Just imagine. You are married and have a lovely daughter. She's 2 years old and is the cutest looking girl the universe has ever witnessed. One day you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. You have a shitty day- your boss scolds you, your colleague has gone off to a vacation you were supposed to be on, and now you were doing the work of both. On the way back you get a flat tyre. You tow the car for 5 kms before you figure out you were pushing along the wrong way. And finally when you come home, sit on a sofa, and wish nothing would ever grow wrong. And then, crash... The porcelain vase your father-in-law gave you last diwali, is knocked over by your daughter. You stand up and scold her and throw out all your frustrations at her. And then, you leave her crying and go back to your sofa, your mind drenched completely and you cannot think anything anymore.
And then the most amazing thing happens. She stops crying, and tries hard not to sob. With her runny nose and tears floating around near her eye, looking like diamonds, you see her trying to put the porcelain pieces together. All her attempts are satiated with her desire to please her daddy. The taliban is killing people, nuclear wars are at hand, prices of oil are going over the 15th storrey, the world is full of problems. And here is a kid, oblivious to the ever-increasing entropy of the universe, trying to mend the broken pieces. She doesn’t know why she's repairing it, or how to repair it, but all she thinks is that mending the vase will bring a smile to her daddy's face, make him happy. And she doesn’t care a damn about anything else.
And when you realize it, and realize the gravity of your behavior and run to take your daughter up in your arms, you are flooded by a positive energy picking up your spirits. You are humbled by her devotion. All tensions, frustrations go right into hell. And you repent the way you treated her. You pledge never to scold her for anything. The devil turns angelic by a child - that my friend is the power of innocence....
Cheers!!!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
"Reserved" musings!!
There's a lot of gaga-gugu and whatnot going after the reservation issue. And determined not to be left behind in canvassing my own viewpoints, when half the world has woken up to anti-reservation slogans, I am now going to make a humble effort to join the bandwagon.
Reservation. I heard the word first, when I was half as high as the lower bogey seats in the 2nd AC sleeper class train. It seemed like a magic word then. As soon as people heard the word "reservation", seats got vacated and my family and me traveled in divine luxury. And for long I was a devout follower of "reservation". Ahem.
Today however, the divine seems satanic. Of course, this time the reservation refers not to your money-can-buy-and-is-rightly-yours seats in trains, but to the merit-don’t-matter-my-ass seats for the so-called OBC and sc/st class in all fields of life. Well, in most fields of life till now.
Let me first make it clear, I have not pledged any vendetta against the OBC and SC/St people. I have friends belonging to these castes and believe that blood is red in all of us. I have never witnessed any different outlook towards them. People tend to ask me, "what about the sewage cleaners that come to your place, why don’t you invite them and let them sit on your sofa..." and blah blah blah. And here is my answer to them - They aren’t allowed to sit on the sofa, not because they are OBCs but simply, because, being sewage cleaners, they are dirty!! It doesn’t matter whether the fellow is OBC or Brahmin! I remember my mom not letting me into the house after I returned home one fine day covered in mud. And by the way, once they clean up, they aren’t just allowed into the home, but offered tea, prepared along with ours. So take your "oh-they-are-so-poorly-dealt-with" arguments off my face and shove it up your you-know-whats.
What has reservations done to these people? Have they risen? No. Have they done anything for their own community? No. If it has done anything, it has only made them more complacent about getting into the institutes they want, just on the basis of their caste! Who wants to work hard when they are being fed on a silver platter? And I wonder how they even compel themselves to live with the knowledge that the post they have secured has been procured by them not because they were deserving, but because of charity!! And then, politicians claim reservation is to uplift their self-esteem!! Self-esteem my foot.
Yeah yeah, I know the sadistic pro-reservationists (henceforth known as beep-ers) will lament over how our forefathers supposedly mistreated them and stuff. Well, the logic is, at best, laughable. Let me exemplify with some examples using the same logic. My great-great-grandfather was not so good-looking man. Apparently he married a woman who wasn't an object-de-art herself. Since then, our family has always been married into the "lower beauty caste", if you please. And the result "shines" through me. I am one of the best mirror-cracking materials on earth. Now say, my dear beep-ers, should I cry foul over the great-great grandfathers of the beautiful families, that they oppressed my family's beauty by not allowing their beautiful daughter to marry my great great grandfather? Well, you know what? I suddenly have the itch to demand a reservation - If a family has 2 beautiful daughters; one of them has to be married to me!! Huh ****ing crap bullshit beep beep beep logic... Oh, and because people mortality rate is higher in OBCs than their proportion in populations, I have a suggestion. Find some general class people and kill them. Well, it’s bloody righteous according to your "logic".
And what equality are they preaching, huh? I am confident that these beep-ers never believed in "equality". I mean, their fathers seem intelligent right? So to maintain equality of intelligence in the world, did they marry dumb women? I wonder how many of them would acknowledge that either their fathers aren't intelligent, or their mothers are insane!! Catch-22?
Friends, nature has never supported equality. If it were so, there would be no Everest and no pacific ocean. Everywhere would be one flat land. Someone following science of universe, would readily corroborate the fact that universe happened due to in homogeneity, i.e. inequality. The million species of living organisms are all unique. Can an elephant challenge a deer in a long jump contest? And can a dear challenge the elephant in a tree-smashing contest? No!! The reality is, people are different. Their intelligence levels differ and so do their strong and weak points. Remember, only inequality leads to dynamism. Equality creates stagnancy. So why do you want to make everyone equal? It’s a worthless and fruitless activity. Instead, help people develop their strengths, but don’t crush others to make their weaknesses seem less significant. The OBCs and the SC/Sts are backward, not because of their caste, but because of complacency and the lack of risk taking abilities. How many of them actually risk their everything in setting up businesses? How many of them have made an effort to work their way up form scratch, like Karsanbhai Patel or Dhirubhai Ambani? None!! Unless you take the risk of leaving one step off a ladder, how can you expect to reach the higher one? And why push someone who doesn’t make much effort himself? And why pull down someone who is trying his best to reach the top? Bloody insane ***ing beep-ers
The right to equality has been misunderstood. Its not just about giving equal opportunities, it’s about giving equal opportunities provided they are justified, or rather, deserving. The simple way out is remove the caste questions out of any form!! Then select people on basis of merit. Who will cry prejudice then?
I think reservation has been an ace for vote-banks. It would be a shame if we witnessed another hike in reservations this time. Its high time we all rose to the cause and voice our support against reservations. Amen. And to the beep-ers - get a ***ing new livelihood, you *****#@@#$&@!##s beep beep beep...!!
Cheers!!!
Reservation. I heard the word first, when I was half as high as the lower bogey seats in the 2nd AC sleeper class train. It seemed like a magic word then. As soon as people heard the word "reservation", seats got vacated and my family and me traveled in divine luxury. And for long I was a devout follower of "reservation". Ahem.
Today however, the divine seems satanic. Of course, this time the reservation refers not to your money-can-buy-and-is-rightly-yours seats in trains, but to the merit-don’t-matter-my-ass seats for the so-called OBC and sc/st class in all fields of life. Well, in most fields of life till now.
Let me first make it clear, I have not pledged any vendetta against the OBC and SC/St people. I have friends belonging to these castes and believe that blood is red in all of us. I have never witnessed any different outlook towards them. People tend to ask me, "what about the sewage cleaners that come to your place, why don’t you invite them and let them sit on your sofa..." and blah blah blah. And here is my answer to them - They aren’t allowed to sit on the sofa, not because they are OBCs but simply, because, being sewage cleaners, they are dirty!! It doesn’t matter whether the fellow is OBC or Brahmin! I remember my mom not letting me into the house after I returned home one fine day covered in mud. And by the way, once they clean up, they aren’t just allowed into the home, but offered tea, prepared along with ours. So take your "oh-they-are-so-poorly-dealt-with" arguments off my face and shove it up your you-know-whats.
What has reservations done to these people? Have they risen? No. Have they done anything for their own community? No. If it has done anything, it has only made them more complacent about getting into the institutes they want, just on the basis of their caste! Who wants to work hard when they are being fed on a silver platter? And I wonder how they even compel themselves to live with the knowledge that the post they have secured has been procured by them not because they were deserving, but because of charity!! And then, politicians claim reservation is to uplift their self-esteem!! Self-esteem my foot.
Yeah yeah, I know the sadistic pro-reservationists (henceforth known as beep-ers) will lament over how our forefathers supposedly mistreated them and stuff. Well, the logic is, at best, laughable. Let me exemplify with some examples using the same logic. My great-great-grandfather was not so good-looking man. Apparently he married a woman who wasn't an object-de-art herself. Since then, our family has always been married into the "lower beauty caste", if you please. And the result "shines" through me. I am one of the best mirror-cracking materials on earth. Now say, my dear beep-ers, should I cry foul over the great-great grandfathers of the beautiful families, that they oppressed my family's beauty by not allowing their beautiful daughter to marry my great great grandfather? Well, you know what? I suddenly have the itch to demand a reservation - If a family has 2 beautiful daughters; one of them has to be married to me!! Huh ****ing crap bullshit beep beep beep logic... Oh, and because people mortality rate is higher in OBCs than their proportion in populations, I have a suggestion. Find some general class people and kill them. Well, it’s bloody righteous according to your "logic".
And what equality are they preaching, huh? I am confident that these beep-ers never believed in "equality". I mean, their fathers seem intelligent right? So to maintain equality of intelligence in the world, did they marry dumb women? I wonder how many of them would acknowledge that either their fathers aren't intelligent, or their mothers are insane!! Catch-22?
Friends, nature has never supported equality. If it were so, there would be no Everest and no pacific ocean. Everywhere would be one flat land. Someone following science of universe, would readily corroborate the fact that universe happened due to in homogeneity, i.e. inequality. The million species of living organisms are all unique. Can an elephant challenge a deer in a long jump contest? And can a dear challenge the elephant in a tree-smashing contest? No!! The reality is, people are different. Their intelligence levels differ and so do their strong and weak points. Remember, only inequality leads to dynamism. Equality creates stagnancy. So why do you want to make everyone equal? It’s a worthless and fruitless activity. Instead, help people develop their strengths, but don’t crush others to make their weaknesses seem less significant. The OBCs and the SC/Sts are backward, not because of their caste, but because of complacency and the lack of risk taking abilities. How many of them actually risk their everything in setting up businesses? How many of them have made an effort to work their way up form scratch, like Karsanbhai Patel or Dhirubhai Ambani? None!! Unless you take the risk of leaving one step off a ladder, how can you expect to reach the higher one? And why push someone who doesn’t make much effort himself? And why pull down someone who is trying his best to reach the top? Bloody insane ***ing beep-ers
The right to equality has been misunderstood. Its not just about giving equal opportunities, it’s about giving equal opportunities provided they are justified, or rather, deserving. The simple way out is remove the caste questions out of any form!! Then select people on basis of merit. Who will cry prejudice then?
I think reservation has been an ace for vote-banks. It would be a shame if we witnessed another hike in reservations this time. Its high time we all rose to the cause and voice our support against reservations. Amen. And to the beep-ers - get a ***ing new livelihood, you *****#@@#$&@!##s beep beep beep...!!
Cheers!!!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Chernobyl inspired musings
Friends, today I saw the battle of Chernobyl on Discovery channel. And at the end of it, I can say only one thing - its horrifying. 26 April 1986 was when the tragedy struck. For some who are ill-informed regarding the tragedy, here is a brief synopsis (of course, its true to the best of my knowledge and memory):
There were 4 reactors at Chernobyl nuclear powerplant. On 26th April 1986, during the night, the third reactor exploded. Now consider the following statistics. It contained 195 tons of radioactive material. The temperature of the surrounding at a distance of 200 mtrs was above 100 degrees celcius. THe radiations were eating into the floor for which Russia had to dig up channels below the reactor and install cement concrete barriers. The nuclear waste was sprayed over with tons of sand and lead. THe high temperature melted lead and evaporised some parts, leading to lead poisoning and even today, children born around chernobyl suffer from its wretched grasps. Vegetation produced even today is contaminated and only way out is the impossible task of razing away 20 cms of soil from all around chernobyl and dumping it somewhere!! Robots employed for cleaning stopped working after a brief period.The workers employed for cleaning, called the biorobots, worked for 45 seconds, i repeat 45 seconds before coming out of the terrace and returning back. Just 45 seconds. Most of them have died or suffer from irreversible diseases. Just imagine. The radiation over the terrace after 3 months or so, was 12000-15000 Roentgens. The potentially fatal limit is 400. People initially exposed to the radiation died, and its obvious that during initial months the radiation level was still higher. AMount spent that time was 1800 crore reubels, which was nearly 1800 crore dollars, in 1986. 45 metres high steel claddings cover the area and they need to be replaced now. CHernobyl even today isnt safe for living.
Now my point is this - Just imagine folks. 195 tons of Uranium, with density around 19000, seems to be no more than a couple of stacks of bunk beds. ANd that created a havoc of so many years, so much wealth, and most important of all, the destruction or degeration of living organisms. Even today, children are born with deformations beyond the levels of acceptancy, thyroid cancer is as common as common cold. THe so called biorobots are in age group of 40-50 years today and already look like our next door nonagenarian. And they were exposed for about 40-50 seconds.
Russia has some 2700 s-something missiles which can create havoc af 100 chernobyls each. And only good lord, and the so-called "presidents of responsible nuclear nations" know how many more such missiles exist even today. And imagine the destruction it will cause if some little oil-bearing nation sticks its fingers at Uncle Sam who suddenly has the itch to teach the little pest some lessons in nuclear power, by exploding a couple of fat, tall and god-knows-what boys!! And to think that science was supposed to be helpful to mankind.
Friends, have we made a grave mistake of disrespecting science? Its not just the chernobyls, and the hiroshimas i am talking about. Take ourselves. Consider our own everyday encounters with potential death-traps. How many times have we forgotten to respect speed and throw caution to the winds just because of some thrill of fast motor-cycling? No, I do not advocate to be paranoid or something. But then, shouldnt we be a little scared of science, just out of respect? Shouldnt we be more thoughtful while dealing with resources we have, and not spend them as if it is our last day on planet earth?
I totally am in favour of advancement of science and technology. Nuclear energy can be safely harnessed also. But I think it is high time we paid science due respect. Who knows, our ego-tripping and fool hardiness might just wipe out the whole earth of mankind in the matter of nano-seconds.
Think friends, just think.
Cheers!
There were 4 reactors at Chernobyl nuclear powerplant. On 26th April 1986, during the night, the third reactor exploded. Now consider the following statistics. It contained 195 tons of radioactive material. The temperature of the surrounding at a distance of 200 mtrs was above 100 degrees celcius. THe radiations were eating into the floor for which Russia had to dig up channels below the reactor and install cement concrete barriers. The nuclear waste was sprayed over with tons of sand and lead. THe high temperature melted lead and evaporised some parts, leading to lead poisoning and even today, children born around chernobyl suffer from its wretched grasps. Vegetation produced even today is contaminated and only way out is the impossible task of razing away 20 cms of soil from all around chernobyl and dumping it somewhere!! Robots employed for cleaning stopped working after a brief period.The workers employed for cleaning, called the biorobots, worked for 45 seconds, i repeat 45 seconds before coming out of the terrace and returning back. Just 45 seconds. Most of them have died or suffer from irreversible diseases. Just imagine. The radiation over the terrace after 3 months or so, was 12000-15000 Roentgens. The potentially fatal limit is 400. People initially exposed to the radiation died, and its obvious that during initial months the radiation level was still higher. AMount spent that time was 1800 crore reubels, which was nearly 1800 crore dollars, in 1986. 45 metres high steel claddings cover the area and they need to be replaced now. CHernobyl even today isnt safe for living.
Now my point is this - Just imagine folks. 195 tons of Uranium, with density around 19000, seems to be no more than a couple of stacks of bunk beds. ANd that created a havoc of so many years, so much wealth, and most important of all, the destruction or degeration of living organisms. Even today, children are born with deformations beyond the levels of acceptancy, thyroid cancer is as common as common cold. THe so called biorobots are in age group of 40-50 years today and already look like our next door nonagenarian. And they were exposed for about 40-50 seconds.
Russia has some 2700 s-something missiles which can create havoc af 100 chernobyls each. And only good lord, and the so-called "presidents of responsible nuclear nations" know how many more such missiles exist even today. And imagine the destruction it will cause if some little oil-bearing nation sticks its fingers at Uncle Sam who suddenly has the itch to teach the little pest some lessons in nuclear power, by exploding a couple of fat, tall and god-knows-what boys!! And to think that science was supposed to be helpful to mankind.
Friends, have we made a grave mistake of disrespecting science? Its not just the chernobyls, and the hiroshimas i am talking about. Take ourselves. Consider our own everyday encounters with potential death-traps. How many times have we forgotten to respect speed and throw caution to the winds just because of some thrill of fast motor-cycling? No, I do not advocate to be paranoid or something. But then, shouldnt we be a little scared of science, just out of respect? Shouldnt we be more thoughtful while dealing with resources we have, and not spend them as if it is our last day on planet earth?
I totally am in favour of advancement of science and technology. Nuclear energy can be safely harnessed also. But I think it is high time we paid science due respect. Who knows, our ego-tripping and fool hardiness might just wipe out the whole earth of mankind in the matter of nano-seconds.
Think friends, just think.
Cheers!
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Hello
Hello everyone!! I welcome myself to the world of blog and am confident that I shall get the hang of it by the turn of the next century... Now that I have taken the first hurdle away, of creating a blog (phew!!!) I shall try to think of something to fill it up with!! Haha but till then cya!
Cheers!!
Cheers!!
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