shoes. The pink chaddi's days of glory are over, shoes are now enjoying the mantel of the ultimate insult. Starting with George Bush Junior, world over, politicians are getting the brunt in the form of the new ambassador for brunts, the shoe.
The home minister Mr.P Chidambaram looked more amused than shocked when an emotionally challanged journalist hurled (but missed) a shoe at him during a press conference. this sikh aint great at aiming i understand. The minister had refused to argue with the journalist on whether the CBI is right about the 1984 anti-sikh riot report submitted to the court, this caused the journalist to 'protest' and hence the hurling.
and since the journalist was let off without any charge, I have been thinking.. We all must probably visit the shoe stores around the time of discount sales. What with the elections round the corner, you never know when you run into politicians. Well, for that matter, why stop with politicians? Anger is anger, where is that stupid neighbour of mine who parked his bike in my parking slot? and that friend of mine who...well actually i forgot what he did, but he is also getting a shoe for sure!
You see, this is meant to happen. We are a civilization, we need to progress, and where is the use if the progress is only in the area of technology? There should be emotional progress, bring on the shoes!
Jokes apart, the truth of the matter is that, some people just dont take their feet seriously, how will they walk after flinging one of their shoes at someone? I am quite positive that the home minister did not return the journalist's shoe. Thats quite rude of him actually.
By the way, if you are planning a shoe attack, carry an extra pair. For better emotional satisfaction, plan a twin shoe attack, why throw just one shoe and be left with its pair? Actually, if you have enough attacks planned, you can get a good quote from a shoe seller, maybe you can think of buying them wholesale. Cutting costs will help, now being recession time and all..So, as I said, we can think of more options, we are a thinking lot, arent we? civilised lot to be more precise.
The home minister Mr.P Chidambaram looked more amused than shocked when an emotionally challanged journalist hurled (but missed) a shoe at him during a press conference. this sikh aint great at aiming i understand. The minister had refused to argue with the journalist on whether the CBI is right about the 1984 anti-sikh riot report submitted to the court, this caused the journalist to 'protest' and hence the hurling.
and since the journalist was let off without any charge, I have been thinking.. We all must probably visit the shoe stores around the time of discount sales. What with the elections round the corner, you never know when you run into politicians. Well, for that matter, why stop with politicians? Anger is anger, where is that stupid neighbour of mine who parked his bike in my parking slot? and that friend of mine who...well actually i forgot what he did, but he is also getting a shoe for sure!
You see, this is meant to happen. We are a civilization, we need to progress, and where is the use if the progress is only in the area of technology? There should be emotional progress, bring on the shoes!
Jokes apart, the truth of the matter is that, some people just dont take their feet seriously, how will they walk after flinging one of their shoes at someone? I am quite positive that the home minister did not return the journalist's shoe. Thats quite rude of him actually.
By the way, if you are planning a shoe attack, carry an extra pair. For better emotional satisfaction, plan a twin shoe attack, why throw just one shoe and be left with its pair? Actually, if you have enough attacks planned, you can get a good quote from a shoe seller, maybe you can think of buying them wholesale. Cutting costs will help, now being recession time and all..So, as I said, we can think of more options, we are a thinking lot, arent we? civilised lot to be more precise.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
FUD!
You might already know, FUD is not a relative of a colourful member of our vocabulory. Its something I have, its something all of us have. Its one thing that I am just not able to get rid of totally. But then, if I did get rid of it, I would become the head of the ISRO. well, that would complicate things a lot. A lot.
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. In short, FUD. A tactic used widely in sales by sales people of well established companies, to sell their products. When a customer has some doubt about a competitor product, sales people of the better known company capitalise on this uncertainty to sell more of their products.
FUD - also a reason why I am not a rocket scientist. There is always a silver lining you see. That lining is for you people (if you didnt grasp what is intended here). If i were a rocket scientist, then God sure will have to come down to save the universe.
Unknown territory offers all of us loads of FUD. The bolder brethren, better known as 'the successful people' are the ones who are ready to face the fear, uncertainty and doubt of things that they do not know clearly, but yet overcome the FUD factors. Mostly they are rewarded with success, sometimes they do not get immediate success, but it sure adds to their experience and perhaps makes them wiser; Conditions apply.
This happens everyday to us, perhaps every hour, with every action that we do that is not included in our routine. When we do not know the exact outcome or the possible outcome of some action, we hesitate. Ranging from taking an alternate road route instead of sticking to the regular route to trying out a new job instead of sticking to the same profile that you have handled in the past years, FUD rules and rocks! While we hesitate and choose not to take risks, one of two things have happened - we missed out on a good opportunity or we missed getting hurt.
The objective of this post is not to create a manual on breaking your FUD, if you are interested in it, theres google - for providing inputs for the manual. Here, I am just acknowledging this entity, identifying it as a threat but also as a sort of a balancing agent that keeps us from becoming over confident. Where there is uncertainty and doubt, there is also a lot of preparation, that is good, but where there is fear, we fail to take up the opportunities that come by our way. Try to get a hang on this. I sure am trying.
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. In short, FUD. A tactic used widely in sales by sales people of well established companies, to sell their products. When a customer has some doubt about a competitor product, sales people of the better known company capitalise on this uncertainty to sell more of their products.
FUD - also a reason why I am not a rocket scientist. There is always a silver lining you see. That lining is for you people (if you didnt grasp what is intended here). If i were a rocket scientist, then God sure will have to come down to save the universe.
Unknown territory offers all of us loads of FUD. The bolder brethren, better known as 'the successful people' are the ones who are ready to face the fear, uncertainty and doubt of things that they do not know clearly, but yet overcome the FUD factors. Mostly they are rewarded with success, sometimes they do not get immediate success, but it sure adds to their experience and perhaps makes them wiser; Conditions apply.
This happens everyday to us, perhaps every hour, with every action that we do that is not included in our routine. When we do not know the exact outcome or the possible outcome of some action, we hesitate. Ranging from taking an alternate road route instead of sticking to the regular route to trying out a new job instead of sticking to the same profile that you have handled in the past years, FUD rules and rocks! While we hesitate and choose not to take risks, one of two things have happened - we missed out on a good opportunity or we missed getting hurt.
The objective of this post is not to create a manual on breaking your FUD, if you are interested in it, theres google - for providing inputs for the manual. Here, I am just acknowledging this entity, identifying it as a threat but also as a sort of a balancing agent that keeps us from becoming over confident. Where there is uncertainty and doubt, there is also a lot of preparation, that is good, but where there is fear, we fail to take up the opportunities that come by our way. Try to get a hang on this. I sure am trying.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The White Tiger
Courtesy to a kind friend, I got to read the book The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. This book has won the Man Booker prize for the year 2008. So I had absolutely no doubts about the literary quality of Adiga’s writing. After all, how many books have been so honoured? Another thing I knew without any doubt even before reading the reviews and comments was the fact that the book was strong on a social cause. For obvious reasons, you cannot blame me if I thought the social cause was wild life conservation. It does voice about life conservation. Conservation of millions of lives that are treated less amiably than wild animals – the poor, people whose lives are lived by the rich because of the fact that they do not have the money and power to live their own lives. The white tiger is all about the ocean wide divide of the rich and the poor in the biggest democratic nation in the world.
Balram Halwai, the protagonist of the novel is born into a financially deprived household in a village on the banks of the river Ganga. How his life progresses from innocence to psychopathic to prosperity in alterations of darkness and light is narrated by Balram himself. The book is an extensive letter to the Chinese emissary, Mr. Wen Jiabao. Jiabao comes visiting India and his agenda includes meeting the highly successful entrepreneurs of India, to learn the nuances of entrepreneurship. The emissary will also be enlightened on the ‘success’ story of the way of India's governance, that is the democracy in the nation. Owing to the irony here, I am forced to quote Balram’s ex employer - ‘What a fucking joke!’ indeed.
Dark, ironic, sarcastic, sad, wicked, humourous in parts, innocent in parts: these are the words and phrases that could possibly describe Aravind Adiga’s debut novel. One word that I have left out so that I can singly highlight it is ‘Angry’. It is an angry book, that anger will reflect even from you when you read it. When you see the author’s face that is printed on the back cover, you will surely find it difficult to believe that this work of calculated anger is a product of that smiling person’s brain.
The language used is very fundamental, only rarely does few big words creep into the work. The very first few pages set the mood of the narration. From there on the book oozes with ridicule for the whole governance system and its leaders. Adiga has brought so many topics to the surface, not really examining them, but thrusting them on the face of the readers. Some of them are topics which nobody dares to probe and question fearing the uproar of communities, majority and otherwise. Exploitation of the poor, child labour, the practise of dowry, half-baked politicians as leaders of the country, overrating of the polluted river Ganga, religious divisions, people worshipping multiple gods with no sense of spirituality whatsoever, employers framing servants for crimes, the corrupted-to-root police force - For all these and more, the author uses the mouth piece of the illiterate, oppressed and psychically challenged Balram to sound off his concerns about the ‘free’ India. Though subtly, he has also questioned extremely delicate topics like the supposed effectiveness of Gandhian principles.
The book essays how the ignorant Balram’s mind gets twisted due to oppression and how it leads him to being irrational and radically evil. Reading through the book, you will tend to stop and think that though shameful, what has been narrated could well be the true story of a good percentage of people living in the Independent India. The writer points out that India has always been two different countries, he describes them as the light and the darkness.
In one of the reviews on the internet, a book seller admits that the sales of this book has risen since the honorary recognition given to it, but he personally does not like selling the book since he thinks that the author has insulted our country. This has been the case for the three most recent Indian books that won the Man Booker prize. Arundhati Roy's "god of small things' and Kiran Desai's "Inheritance of Loss' suffered the same fate in the hands of the angry Indian reader/reviewer. In another review a popular daily has rightly noted that the Indian tourism board will not like Aravind Adiga for what he has written in his book. It is sure to raise eyebrows across borders too, though what I hope Adiga wanted was to raise some Indian eyebrows, forcing people to think, follow the thoughts by action.
Balram Halwai, the protagonist of the novel is born into a financially deprived household in a village on the banks of the river Ganga. How his life progresses from innocence to psychopathic to prosperity in alterations of darkness and light is narrated by Balram himself. The book is an extensive letter to the Chinese emissary, Mr. Wen Jiabao. Jiabao comes visiting India and his agenda includes meeting the highly successful entrepreneurs of India, to learn the nuances of entrepreneurship. The emissary will also be enlightened on the ‘success’ story of the way of India's governance, that is the democracy in the nation. Owing to the irony here, I am forced to quote Balram’s ex employer - ‘What a fucking joke!’ indeed.
Dark, ironic, sarcastic, sad, wicked, humourous in parts, innocent in parts: these are the words and phrases that could possibly describe Aravind Adiga’s debut novel. One word that I have left out so that I can singly highlight it is ‘Angry’. It is an angry book, that anger will reflect even from you when you read it. When you see the author’s face that is printed on the back cover, you will surely find it difficult to believe that this work of calculated anger is a product of that smiling person’s brain.
The language used is very fundamental, only rarely does few big words creep into the work. The very first few pages set the mood of the narration. From there on the book oozes with ridicule for the whole governance system and its leaders. Adiga has brought so many topics to the surface, not really examining them, but thrusting them on the face of the readers. Some of them are topics which nobody dares to probe and question fearing the uproar of communities, majority and otherwise. Exploitation of the poor, child labour, the practise of dowry, half-baked politicians as leaders of the country, overrating of the polluted river Ganga, religious divisions, people worshipping multiple gods with no sense of spirituality whatsoever, employers framing servants for crimes, the corrupted-to-root police force - For all these and more, the author uses the mouth piece of the illiterate, oppressed and psychically challenged Balram to sound off his concerns about the ‘free’ India. Though subtly, he has also questioned extremely delicate topics like the supposed effectiveness of Gandhian principles.
The book essays how the ignorant Balram’s mind gets twisted due to oppression and how it leads him to being irrational and radically evil. Reading through the book, you will tend to stop and think that though shameful, what has been narrated could well be the true story of a good percentage of people living in the Independent India. The writer points out that India has always been two different countries, he describes them as the light and the darkness.
In one of the reviews on the internet, a book seller admits that the sales of this book has risen since the honorary recognition given to it, but he personally does not like selling the book since he thinks that the author has insulted our country. This has been the case for the three most recent Indian books that won the Man Booker prize. Arundhati Roy's "god of small things' and Kiran Desai's "Inheritance of Loss' suffered the same fate in the hands of the angry Indian reader/reviewer. In another review a popular daily has rightly noted that the Indian tourism board will not like Aravind Adiga for what he has written in his book. It is sure to raise eyebrows across borders too, though what I hope Adiga wanted was to raise some Indian eyebrows, forcing people to think, follow the thoughts by action.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Ente Keralam
A place that never ceases to amaze visitors. Right from the unbelievable greenery to the extremist population, each and every aspect of every day life in Kerala is a novelty to the unaccustomed eye.
In most towns, the roads are so curvy and slopes are so steep that they have more blind curves than an average hill station! Besides, the average speed of vehicles on road, especially cars is 80 kmph. In the plains, the roads seem to be precariously placed on the water irrigated fields like floating threads and in the hilly area, there are houses on top of hillocks that have hand made roads that put the best of brakes are gears to test. Well, it takes some skill to drive here, hats off to those who possess these skills. I know quite a few who do- a good number of my cousins.
While driving on the roads of places like Kottayam, you see sign boards on the roads indicating curves ahead as 'Z' in various angles.
You would think thats an exaggeration. Although, after you go through the curves, you wonder if the 'Z' has done justice to the curves, because by the time you finish one, your body would have swung towards atleast four different directions.
One other thing that is simply amazing about this state is the food. God's own indeed. Its a foodie's paradise. Few dishes that I consider truly out of the world - tapioca and fish curry (kappa meen curry), paalappam and stew, buttermilk curry with cucumber/white pumpkin, duck curry with parota/chapathi. Actually, the best of kappa meen is available in the notorious toddy(alcohol) shops, the second best is home made. and dont even get me started on their home made wines!
It is with much self control and that I am wrapping up this topic. this list and detailed description can go on for miles.
Politics. Every single individual is a strong supporter of one or the other party. They have sharp views on leaders and policies and they consider politics very much a part of daily life, unlikeTamilnadu where politics of the state figures nowhere in day to day conversations.
In most towns, the roads are so curvy and slopes are so steep that they have more blind curves than an average hill station! Besides, the average speed of vehicles on road, especially cars is 80 kmph. In the plains, the roads seem to be precariously placed on the water irrigated fields like floating threads and in the hilly area, there are houses on top of hillocks that have hand made roads that put the best of brakes are gears to test. Well, it takes some skill to drive here, hats off to those who possess these skills. I know quite a few who do- a good number of my cousins.
While driving on the roads of places like Kottayam, you see sign boards on the roads indicating curves ahead as 'Z' in various angles.
You would think thats an exaggeration. Although, after you go through the curves, you wonder if the 'Z' has done justice to the curves, because by the time you finish one, your body would have swung towards atleast four different directions.
One other thing that is simply amazing about this state is the food. God's own indeed. Its a foodie's paradise. Few dishes that I consider truly out of the world - tapioca and fish curry (kappa meen curry), paalappam and stew, buttermilk curry with cucumber/white pumpkin, duck curry with parota/chapathi. Actually, the best of kappa meen is available in the notorious toddy(alcohol) shops, the second best is home made. and dont even get me started on their home made wines!
It is with much self control and that I am wrapping up this topic. this list and detailed description can go on for miles.
Politics. Every single individual is a strong supporter of one or the other party. They have sharp views on leaders and policies and they consider politics very much a part of daily life, unlikeTamilnadu where politics of the state figures nowhere in day to day conversations.
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