Every time some "controversy" comes to light I wonder:

What is wrong with us?!

At one point it was the Indian Nuns protesting against the screening of Da Vinci Code, which I found absolutely maddening cause although I did not get to see the movie I read the book and I just could not understand as women how could they have a problem with a theory trying to look at religion from an alleged "feminist perspective"... If nothing else at least the content tries to break some stereo types of Christianity, which really cant be that bad.

Any way the orange brigade in our country I think has now under taken the sole right to 'protest' and demonstrate at the drop of a very frivolous hat, if its not movies then it is comments made by celebrities or politicians and parties and then there is always the "western culture" in the form of valentine's day, Kentucky Fried chicken and Archie’s that they can get all uptty about!

My conclusion... people are too small-minded and really need help.

The latest one is really annoying me as it is a recurring theme of the orange brigade protests, where any and every thing is an attack on our 5000 year old culture and tradition etc etc etc.

Well so Gere kissed Shilpa, we happily forgot what for and only remember, "HE KISSED HER, my god that is blasphemous and he must apologise." They make it sound almost as if he had raped her.

And Shiv Sena even released a press note:

Mumbai April 16
Nothing wrong in protesting over Shilpa-Gere kiss: Shiv Sena Without admitting that its activists were involved in the protest against actress Shilpa Shetty's kiss with Hollywood star Richard Gere, the Shiv Sena today said there was nothing wrong with expressing contempt at such an act. "Even if the protest (in Navi Mumbai) has been staged by the Shiv Sainiks I would not blame them as the way Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere indulged in a shameless public display, it was not at all in keeping with our culture and tradition," Sena MP Sanjay Raut told PTI. "Moreover, the visual media kept relaying the same clip again and again which was also not in good taste," he said. Observing that protests are just a manifestation of the anger of the general public, Raut said, "This may be Hollywood culture but a majority of people in India will not like to see such public display of affection." Over 50 alleged Shiv Sainiks stormed the Vashi railway station where Shilpa was shooting for her film `Metro' and protested by burning effigies of the actors and shouting slogans.

Therefore as a *reminder to our self proclaimed protectors of our 5000 year old 'sabhayata' I have put two pictures of out culture and tradition that celebrates sexuality, fertility and to an extent eroticism...

*This is just a reminder not a comparison or justification for the Gere-Shetty activities... It was blown out of proportion by the media if they had chosen to write about why he Kissed her rather than just that he kissed her and how he kissed her maybe we wouldn't have had to go through this long song and dance at all... But then one can only hope :)

The EQUAL law

The law is equal for all so we like to believe, but it is quite interesting to see the startling difference between the Canadian man accused in 45 cases of assault or the UP Politician’s son convicted in one murder case while undergoing another trial for another murder brought to court and the other inmates who may or may not be involved in serious crimes.
Ernest Fenwick Macintosh, 63 year old Canadian citizen living in India since 1994, was arrested in Delhi last week has been produced in court twice since his arrest and is invariable bathed a Calvin Kline cologne, allowed to sit while the constable on duty next to him stands and given mineral water brought by his defense lawyers in court during the court is hearing his case.
Vikas Yadav convicted in the Jessica Lal murder case and the main accused in the Nitish katara murder case, is brought in with less pomp and show but invariably looks like he just walked out of a beauty parlour after attending a very long facial session. His hair that almost outshines his skin is well conditioned with material rarely available inside the prison.
On record no one is willing to comment but off the record it is a well-known fact, "That if you got the money you got everything, even forbidden things inside the jail."
Other accused when brought to court are usually pushed around and bullied by the constables and never offered a seat or sip of water. They are hardly ever shaved or in clean clothes and it is not about the social backgrounds they come from as they hardly look different from the richer accused before their arrest.
It bothers but continues to exist... one of those things we all just put aside as... "Life!"

Found somewhere... Thought makes sense to publish it in public interest especially in light of the world temperament:

GREATER GOD by Ava Rai

What is my religion?

Am I a Hindu?

Am I Christian, a Buddhist or a Muslim?

What difference does it make to the man who is standing next to me in a queue for a bank deposit?

Why?

Will I be served extra whipped cream in my cappuccino if I follow a certain faith!

Or will I have a halo, wings or perhaps a special mark that will distinguish me to be of a certain religion?

Why should trivial issues matter such as my color, race or religion come in between us!

How does my faith get in the way I govern my country and my people!

Just because a man is “black” why should he be condemned, why can he not function as well as any other man?

Or will being “white” immune you form all worldly troubles, will it guarantee you immunity?

It is funny how easily we forget the past!

A past filled with horror, have you forgotten it is taking us years to fight the war against Apartheid.

And this war is still not over, so why do you take on a new one!

Besides why should your religion be better over mine?

Why don’t all religion show us the guidelines to life.

Why can’t Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha and Ram be equals?

You have to admit it is not an impossible dream it’s just a forgotten reality.

And they killed him...!

I don't know what else to say, it is beyond my comprehension and understanding... And this is all I have been able to think about since the moment I got to know.
My mother told me I must talk to people... but then I just don't know what to say other than "They killed him, how could they? Who gave them the right to? How can they sit on judgment on some other country’s actions and then execute that judgment?!!
According to me it over rides all parameters of common sense; one gave up on equality, logic, fair judgment, human rights etc etc etc long back… This is just perverse and beyond comprehension!!!

Friends say, “Lets execute the monkey man,” … but how is that going to solve anything?! It is not one man alone anymore; it is the way the world is thinking, i.e. a school of thought… Or so I believe. It is a way of thinking that is detrimental to al and not just one person.
Some also say, “it was bound to happen, was inevitable,” like that makes it any less horrifying… if that word is suitable and the fact so few people seem to be moved by it.

Some possibilities and random thoughts:

We are headed for another world war and the ‘second holocaust’… after we isolate and execute thousands of Muslims and then like the Jews give them someone else’s land and provide them with enough money to shoot and torture those who tortured their ancestors… And we keep the economy of arms booming! If by chance those being tortured for sins committed by their ancestors we remind them that they were party to the second holocaust and thus have to give up their land to do justice to history!

Who NEXT???

Civil war in Iraq, because no WMDs or Osama were found… Withdraw US forces because of the pressure etc but ensure the country can never rebuild itself.

How could *WE ever let this happen… Is opposing the Salvajudams (peace camps opened by the Police in the ‘naxal infected’ areas) have to be equal to supporting the naxals?! Opposing the sham/farce (these words seem so insipid when one considers what the monkey man has manage to achieve) of a trial is equated to supporting Saddam’s dictatorship… WHY?
Isn’t one always suppose to try and find a middle path as extremes are harmful and wrong…
*This reminds me of a documentary film on facism in through communalism. It emphasizes the fact that if one remains quite waiting for the right moment to react etc one is as part y to the crime as those who actually commit the crime.

He was hanged for “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND FOR KILLING 148 Shias in 1982”
How does anyone from the monkey man to the executioners, judges, army men, Iraqies and the world, justify this… Especially keeping taking into account the US records themselves that show at least 3,000 US marines have been killed since the occupation and no accounting for the 30 to 50 civilians who die every day since the occupation.

The only explanation I can come up with:

EVE OF DESTRUCTION by Barry McGuire

The eastern world, it is exploding

Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’

You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’

And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

But you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe

We’re on the eve of destruction.

Don’t you understand what I’m tryin’ to say

Can’t you feel the fears I’m feelin’ today?

If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away

There’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave

Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy

And you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe We’re on the eve of destruction.

Yeah, my blood’s so mad feels like coagulatin’

I’m sitting here just contemplatin’

I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation.

Handful of senators don’t pass legislation

And marches alone can’t bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin’

#This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe We’re on the eve of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama

You may leave here for 4 days in space

But when you return, it’s the same old place

The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace

You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace

Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace

And… tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend

You don’t believe We’re on the eve Of destruction

Mm, no no, you don’t believe

We’re on the eve of destruction.
……………………………

#And that is why I have to find a mountain to marry or live in solitude renouncing the crazy world that is just too frustrating

One must read the following link, though there are biases etc, it is an important perspective of an Iraqi living through the American created nightmare:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

And now I feel like an Aunt of mine who got ulcers when Princess Diana died… :)

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at a secure facility in northern Baghdad for crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a year-long trial over the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail.

!!!

How could they?!

How dare they?!

And that is all I can articulate at this moment, even though every one knew this was going to happen, the reality is so disturbingly hard digest...
Now I am going to go find my mountain soon.

Found somewhere on the web and it has been posted here in Public Interest.

Also since we seem to be headed the same way and the disease has spread far and wide, following the description of the disease are some examples of the symptoms showing up in our country.

New STD: Gonorrhea Lectim
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease.
The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior.
The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him."
Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior.
Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.


This was a story that caught me a little unaware cause although "have been there and done that"- seen the exploitation of resources by NGOs etc funding used for personal gain did not imagine our paranoia would lead us to believe the parts shown here in bold:

Saturday, November 11, 2006 (New Delhi):
NGOs usually get away with a lot because of the status they enjoy but the government is increasingly coming down on them.So, much of money comes to them but where do NGO's spend all this. In an effort to curb corruption in this sector, the government now plans to keep tab on the money coming in from foreign contributors.Increasingly a question is being asked by the government that where is the money eventually spent.Even as the number of participants at India Social Forum and such platform to show their work goes up, so does the number of those being blacklisted by the government.
The government suspects that a large share of the Rs 6000 crore that comes in as aid every year is either being diverted for personal use or to fund terror groups.

So the story goes on to describe the governments plan and the NGO stand about Government officials being part of this... But really funding of terror groups is something that never came into my head even when I have abused and criticised the whole NGO culture... and maybe that's cause I still haven't caught the STD!!! :)
(The money should be regulated, and kept tabs on etc cause a lot of it is misused but to bring in the whole terror angle even the minuscule amount of work some of these organisations are able to do will become impossible)

Just as thoughts are random my posts seem to be becoming more and more random... I can never complete what I start and branch off into so many things at the same time... some of the charm lies in that I suppose, considering it is called articulating confusion...

But getting back to things around me, one of the biggest things in the city has been Municipal Corporation' sealing drive...
I haven't been able to figure it all out but some stuff, since i was covering it i wrote an impulsive mail to my dad about the strangeness of the whole thing; it follows:

It is really disillusioning considering that it is so politically motivated and so strange- the protests I mean... I was talking to ******** yesterday and something he said made some sense and articulated my discomfort with what is happening- HE said it is Mandal all over again and that's really true considering the designer wear aunties and the blond streaked hair uncles screaming and shouting how all this is so unfair....
There are all kinds of problems with it, one of them being wherever there are the Black protests flags of the traders accompanying them are the BJP flags
the people on the streets are not the people who'll suffer the most cause they have just given up and so much noise is being made cause the people being affected are the ones who can afford to make all that noise...And the ones who are throwing stones etc are mostly hired goons or passers by who like the excitement of being on air
God it is embarrassing to see what people can do for a TV camera!!! The camera goes left the protesters go left, it goes right they go right, it goes back they come forward... and all the screaming and shouting is reserved for the camera... I have been to more than one protest of the kind.
Also the whole scene reminds me of the "sting operation" that Tehlka did with the defence deals, and weren't they able to do it cause someone for the congress was supporting them...?
well if that is the way things are it is a bit disheartening

I can't make up my mind if i am on any one's side at the moment... much more to say, but later have to rush now.
:)

OK, now that I’ve already made some noise about the ludicrous trial of Saddam, I have been flooded with stuff written about it, but I haven't had the time to go through all of it, and I don't want this to become a post mortem, so am writing my immediate reaction to the verdict:

Well, first of all I found it very strange that so little noise was made about it, and now if they do hang him, it is a complete and absolute ridicule of any concept of justice and the legal system in the 'civilized world' that we claim to be liberating saving and democratizing, according to me.

What right does the American government have to try any other country's leader, whether he was a dictator or not, they did support him and even if they didn't they are self proclaimed upholders of democracy who are causing more violence, chaos and unrest in the nations they are liberating than existed before they arrived.

And if they were going in for the "democratic proceedings," why did they change the judges, continue the trial without his lawyers, never let the media hear what Saddam had to say... No body is saying he was great and he should not be tried; but the trial and the verdict were worse than a farce... they were pathetic in terms of "fair democratic judicial ruling"

One of the main issues I came across was that people ( who have been talking about the Iraqi invasion and violence and American brutality etc) seemed a little reluctant to make a lot of noise about is because being against the trail would hint at being pro Saddam....?

But for god's sake nothing is as simple and plain as that and the trial and the verdict needed to be challenged on their own terms... Or so I feel , and also felt that it became about everything except the bizarre proceedings of the whole trial.

I have also been wondering are we sometime soon going to get the opportunity to go through this farce again with the monkey man and his supports considering:

Saddam Hussein former Iraqi president. Charged with crimes against humanity for involvement in the killing of 148 Shia Muslims in the town of Dujail in 1982. Charges included the murder of a total of 157 people, the illegal arrest of 399 people, torturing women and children and the destruction of farmland. Saddam Hussein was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.

AND now-

An estimate by US scientists in October 2006 suggested that about 655,000 civilians had been killed since the 2003 US-led invasion. Western human rights campaigners give much lower figures - between 42,000 and 47,000 civilians - but point out many deaths probably go unreported. About 3,000 coalition troops - more than 2,800 of them Americans - have died in Iraq in the same period.

DESPITE- The issue of counting the number of Iraqis killed since the US-led invasion is highly controversial and the figure is disputed. The US and UK military authorities do not record the number of civilians killed by their forces. The security situation and administrative chaos also make counting extremely difficult. It is hard to calculate reliable figures for the dead and wounded because of the chaotic state of Iraq's institutions.

AND SO I HOPE WE WILL VERY SOON IN THE FUTURE, GET THE CHANCE TO DO THIS IF NOT SOMETHING EQUALLY ABSURD TO THE MONKEY MAN.

This is my investigative project (IP)... I will be publishing each story in detail but had to put this unreadable version up cause I really like "the look"... :)
During college we were suppose to do an IP and I decided to do it on the Polavaram dam being built on the Godavari, in Andhra Pradesh. It is a huge multi purpose dam and is located in the Tribal areas of the Eastern Ghats and is going to effect 3 states once it is built.
Godavari is known for its Flash floods and many claim, is only second to the Brahmaputra River in the intensity and frequency of the floods.
And most villages are already facing the brunt of what is to come once the construction is complete... as the construction of the spill-ways was started earlier this year and of course without the required sanctions from the various ministry including the Forest ministry, because the dam is going to submerge a large part of the reserved forest cover in the area...
A story was published on the plight people living in the area, in the frontline recently.
Me because of my bias and snobbery of having researched and worked on the issue before the reporter did not appreciate it too much...
But then at least someone tried to get this into the public discourse.
But not to worry we are progressing and developing, the SEZs to be established along the coast of AP especially Vishakapatnam etc are to gain the most out of the Dam... :)