Were Dinosaurs real Mrs. Palin?

The past comments and speeches that are surfacing against Sarah Palin are astonishing. I am really concerned about Palin’s candidacy for VP, this is not because of the fact that she does not have any foreign policy experience, it is because of her beliefs and ill-logical reasoning. From the time that she accepted the nomination, she has had plenty of opportunity to help put forth her case, but all she did was loud talk, made big promises and invented Lipstick Politics. Is this really the change she has to offer, the same years packed in a Brand new gift-paper.

Seems to me that few people just don’t get it, We are not interested in the difference between “hockey moms” and “soccer moms”, we don’t care whether you are Black or White, it does not matter whether you are a Man or a Woman. What matters to us is whether you have it in you to deliver what is expected from you.

The power of the seat is far too great. And I am not comfortable with Palin……so far!

Check out the video

Lipstick Chronicles

I was switching between channels the other day and the grunting of “the best political team on TV” made me think, Yeah I know!

So I was thinking about what I remember from the election battle so far and decided to write it done. Word by word. This is what I got (Arranged in Chronological order)

1. Looks
2. Black
3. Harvard
4. Haircut
5. Dept
6. Hope
7. Change
8. Surge
9. Economic
10. Health care
11. Tax
12. Recession
13. Record Attendance
14. Worker’s Union
15. Las Vegas
16. Tears
17. Angry Husband
18. Mole
19. Skin Cancer
20. Oldest
21. Youngest
22. Muslim
23. Husien
24. Lobbyiest
25. Ethanol
26. Woman
27. Tough Battle
28. Delegates
29. Super Delegates
30. Conventions
31. off shore drilling
32. Economy
33. inflation
34. health care
35. war
36. surge
37. VP
38. Amtrack
39. Convention
40. War
41. Inexperience
42. Uppity
43. Surge
44. Unpatriotic
45. Lipstick
46. Hockey
47. Bridge to Nowhere
48. 80%
49. 90%
50. 95%
51. Pregnant Teenage Daughter
52. Inexperience
53. Evangelical
54. Holy war
55. Mike Wooten
56. Walt Monegan
57. Lies
58. Miss Use of Public Funds
59. Organizer
60. Lipstick
61. Pig

Interesting, doesn’t look promissing

Made my peace

Like every body else, I too have pondered on questions of purpose and life. Always thought there has to be a reason and purpose behind every action. Honestly what i have learned is quiet the opposite. Random actions that, at times, clicks and make sense and at times misses and are forgotten about. I guess the purpose lies in persistence. Not that i am sure of where in persistence would purpose actually lie. If you come to think of it, replace the meaning of lie with a noun, and that could probably be your answer. Either ways, the bottom line is that Life never has made sense by itself. Share it and theres your purpose and as an incentive you might get a free goal.

Does any of this make any sense? .....

Reliance does it again

So guess what, it seems Reliance has lost its creative cap. So desperate the situation seems, that they had to actually steal a logo design from a Non-profit organization that has been around for more than 4 years.
The "hand" logo which you see above, displayed prominently on their website www.bigadda.com (A Reliance venture), was actually picked up from a non-profit organization - iVolunteer and the actual logo can be seen below.


Well all i have to say to Reliance is that if you're that desperate why don't you allow me to make a better, ORIGINAL, logo for you. Thinks about it.

Please save me, i have fallen

Hundreds of blinded bullets flying in the air like an unstoppable army that is born to kill. They pierce through flesh, through souls, killing, uprooting and destroying every thing that humanity stands for. They can't be held accountable; they are just things, simple things that we make.

Please save me, I have fallen here. Am lost and have no where to go. I would cry if I could, but even tears have deserted me. I am ashamed, the things I have done, the things I'm doing and for the things I will do. It seems so wrong; I know it’s not meant to be this way. With great power comes a greater responsibility - that’s what they say, it doesn't matter, they seem to lie...I seem to lie.

I wished that I really wished for better days, but honestly I don’t. I like it this way, it keeps me in control. It makes me significant in this otherwise insignificant universe. I invented god, only to defeat him, to tell him that I’m greater with power and he’s just a charity. Do you think you can stop me, think again because I’m you.

I woke up this morning to a bloodbath

For the Turtles on the Mixpo

Navajagran

Amazing Interview

This interview appeared in the New Zealand Herald, Love the way it was written.

The Dalai Lama interview

The NZ Herald
June 17, 2007

'It will be like interviewing Jesus," gushed an atheist of my acquaintance
before I went to see the Dalai Lama. Quite sensible people go quite ga-ga
over the Dalai Lama, who would be horrified to think that he was just like
Jesus. The Dalai Lama has better jokes. At least I think he does. A lot of
things that were probably jokes got lost in translation. But most of what is
on my tape is laughing, and most of it is him.

Why does he laugh all the time? He was, I remind him, a very bad-tempered
child.

"Oh, yes! At the young age, I followed my father's sort of ... hot head
practice. Ha ha ha. Then later I follow my mother's example. Ha ha ha. But
still, if I see people doing some silly things, I may lose my temper!"

"Also," he says, fixing me with what is supposed to be a faintly menacing
stare (he is not very good at this; the corners of his mouth are already
flickering in anticipation of the punchline), "if you ask some silly
questions, I may lose my temper. Ha ha ha."

I wouldn't care for him to lose his temper. He has already begun whacking my
leg, quite hard, I might add, for a smiling monk who preaches non-violence.
He will, I count, whack my leg five times in 20 minutes, each time more
affectionately and hence harder. You wouldn't want him to be your best
friend, you'd end up black and blue.

I had read that you are not allowed to touch the Dalai Lama, and that, on
leaving, you should walk backwards away from him. This was what one
journalist was told, many years ago, and when he left the room as directed,
the Dalai Lama watched for a bit, then turned him around and gave him a
friendly push. This sounds like another of his little jokes, but I'm not
taking any chances. When we arrive at the hotel I ask the bloke dealing with
the media what the protocol is.

Just follow His Holiness' lead, I'm told. I did wonder, briefly, what would
happen if I had, and had whacked the Dalai Lama's leg in return, but that
might have been pushing it. He is supposed to be the manifestation of a
deity. I don't think you are supposed to ask him about this although it
isn't banned. Nothing is, except silly, prurient questions. He was asked
these sorts of questions once before in New Zealand and he didn't laugh.

What you really get - because the room was full of people to help translate,
to guard, or just to sit in the room with the Dalai Lama and laugh at his
jokes - is an audience rather than an interview.

But I've never sat in a room with the manifestation of a deity before and,
as he is 71 and talking about retirement, I am unlikely to ever again.

In truth, you don't get to ask many questions (my half hour was whittled
down to 20 minutes due to some deeply unspiritual malarkey about the air
conditioning unit.) Also, he is a long talker, and questions are often
referred to the translator, which takes up still more time. Sometimes, the
four-way translations from me to the Dalai Lama, to the translator, and back
to the Dalai Lama go spectacularly awry.

He is talking about the attainment of happiness and I have asked (in an
attempt to find out whether his happy, always laughing monk image is
adequate) whether, and notwithstanding his early bad temper, he was simply
born happy. Which leads him to an explanation of how important a mother's
affection for a child is. Which leads him to ... this.

"The mother gives the hugs. And, [to the translator] what is this small
thing? You see?"

Translator: The nipple?

Dalai Lama: "Aah! The nipple! The nipple in the child's mouth. It feels very
happy."

Partly the difficulties were my fault. I should never have attempted to say
something about a photo the Herald ran of him last week: with a koala. What
a peculiar life you have, I say, whizzing round the world, patting horrible
diseased koala bears.

This goes to the translator but I rather feel he left the bit about the
koala out because the Dalai Lama says, "Oh, that I always do! If I have some
little power then of course I want to cure these sick people but then there
is no other way, except with a touch of my hand. I share in their suffering,
that's all."

I don't think the headline either of us had in mind was: Dalai Lama Cures
Koala.

He is having another little joke saying this at all because earlier I ask
him what he thinks people want from him. Do they want him to tell them the
meaning of life? "Oh! Some people want some kind of miracle, ha, ha,
healing. This is wrong. It's nonsense. I always make clear when I give the
talk that some people may come with too much expectation, and that's
nonsense."

You're out of luck, too, if you want him to tell you how to be happy.

"Some of them [do.] Their happiness will not come from the sky! Or through
miracle. Well, of course I have very little power and them among six billion
human beings, I don't think there is someone who really has miracle power."

What he talks about is the "importance of warm heartedness that I consider
the basis of peace of mind, peace of mind is the basis of happy life, or
successful life. Even when you come across some difficulties, with peace of
mind you can handle it better".

He says it so nicely, with big smiles, that he could be saying "bumph,
bumph, bumph" for an hour and we'd all still lap it up.

But what is it, exactly? Other than awareness of Tibet, and the idea of
happiness. He certainly isn't promoting Buddhism to Westerners because he
doesn't think Westerners should be Buddhists. Not really. "Hmm. It is more
risky. You have your own tradition, your whole culture ... It is safer to
keep to your own tradition."

I suggest that his gift is for, as he puts it, being able to talk to
audiences of thousands in a way that, "someone told me ... each individual
feels as if I'm conversing with them like old friends". This is not a gift.
It is "through training, through training".

I wondered what he thought of being always portrayed as the laughing monk,
when he is a serious person with serious issues to raise about Tibet. He
says he is a serious person. He believes in starting from a place of
scepticism - "very, very important. Scepticism brings questions, questions
brings investigation. So I am serious but not formal".

He has been a "refugee" since 1959 when he fled Tibet for India. This has
shaped his destiny, obviously, as the leader in exile of the Tibetan people
but also, he says, his character.

He says he dreams sometimes of Tibet but the reality is that he will be a
refugee for the rest of his life.

"But my main concern is: your life should be meaningful, that means
something useful to others. So I think, as a matter of fact, being a refugee
gives more opportunity to serve a greater number of people."

He says he feels he has been more "useful from outside [Tibet] rather than
inside. Also, if I remain in Lhasa, I think the 14th Dalai Lama still may be
a more reserved person. I think since I have become a refugee, now the 14th
Dalai Lama is becoming like a human being! Ha ha ha."

Which, I suppose, takes care of any question I might have had about what
it's like being a manifestation of a deity. He is, I hazard, a rather earthy
sort of monk. This goes to the translator and comes back as "down-to-earth"
which wasn't quite what I meant. He had been telling me about how he doesn't
get jet lag and still always wakes at 3.30am to meditate but that, pointing
at his stomach, there are other, aah, irregularities. I don't bother to get
this translated because I really do not want to know. He, of course, thinks
it's hilarious.

The silliest question he's been asked, the one that made him lose his
temper, is the one about what he thinks his legacy will be. This is daft,
apparently, because, "I am Buddhist, a monk. I can't think about my own
name. This is not right."

I did ask a silly question: What's it like being a celebrity?

"Aah! Bishop Tutu, my dear friend, he's the senior elder so ... I always let
him go in the front, then, from behind, I tickle him. So these days he
always describes me as the mischievous Dalai Lama!"

That is a very clever answer. As I leave, the manifestation of a deity gives
me a big, human hug. It is like being hugged by a Teletubbie in a maroon
pashmina. If he was to say, "big hugs," I wouldn't have been at all
surprised. It couldn't have got any odder, and perhaps what the 14th Dalai
Lama is all about is as strange and as simple as that.

Debt-ridden farmers to protest against banks

Debt-ridden farmers to protest agianst banks
Hozefa Merchant, Nagpur (The Freepress Journal) Date: 30th May 2007

Six vidarbha farmers comitted suicide on Tuesday bringing the overall suicide toll to about 410 since January 2007. Agitated by the Government's lithargic stand to help the situation, farmers from the vidarbha region have decided to start 'Hallabol agitation' before the banks in order to get fresh crop loan. The 'dharna' would start from 18th June, Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti informed on Wednesday.

The agitation has been decided due to the fact that the debt-ridden farmers have been denied additional loan because of non-payment of previous loans. There are about 2 million farmers in debt, claimed a local NGO. The Indian Government waived off Rs. 710 crore overdue interest last year and reconstructed crop loan amounting to Rs. 1860 crore bringing around one million farmers under institutional credit. But due to cotton crop failure and poor market price, more than 90% farmers failed to pay their debt.

One of the few reasons for the crop failure is due to the use of 'bollgaurd 2' a genetically improved BT cotton crop manufactured by Mosanto and which is clearly not suitable for the climatic conditions in Vidarbha. More then 3 million Vidarbha farmers are in debt and an overdue loan waiver is the only solution to reduce the suicide rates, claimed Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti through a press release.

A rock concert for a raging cause

A rock concert for a raging cause

By Hozefa Merchant, Mumbai (The Freepress Journal) date: 6th June 2007

“Gazing through the window at the world outside, wondering will mother earth survive, hoping that mankind would stop abusing her some time.” Well, honestly you would have to be a dreamer like Ozzy Osborne to be able to write such lines or perhaps you would have to be a rock fan with a thing for environment. Greenpeace, an International NGO known for its wacky style of non-violent confrontations, on the occasion of World Environment Day organised their first-ever rock concert in Mumbai. Indian rock bands such as Vayu, Zero and Brahma performed for about hundreds of hard rock fans present at the M D College grounds in Parel. The concert began at around 6 pm in the evening and was co-organised by Percept Pictures and Leo Burnett. “We need such initiatives now more than ever, especially when there are reports of cracks appearing in the Neelkanth, melting of the Gangotri glacier, scorching temperatures, untimely rains and so on. The only way to curb such a situation would be to reduce global carbon emissions” says Sachin Singh, City coordinator for Greenpeace India. Ask about Greenpeace’s initiatives towards global warming and Singh shoots back, “Greenpeace has recently launched ‘Ban the bulb’ campaign where it aims to gather about a million signed petition from across the Country. When people realise that CFLs are a smarter choice that could reduce the country’s carbon emission by fifty five million tonnes which is 4% of the net emissions, they would opt for CFLs.” Debraj, lead vocalist of Bramha said, “Human activities are destroying the environment and we think it’s high time to act! We have a voice, and we are committed to using it to reach out to large groups of people with an urgent call for action to save the planet.” Siddhartha Dutta, Greenpeace regional manager said “the youth in India is a very important constituency and considering that we need to act now. Surely, one of the most effective ways of doing that is to have their favorite bands talk about the issue on the World environment day in between songs like ‘Bomb the Neighbor” and “Or Not at all” which Brahma created just for the occasion”. The concert ended on a high note leaving the youths inspired towards the cause and a united chant for ‘Ban the bulb’.

Girls to GAIN goats in rural Maharashtra

Our government is doing a lot for the farmers, no seriously, I'm not kidding, they really are making an effort.

You don't believe me right, well for starters they have declared 1 lakh rupees incentives...woopsie, i meant compensation... for the farmers that commit suicide. The incentives... damn! i mean compensation... would be handed over to the family of the deceased. No wonder farmers can't sleep at night, before their headache was to pay off the debt and thanks to Govt, their new add-on is whether their family would kill them in their sleep to collect the bounty. Kudos for our Govt, especially Vilasrao Desmukh. Desmukh in his latest address claimed that the farmer suicides have reduced drastically, which nothing more than political blabbering.

Thats not all, in another declaration the govt has announced an incentive of 10,000 rupees for the father of the groom. To be able to qualify for the incentive the 'father' (farmer) has to marry his son to a girl, what happens after that is not the concern of our government. 'Oh now that is what was causing the suicides, now i understand that the farmers were killing them selfs not because of the kind of debt they were in but because they could not marry of their sons. No wonder the suicides have decreased, right Desmukh?'

I'm not a fan of BJP, but i have to say that what Gopinath Munde is doing for the farmers is really worthy of praise. Now i know, its probably because he wants fame and loads of votes but still atleast the farmers would benefit from this entire facade. Recently Munde along with other farmers' right activist and BJP members had lead a protest rally in Aurangabad. BJP had planned to burn sugarcane in front of the review meeting chaired by the agriculture minister, Balasaheb Thorat. Munde is demanding 40,000 rupees as compensation against every hector of un-crushed sugarcane however the government has announced a compensation of 25,000 rupees per hector.

Another funny announcement, straight from the stable of the Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Commissioner...Girls between the age of 8-18 would soon get their very own 'goat' to take care of. Apparently this is being done for the well being of the girls (neglected child of India). Ask how the plan works, well they say that the goat is been given to improve the financial conditions of the family as well as to encourage the rural people to treat the girl child right. They say that on conditions that the girl would be well taken care of, after a certain time frame they would examine the health of the girl and if the health is improved then the family would get another goat as an incentive. However this announcement is yet to get a green light from the state govt. Whether this would work or not is something that we need to wait and watch.

So tell me isn't the govt doing enough to tackle the actual problem of the debt ridden farmers?

Nominate me!!!

I have been selected as a probable member of the Board of Directors for SFT (Students for a free Tibet) and I need your help now more than ever. Please visit this site here and vote for me and thats an order!

Besame mucho

I usually don't see programs like the 'American Idol'.......think it's waste of time....... but the recent hype surrounding the contestant 'Sunjaya Malakar', i had to see it for myself. And I must say that although Malakar's talents as a singer are questionable, yet his strategy is brilliant. I wouldn't be surprised if he did actually win.

But that apart, the reason for this post is that the song Malakar had chosen to sing 'Basame Moucho' totally impressed me. Later I downloaded that song (thanks to limewire), searched for it's lyrics (thanks to goolge), translated it (thanks to spanishdict) and finally posted it (thanks to Blogger).

If you know of any such songs be sure to send me an email of a link or just leave the link in the comments section. It could be of any language, if you think it's something I'll be interested in then send it across.

Besame mucho is a lovely song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez before her sixteenth birthday. She was inspired by an aria from a Spanish opera by Enrique Granados.

Besame, besame mucho,
Como si fuera esta noche la última vez,
Besame, besame mucho,
Que tengo miedo a perderte, perderte despues [twice]


Quiero sentirte muy cerca mirarme en tus ojos verte junto a mí
Piensa que tal vez mañana yo ya estare lejos, muy lejos de ti

Besame...


Quiero...


Besame...


[English translation]


Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
As if tonight were the last time
Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
For I'm scared to lose you, to lose you afterwards


I want to feel you very close, see myself in your eyes, see you near me
Think that maybe tomorrow I'll already be far, very far away from you

The Turtles, Fisher folks and the Government

An effort to correct a problem, creates a new problem. Is this why the Government exist...if yes then we are better off without em...arn't we.

Watch the interview in which Mr Narayan Chandra Haldar, President of Orissa Traditional Fishworkers Union, discusses how Orissa's turtle conservation program caused more damage than solve any problems. He also speaks about the possiblity of jobless fisher folks joining the Naxals, just so that they could fill their stomach.

To get the backgroung read this,
watch this
And aslo visit this

Take a deep breath...

Lesser than less

More often than not,
I wonder what’s for me.
Less than more,
but lesser than less, is what I see.
More often than not,
I find what I need.
Less than more,
but lesser than less is what I seed.
More often than not,
I draw the lines.
Less than more,
but lesser than less is what blinds.
More often than not,
I appreciated my God.
Less than more,
but lesser than less is what I got.
More often than not,
I have been hurt.
Less than more,
but lesser than less is now what pains.
More often than not,
I have seen myself fail.
Less than more,
but lesser than less are times I see myself defeated.
More often than not,
I used to long for more.
Less than more,
but lesser than less is what actually has got me more.

What we made: a nuclear wasteland

My thoughts exactly

"First we made the will, then we made the car, then we made the bomb now its all gone wrong"

Its amazing, the human tendency, to do things unknowingly, some of the times we are wrong, but we believe that we are right and we keep defending ourselves without a thought of what’s at stake. Doesn't this hold true to the recent India-US nuclear deal? You can turn your back but you can not ignore where this road will lead us to. I just hope we never get there.

A diabolical design - Act Now!

VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) is now using a new front to ragain lost members in mumbai, it goes by the name Hindu Manavadhikar Manch (HMM). The reason behind this is the fact that the Hindu community has lost its faith in this rougue organisation, as a result, growing number of VHP’s members are leaving the organization. Also their political agendas were quite hammered by social reformers like Anand Patwardhan's 'Ram ke Nam'. Though all this is a positive change in the society, yet there is danger lurking above it all. The new face of the VHP 'HMM' is as dangerous as the VHP simply because it is actually the VHP with a different name and also because of the reason that the BJP is not in power. HMM is trying to recruit new members under its new banner.

This is news brief and I will try to elaborate more on this.

JAI HIND, HAMESHA!

Why i Blog what i Blog.

Its not every day that you’ll meet an atheist that is more humane than a believer, I wasn’t always an atheist, situations and circumstances made me. However, this post is not related to religion nor to god, it is related to humans, its related to you and me.

I believe that people are hypnotized by the norms of society. The society that you call civilization has produced more victims than any natural or human upheaval. It’s because of the very basis on which it was created. This basic unfair rule ‘survival of the fittest’ has taken away millions of voices form those people that hardly spoke, while giving it all to those with power. In order to change this society we need to change our selves, our laws, our economy and above all our attitude.

Often the articles that you read or news that you see on television, is subjected to the profitability of that particular organization. And more often, the news that really matter is pressed under the carpet. With my blog I try to put forward things that really deserve a voice.

I have neither agenda nor lies to propagate and my life is not that significant for others to read about. What is important is how I share few insights with you. This is why I blog what I blog.

The Nuclear Game

‘The nuclear game’ is a new product to come out of the US production house. Its goal is to be the numero uno provider of the nuclear energy that the world needs as a solution to depleting energy resources and to the global warming. With this new “weapon of mass dependency”, the Bush administration is trying to pull off its ‘Bully’ gig, to ensure its stand as a world’s most powerful nation for a very long time.

Few months ago the US nuclear industry started a major PR campaign to gain public popularity for the nuclear energy as the best solution to their country’s energy crisis and Global warming. For this they roped in two well-known environmentalists, Dr. Patrick Moore and Christine Whitman.

Dr. Patrick Moore is a Greenpeace co-founder, who left Greenpeace in 1986 due to some disagreement over Logging and Nuclear stand of the world famous environmental watchdog. Since then, Dr. Moore is the chair and chief scientist of an environmental consultation firm, Greensprit Strategies Ltd. and also the director of NextEnergy Solution, the largest distributor of geothermal heat pumps in Canada. A surprising fact about Dr. Patrick Moore is that almost three decades ago his stand on nuclear energy was and I quote “Nuclear power plants are, next to nuclear warheads themselves, the most dangerous devices that man has ever created. Their construction and proliferation is the most irresponsible, in fact the most criminal, act ever to have taken place on the planet.” This was the statement written by Dr. Moore in 1976 when he was the Vice- President for Greenpeace Foundation. Dr. Moore made this statement even before the Three Mile Island and before Chernoybl disaster. So the questionable part is what made him change his mind form “the most dangerous devices that man has ever created” to “nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.”

Christine Whitman is a former administrator of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and is a former governor of New Jersey. Christine Whitman has worked closely with the Bush administration in advancement of the administrations Nuclear plans. Whitman also prepared safe guidelines and standards for the controversial Yucca Mountain project. The Yucca mountain project is a repository to hold 77,000 tons of collective radioactive waste that the US would produce through its civilian as well as the US defense nuclear programs. After Christine Whitman left EPA, her guidelines and standards proposed for the Yucca Mountain Project were rejected because they were found to be incompetent for the radiation containment during its peak period.

Collectively Dr. Moore and Christine Whitman will head the “Clean and Safe Energy Coalition to promote nuclear energy in the United States. (Way to go Bush! By the way how much are you paying them?)

US - India Nuclear deal was proposed by the Bush administration on the grounds that it would help strengthen the Indian economy, which in turn would act as a buffer to the influence of the growing economy of China. However, India’s economy is and has been steadily on the rise, without any help form the USA. India had already emerged as a powerful and influential nation. Its influence over the other Asian countries is at par with the influence of China. So then what could be the need for the Bush administration to help strengthen the Indian Economy at this point of time? That’s the question that needs to be answered.

...and it begins again

On that shameful day (11th July '06), on my way home, I saw a familiar sight. It seemed like yesterday, reminded me of a stained past.

During the 1993 riots, a group of mob had gathered outside my apartment, demanding that all Muslims should be brought downstairs.......to be slaughtered. With red flags, swords and chanting the holy Hindu words 'Jai Shri Ram". They chopped down the apartment gates using saws and swords of kind. But due to some reason, that I can't remember, they dispersed. I probably owe my and my family’s life to that unknown 'humble reason' that saved us 'Muslims' a.k.a. the 'Terrorist' (as the world has come to reckons us with).

Today after work, on my way home again, I saw that familiar sight ‘again’ brought back memories and pain. I saw members of the Bajrang dal and the VHP, turning the wheels of hatred that had once resulted in a burning city. I wonder who the real terrorist is. As mentioned in my earlier post, I don't believe that terrorist could possibly belong to any religion. Probably that is the reason why they exist.

Exactly after a month to the bomb blast, people of Mumbai were attacked by yet another terrorist group known as the ‘VHP’ (Vishwa Hindu Parishad). As I walked my way to the Churchgate Railway Station, I saw members or probably the employees of the VHP distributing pamphlets accusing Muslims for the Tuesday’s (11th July ’06) bomb blast. The strange thing to note here is that the police instead of arresting them, on grounds of creating communal tension, were actually protecting them. I guess the chief of Mumbai Police is a bit afraid of the Bajrang dal or probably is a member of the VHP.

What according to you is a more severe crime; protesting in front of Mantralaya against the proposed amendments to RTI (Right to Information Act) or spreading communal disharmony like the way VHP is doing?

There are two answers to this question.

1- An answer from a common man- of course VHP should be banned and arrested. Igniting hatred in between communities on false information is the most the severe crime, can’t let it go ignored.

2- An answer from the government- of course you can spread communal disharmony (helps me get Votes), but protesting for your rights in front of the Mantralaya is a severe crime that needs immediate disciplining.

This is the sad reality of our country. Seeing what was going on today, I can’t allow my self to just sit around and do nothing. Some sought of public opinion and discussion has to be initiated to curb such rouge organizations.

For now I’m posting few photographs, the document that they were distributing, 2 sound clips and a 9 sec video of today’s events. I hope that citizens of India (all caste and religion) would react in a positive direction.

Jai Hind.

"Spirit of Mumbai" - Definitely Six Feet Under

It’s never easy to come to terms with an unexpected loss, but that's something that the Mumbaikars have learned to live with. The city has seen tragedies unfold in a very short span to time. This has made it immune to such security threats as the recent bomb blast in Mumbai.

"Spirit of Mumbai" as it is famously hailed, is some thing that I am not too proud of, for it did no good to the people who died. Those left, praised it for they have, so far, survived. Have you ever heard of a dead spirit, yeah spirits die too, the Spirit of Mumbai is certainly dead. Hundreds off children die due to malnutrition every 6 months in the exterior part of Mumbai city, I figured by then the spirit of Mumbai was already 6 feet under.

I was, like everyone else, stranded that shameful day. Being at Churchgate Station, for some reasons I felt safe and worried for my people's safety. Even after that attack, for some reason I felt that not many people in Mumbai were angry or did any thing to demand higher security. It seemed to me that some monetary compensation and a memorial service had balanced the equation. Not even our social reformist came forward to demand justice, let alone those fat political bastards. I believe this so called "terrorist attack" is a mastermind of one of those groups that pasted posters in our trains, which read "Atankwad ke samarthak Muslim, Hindustan choro" (Muslims that support terrorist, leave India).

To associate terror with Islam is the most demeaning, undignified and degrading thing to do. After all terrorist have no faith in God, that’s perhaps the reason why they exist. Considering the recent state of other countries, I agree to what Shah Rukh has to say, that Muslims should be grateful to live in such a great secularist country. And I am sure many other Muslims feel the same.

This is what the spirit of Mumbai needs to learn and preach. Talking about the spirit of Mumbai only when such a tragedy unfolds is a shameful thing to do. Spirit of Mumbai should be forever present, reminding us of its existence during the good times and the hardest times.

Video "For the Turtles"

Watch it on YouTube

Got to Read this!

I bought this decorative frame, for my living room, when I was in Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh, India) and it had this poem... written by, his holiness, the Dalai Lama.......It's something that I feel is worth a post.

The Paradox of our Age


We Have bigger houses, but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less sense;

more knowledge, but less judgements;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines, but less healthiness.

We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street

to meet the new neighbour.

We build more computers

to hold more information.

to produce more copies than ever,

but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods,

but slow digestions;

tall man, but short character;

steep profits, but shallow relationships.

It is a time when there is much in the window,

but nothing in the room.

- His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama

An Itchy Reality

This is some interesting stuff that I would like to share with you. It’s quite interesting how few miserable Indians react to Phirangs (white skinned foreigners). Like when I was in Orissa a month ago (for the Greenpeace Turtle project), I was bunched in with few phirangs and wherever we traveled (Bhubaneshwar, Jagatsinghpur District, Paradeep or to a small restaurant) we were given extra special treatment.

For example, in Bhubaneshwar, there is this restaurant (I don't remember its name, but it was supposed to be a popular place). Now the story about this restaurant is that they apparently don't serve food on the plate for Indians. For Indians they just keep it on the table and then you have to empty the stuff on to your plate, yourself. But for the Phirangs they will serve with all respect and warmth they can offer. Just to confirm their stand on this, I was given the Indian treatment even when I was with the Phirangs bunch. Now there is no fault of the phirangs, as they were completely stunned at this as I was, it's just that this incident left an itchy sense of inequality.

A waiter's job in a restaurant is to serve food to all the customers with the same hospitality and respect, why should the color of the skin be a problem.

Anyways, I guess when you travel to new locations and destinations, you have to be prepared to except all kind of crap and most of the time their plus points of a city out numbers the negatives.

Gods and Mahatmas don't exist

"I'm a human and I say this"

"It’s often that I feel as a lost soul in the universe, not knowing the meaning of life just wandering off in an empty pitch black space searching for answers and meanings which do not exist. I don’t want to play this game, I never ever even intended. Sometimes I’m so lost that I even forget or lose the connection with the near and dear ones. It's frustrating and horrifying, makes me feel that I’m living in hell already. There have been times when I have seen silver linen, but on a second look I realize that it’s only my mind playing trick on me again.

At times like these, I realized that Mahatmas and God’s don’t exist; they are just a superstition that the world believes in so blindly."

Death in thousands

22nd March 2006, it was a hot day on the beaches of Orissa. The temperature must have been above 35 'C and the only thing that was helping us maintain our balance was the cool breeze from the sea. There must have been some kind of a bond between us and the sea, some kind of a pseudo force which helped us in what we had set out to do. It was almost as the sea wanted us there even when we or especially I wanted to return back.

I despise visiting a graveyard and don't ask me why, a graveyard gives me a sick feeling, let’s just leave it to that.

That day on the beaches of Orissa, that sick feeling returned and it was nothing like I had ever felt before. The reason was because that beach itself was a graveyard. I was walking on the graveyard where the bodies weren’t even buried. These were the dead Olive Ridley turtles that were on there way to the beaches to lay eggs. They died because the responsible authorities have given up on them.

The coast of Orissa is known for its biodiversity, for the birds and especially for the Olive Ridley sea turtles. Between the months of February - April, Olive Ridley turtles return to the beaches of Orissa to lay eggs which is also their mating season, this amazing time of the year where the turtles return in thousands to nest is known as arribada (Latin for arrival). This is the reason why I traveled all the way from the west coast to the east coast, to participate in the Turtle Witness Camp set up by Greenpeace India.

Orissa supports three of the worlds last nesting sites of Olive Ridley sea turtles. Mexican Pacific coast and the north Atlantic (Surinam and adjacent area) are few other nesting sites around the world. These nesting sites have reduced considerably because of over fishing, by-catch, industrialization, illegal leather trade and so on and hence protecting the nesting place along the coast of Orissa becomes all the more important for the global population of the Olive Ridley sea turtle. Many NGO’s like the Green-life, Greenpeace, and Rushikulya sea turtle protection committee are working on this issue praying that some day the Birth rate will exceed the death rate.

Mumbai City up for Sale

The city of Mumbai is on sale

An open robbery is what the Supreme Court endorsed by passing Mill land judgment in the favor of the thieves. Our city is still fresh with the images of the flood and the mind boggling debates on the infrastructural inadequacy, our poor brothers live in slums and sleep on streets (prone to vehicular accidents), our rivers live a dead life and then our plenty lands to make the rich even richer……….the city of Mumbai is on sale.

Almost a century ago, about 600 acres of land was leased to the mill owners or sold at a very low rate. This land was meant for setting-up new mills. Back then the mills were an important part of our city’s economy. It used to employ almost an equal or may be even more of what the Call Centers are employing today. Hence many lives were dependent on these mills.

Mill lands were not allowed to be sold until 1991 (Rule 58 of the DCR of 1991), this was in an effort to revive the sick mills. According to the rule, if a mill land was to be sold then one third was to be reserved for public space (public parks, gardens and so on), a third was to be used for affordable housing and a third for the mill owners to do as they please. But the Maharashtra Government modified the rule to fit the need and greed of the mill owners and then about 200 acres of land restricted for public space was reduced to a mere 30 acres.

Whereas the Supreme Court says that this would be a sustainable development for the city. I say other wise. The land which was meant for the public space could have been turned in to a green zone as a buffer for the growing pollution and affordable housing for the people living in the slums. The small scale industries and slums that are occupying the banks of the Methi River could perhaps be relocated in this land. Now wouldn't this be a sustainable development?

When Mumbai people’s Action Committee planned a peaceful march to present a letter to the Chief Minister, with all due respect, on this regard, yesterday. It was made absolutely clear by the CM (with the help of the Police force) that he was in no way ready to listen to our demands. Our beloved public servants need to be told that they don’t have the rights to play with our lives and that we have an equal say (if not more) in the development of our city.

Won't let you go!

It was the coldest day in November,
the day I always will remember.

I stood in the dark,
in that evil park.

With a heavy breath,
I told myself "let the people know I wont let you go".

Surrounded in darkness I was,
with a deep sence of loss.

You burnt to ashes, I was
burning too, was crying for you.

With a heavy breath,
I told myself "let the people know I wont let you go".

I slept, I lied, I cryed,
because I felt deprived.

Untill the day arrived,
which left you revived.

With a weakened breath,
I told myself "let the people know I wont let you go".

The soul which lost thou,
that soul has found me now.

I saw my reflection in the chest
and found you my quest.

And With a comforting breath,
I told myself "let the people know I did not ever let you go".