Taboo.

Let me confess. I have always been fascinated by by topic of Taboo. Now hang me. I wanted to know about cannibalism, Incest, rituals,.......Ok, never wanted to be involved with any of that stuff.
I have bought National Geographic DVDs titled "Taboo". The contents are death, sexuality, ritesof passage, tattoo, tests of faith,........
I watched a couple of topics. And I am so very disappointed. The treatment and content was so ordinary, mild or should I say outright boring.
I guess, I need to explore more.

Vote againest Iran.

So we finally did that. In IAEA meeting. Was that a good decision? Few points for consideration.

1)We may not get cheap gas, oil from IRAN. That is, if the present rulers continue for sometime to come.

2)America finally starts believing India. We will be in heir good books, till next incompetent leader does something to antagonise them.

3)Pakistan is in a tricky situation.

4)Shias in India will start hating the state. A remote possibility.

5)We have aligned ourselves with western camp. Russia and China will never trust India in near future.

There is no clear cut answer about consequences of this vote.

I am happy, atleast we didn't abstain. An escapist decision we are so very much capable of.

Anon

We teach each other life
it's just that we are not capable of execution.

-----------------------------------------------

I bow before you,
you stole my smile.

-----------------------------------------------

don't cry
and hence never be exceedingly happy.

-----------------------------------------------

Somebody teach me, how to lead a happy life
without hurting others.

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Failed States Index.

This is one fascinating subject for me.I mean Failed States. I suspect India also to be one in some respects. I fear that India is a fragile state in more was than one.So when there was this list of 60 countries on Failed States Index, I was afraid India will be somewhere in the list. Surprise, it isn't there.
Before you people get confused, am referring to the article at

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3098

Should we feel happy that we don't figure in the list? Or feel bad that there are worse countries.
To add to our woes, we have 4 neighbours who are in that list. We all know, this kind of sickness is contagious.
Do we have a plan to meet challenges imposed by failed/ failing states apart from mandatory war againest terror/ debt relief schemes?
Wish we had one.

FTV

Satellite Channels revolution happened somewhere around late 80s and early 90s in India. We used to recieve 10 or so channels to start with. Star Plus, CNN,..I guess there was Baywatch, even then. Internet wasn't still a big thing in early 90s. Atleast not available everywhere.
So young people had first oppurtunity to view french kiss and some erotic stuff from comfort of their homes. Eventually the number of channels grew. Internet came along substituting TV as source of erotic stuff.
Why all this now? The other day, while I was doing my normal channel surfing, I was surprised, if not shocked, to see some semi nude stuff on FTV during normal hrs. I am no prude.
But Question is what is appropriate? Say teenaged kids are at home. What should be our attitude towards their viewing habits on content on tv?When is the right time to start educating them? I hope we had simple answers about impact of porn on children. More questions may lead to more discussions which may hopefully lead to better answers.

Anon

I listen to you.
I never oppose you.
You can be stupid attimes.
I will never say that.
You can return favour a few times atleast.

Iran

It is widely assumed that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. America & few other western nations have objections to that. Obviously this is an unequal world. Russia can have 14000 nuclear war heads. America 7000, france few hundred, Israel 100,...
India and Pakistan are defacto nuclear weapon states. Who has right to define the requirements. When Iran says it's pursuing peacuful nuclear program for it's energy needs, hypocrisy needs no better example. With it's vast oil & natural gas reserves why does it need nuclear energy?
Israel probably has a reason to feel threatened and hence act to defend itself. What should be Pakistan's reaction? Should it say "no weapons" or "to each it's own"?
What should be reaction of India? India recently inked a deal with US for cooperation in civilian nuclear energy sector.India has agreed to separate it's civilian and military nuclear installations. ofcourse a lot of hurdles remain before the deal could be termed a success.
And we have this issue now. Iran traditionally had been India's friend. Atleast for the past so many yrs, due to afghan issue. Will we be ditching Iran in favour US?
Or shall we stick to Iran and few morals?
The decision like any major decision in India will finally be made by individuals swayed by their opinions, emotions and prejudcies instead of cold logic.
If I were prime minister what will I do? I will stick to Iran. Yea, Us will call the deal off. Bu I will extract my price from Iran. Evn if Ira is attacked by US, I will have some stake in Iran.
If I ditch Iran, what will I get? Except few words of praise from US state secretary. US has a track record of rewarding rogues. If you are being nice, you will always be ignored.
So instead of trying to be friends with both parties, let us make a decision and take a stand.

Male Female Ratio.

Don't you people think India and china are heading towards a disaster on account of sex ratio. I always thought highly imabalanced sex ratio is going to lead to complications about which we are probably not thinking enough.
Anyway following is a pointer which gives you a bit more detail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3933485.stm?headline=Asia's~'surplus~men'

Innocent people.

I am talking about Indian public in context of elections. Politicians exploit people in such a simple manner. Wave hands at them. Enquire about their well being. Listen to their problems for a while. Crack a joke. Act sincere. If the other guy is doing the same, there is always money & muscle power on the eve of election day.
If your party is already in power , police and authorities are ready to help you in your efforts. If you are on the opposite side of fence, you can always use money to compensate for lack of power.
Money in India is concentrated in the hands of trading and feudal castes. In the name of democracy , they do everthing to gain and hold on to power. Except for stupid communists , every part is corrupt to the core. And communists are thematically corrupt. :(
People living in squalid conditions. Liquor being cornerstone to politics. Violence as a strategic weapon in so called democracy. I hate the whole sham. I wish I could revolt.

Long time, no see.

Ok, no comments about title.:)
I had finished reading "Who killed Daniel Pearl?" by Bernard Henri Levi. The author is a french philosopher. (so am I told) The book is obviously about Daniel pearl's murder in the hands of one Omar Sheik and gang in Karachi.
Do we emerge wiser after reading the book? More knowledgeable, yes. More wise, no. Author after his many trips to karachi and his commendable detective work concludes that ISI , Military and mullahs combine to form a deadly alliance that endangers the whole world.
He believes Daniel Pearl stumbled across some dangerous secrets and hence was eliminated. Author investigates about Omar Sheik (Or is it Sheik Omar) who is a british citizen of pakistani origin. Omar Sheik brilliant in mind and body (was admitted into London School of Economics) somehow strays into terrorism.
He has an indian connection too. He kidnaps few foreigners and gets arrested. He is lodged in Tihar Jail. Remember Kandahar Hijack episode. He was one of 4 guys who were released in exchange of passengers. He proceeds to live, marry and flourish in Pakistan.
Author surmises that Omar becomes an important figure in both ISI and Bin Laden's organisation. Daniel Pearl , a reporter with WSJ based in India goes to Pakistan on a short visit for few stories. He wants to interview a mysterious religious figure. He is trapped, kidnapped and remains a hostae for few days before being beheaded. There is no clarity on the issue, if he was meant to be killed.
The investiagtion by author reveals solid links metween secret services, militants, religious leaders and politicians.
I could appreciate all his mapping work. But not convinced about his assumptions about reasons behind Daniel Pearl's death.
Was it a satisfying read? I must admit, yes. Except on occasions when author relies too much on his imagination.
I was always interested in terrorism stuff. I am puzzled about reasons that drive people to plant bombs, kill themselves, destroy public infrastructure, spread hate,..
Anyway, that's about the book.

What's happening?

Being dragged into local elections. (In a very small way, ofcourse)
Under pressure at work. (Though at a decreasing rate)
Failing to complete "to-do" tasks at a decent rate.
Not being a good enough parent.
Time running out.
:(:)

Nintendo Revolution.

I never bought any Nintendo gaming stuff. Always wanted to buy Gamecube. But was apprehensive about availability of titles and adding to mess that's my room.
I will be buying the next one without doubt. For controller , if not for any other reason.
One microsoft employee & blogger (Majornelson.com) has apprehensions about the controller. Yeah, right. If it's not invented here, it's probably not good.
When you guys invest millions in marketing, why don't you do a bit to innovate. Microsoft harps on "platform". So called platform is not a substitute for innovation.
Though I don't like to join Microsoft bashing geeks, I find very few reasons to genuinely like Microsoft. IMHO, Microsoft is about making money before anything else.
It's fine as long as you don't pretend to be something else.
And Steve Balmer, what's the about throwing chairs and vowing to kill Google. Most probably you can, but not with that attitude. You guys find it difficult to find fault with IE, just because it's your product. Why did it take Firefox to wake you up? Everyone knows how painful IE can be. But then, since nobody pays you for that product and there was no real competition, you slept on that for few yrs.
The list is big.
You can behave better and still make money, Bill & Steve.
Now let me focus on Sony. Walkman is end of world. How could you be so blind? How could you allow a new comer to effectivly crush you. And I hate your console/memory card/ useless network adapter/ more useless optional hard disk,... stuff.
I hope your arrogance doesn't lead to under realisation of PS3 potential.
Samsung, LG are competing and winning in various markets. And you people depend on Spiderman 2,3,4... to make your balance sheet appear better. Get back to roots.
ok, this is getting boring, later.

Who killed Daniel Pearl?

I started reading that book by one Bernard Henri Levy, a french philosopher. I completed first 50 pages. And experience has been good till now. Hopefully I will complete the book in next 2 or 3 days. Till then everything else takes a back seat. :)
:(

Blogging Spam.

These days comments on my blog are spam. At times I remove them.At times, I don't. Spam is sick. Enlarging sexual organs, debt consolidation, pirated software, nigerian diamonds, .........
World being as stupid as it is, we can easily infer that, there are enough fools who believe this sick stuff.
Webmail being free in nature, I guess nobody has strong incentive to prevent all this. Yeah, I am aware of attempts being made to prevent spam. We are told that brand X software prevents 90% of software, while brand Y blocks 91% software. We are worried about rest 10% which end up in our mailboxes.
And now spam in blogs. :(

A few things.

I have many things to say. But either I don't remember them or I don't care or I don't want to offend anybody. That leaves practically everything out. Let me sleep now.

Sania Mirza's dress.

There seems to be controversy over Sania's dress on court. Atleast that's what media wants us to believe. My take on the issue goes like this.
It's her life. If she asks us to do something about our attire, are we going to do anything about that?
It's unfortunate that matters of personal choice become object of focus and try to curb enthusiasm of certain individuals.
We are such hypocrites. Significant no of boys watch women tennis for upskirts. And we talk about culture being in danger.

Uncertainity.

We have so many issues where we need to find definite answers. How are we going to find answers? By analysing options before us. How do we analyse? By gathering relevant info.
What if we have inadequate info or suffer from inability to analyse in depth. We will continue to live with our dilemmas.
It's an uneasy situation, but then..we may not have an option.

A revengeful thief.

A guy was harassed by insurance agent and cheated by a lawyer. What did he do? He started stealing 2 wheelers of Insurance agents and lawyers. He didn't go after anybody else. He roamed far and wide to steal 40 vehicles in total before h got caught.
We need persons like him to make this world interesting. :)

Going againest society.

I did something that goes againest social norms. Like any culprit, I had my reasons.
Question is , how long I need to feel guilty about the whole thing? Is there any "community work" that will reduce the guilt?
Whatever, Will act responsible.

Responsible?

Who are you responsible to? Society, conscience, God,...? Is any of these things an absolute entity? Why am I told few things? Why do I believe in few things? Why do I tresspass some lines? why do I regret? Who am I answerable to?.....

A good news post at BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4214516.stm

About American Media being responsible for once. Abut Govt's response to Katrina.
I wonder if Katrina Kaif will be given a VISA. I know it's a PJ.

From Anon. Cut and paste.

A life is born. It grew. It was taught some rules by own species. It was taught survival tactics. The more the knowledge grew, the more the questions grew. Questions like "Is life just about surviving?". It started exploring. It started going distances. It didn't like going away from it's ilk. But then, it wanted to experience new things. At one point, it thought that pain is the ultimate thing. It expriemented. Pain took her no where. It could not come back to normalcy, it could not resort to hedonism. It had no clear aim, no purpose.
It didn't want to continue this way. Till it found something spectacular, it wanted to engage itself in some meaningful activity. Meaningful for world. It started well in work. It excelled. Everybody appreciated that. It felt elated. It even got carried away. It soared and crashed promptly shattering illusions. It got into depression again. Probably depression goes againest life. One can only have a wave of depressions and not constant depression. Very soon middle age descended. It tried to fight away age. It got caught up in work, though never carried away like in the past. It wanted a way out.
But it never got any. May be it didn't try hard enough. Or maybe there wasn't any. It wanted to rebel. Rebel about lack of choice. Rebel about "no answer". It didn't want to join millions of "it" before her and millions after.
It wanted to be radical. But it had doubts, if it was too late to try that. Frustration one day led it to revolt. Revolt againest uncertainity. It got crushed. But in the last moment before getting crushed, it realised that it was a failed attempt. Nobody cried, because nobody cared.

Blogger:: I know the above thing is pointless. Why do we need to have a purpose all the time. :)

Hats Off to Sania Mirza

I hope her exploits will turn atleast some of Indians away from Cricket. I for one, would like to train my sons very well in some game. We need more sporting heroes for a country of this size.

Steve Balmer

I always suspected that Steve Balmer is not fit to run Microsoft. For proof look at following cut & paste job from Slashdot.

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/09/03/0515250.shtml?tid=109&tid=217&tid=133&tid=123

An anonymous reader writes "Probably due to the Microsoft suit against Google over human resources, some very heated exchanges have turned up in some court documents. Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer has apparently vowed to kill Internet search leader Google, according to documents filed in the increasingly bitter battle between the rivals." From the article: "At some point in the conversation, Mr. Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not Google,'' Lucovosky said in his statement. Lucovosky replied that he was joining Google. 'At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office,' Lucovosky recounted, adding that Ballmer then launched into a tirade about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. 'I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google.' Schmidt previously worked for Sun Microsystems and was the CEO of Novell."

One of the reactions in slashdot forums.

Give the guy a break. He's got a high pressure job.

Nobody forces him to do this job. He sure got enough cash to live comfortably several life times on it.

But that's not what this is about. It is dominating others, succeeding with manipulation and violence - compulsively, for decades. Does he have a choice? Probably not - regrettably.

Throwing chairs and tantrums is abusive behavior. You seem to tolerate this kind of behavior as "human". I think, it's not yet quite human

Elections.

Elections in India are a joke. Only rich people get to compete in them. In reserved seats, money requirements may be a bit low. Unless a person is exceptional he cannot hope to win by being independent. (Not affliated to the party)
And to get affliated to some prominent party, one needs to pander to people varying from Italian Ex house wife to idiotic, egoistic, casteist leaders of parties.
Once you have spent money , how can you be honest? You need to recover the expenses and earn for future elections.
The whole thing is a vicious cycle. A cycle which willing people enter and then block others. Is there a way out? This bloody feudal society will try to preserve it's structure. I wish for the impossible.