Category: Personal

  • Traffic Jam

    The condition of the world today is like a huge traffic jam on a single road in the middle of the desert. Going off the road is the equivalent of getting killed. On the road, everyone wants the other to move and have different solutions for how to get out of the traffic jam and everyone wants to implement their idea.

    Having one fellow unravel the whole traffic jam is useless, since he does not know the situation ahead. Having several people sort out the traffic jam is also useless, since there is bound to be difference in view points. Let’s see how we get out of this traffic jam.

    Hint: abandon your cars, take a cycle and go home.

  • Lok Sabha TV

    The Parliamentarians of India now have the whole nation watching their conduct on live television. Lok Sabha TV broadcasts live Parliamentary debate during the Parliamentary session and at other times has interviews with MPs, political parties, analysis programmes etc. This is the first 24-hour channel dedicated to the lower house of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha and it is supposed to be the first of its kind.

    This has a very fun aspect of it. You can either see serious debates in Parliament or you can see how money is going down the drain.

    What is the expectation? People will see the MPs wasting their money on certain issues and when they return to their constituency, question them. I am yet to see the MP from my region in Parliament or maybe, its because I don’t watch LS TV that often.

    My nine year old brother who still does not understand Parliamentary democracy thinks that its a huge classroom with a teacher. He asks me why the teacher does not check their homework. I just don’t know what to answer.

    FYI: There’s also a Rajya Sabha TV. But LS TV is a 24-hour channel.

  • Seeing Experiment

    Before reading the whole post, look at the theme header image and tell me what your first instantaneous reaction was. Done? Now read on.

    Shirin started this off. She wrote a post about seeing and believing and that got me thinking of doing a seeing experiment myself. The two are not connected. I asked two people to look at the theme of this blog and for their immediate reactions. Both said along the lines of:

    “peaceful…beautiful…snow”

    Three guys and three girls, just for balancing out gender probabilities. Just 1 because I don’t have the cash to carry out a world wide survey. I compared what they said with what was my first reaction to this theme.

    I don’t know if they brooded over it and looked properly. But, I looked at it for about 5 seconds and this what I thought:

    “Battle field…Deserted battlefield”

    Why? Because I didn’t have time to take a look at it properly, I thought the clouds was smoke. The snow suggested winter. Winter is generally associated with death. That’s all I thought and what I said was: “Battlefield…Deserted battlefield”.

    I meant a just abandoned battlefield. Somewhere, where a battle has just taken place. Odd.

  • Problems in India?

    India may be doing well economically. But, what’s happening to the social structure?

    1. Trouble in parts of Maharashtra.
    2. MLAs trashing the WB assembly.
    3. Union Minsister convicted of murder.

    Where are we headed?

  • Welcome to the all-new Parallel Spirals

    I deleted all the previous posts since they’re basically not the best of my writing. I will remain offline till 2nd December, 2006. But, you will see on the timestamp that the date is: 25-11-2006. This is thanks to WordPress.com’s timestamp edit feature.

    I plan to limit myself seriously in this all-new blog. This is an attempt to make blogging a more productive experience. Feedback and comments are always welcome.

  • Stories Worth Following

    The CS Monitor‘s report on India stepping up ties with Africa, in the face of China doing the same. Don’t understand why they do this. The national interests of India and China can’t be the same. If Africa benefits, good for them. If India benefits, good for us. But, if India is going in just to compete with China, it’s bad strategy.
     
    MS to reconsider it’s China Policy from BBC News.

    Rice traders and environmentalists have warned the Government of India against experimenting further with genetically modified crops .No news report in CNN-IBN. Have to check their website though…

    GoodNewsIndia has several good articles related to agriculture practises and re-invigorating ancient water pools – at a time when it is being said that wars will be fought over water.

    Last but not the least…India’s mission to the moon…oh! did I say India’s manned mission to the moon?

    Glad to be here…

    I probably won’t be blogging for the next couple of days…have to make some arrangements vis-a-vis my studies…exams getting closer…winds getting colder…brrr…and no @#$%^& announcemnt from MU….hmmph…

    Hindustan Times has introduced a practise of providing the email ids of people writing the stories – the reporters – this is a wonderful concept and I hope other newspapers follow the example…

  • A nuclear-less world

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as http://parallelspirals.blogspot.com/. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on Ocober 16, 2006 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    The whole world takes all its nuclear explosives and gets rid of them. A thorough search of the Earth is carried out with satellites to make sure that no evidence of nuclear energy is left on Earth. All Uranium, useless to Earth and useful only to nuclear energy is also packed and taken far away into space and explodes. The world is then rid of nuclear energy.

    What a lovely scenario to contemplate. But, not so possible in the next 10-20 years. Nuclear alternatives, it seems are necessary for the coal dependant economic powerhouses of India and China. Until you have effective and useful alternatives to coal and as cheap,nuclear power would be very hard to get rid of.

    But, if it is eventually got rid of, won’t all the good stuff – like nuclear medicene, go along with it too? Who knows what other hidden purposes Uranium can be used for?

    Think about it.

    If there is a perfectly scientific explanation to this, kindly send me a link in the comments section. I’m too lazy to search on the Internet or do research on what I think? If you want to make this a PhD thesis, go ahead.

    ===
    listening to:
    birds leaving after hearing the children shouting…

  • Untouchability

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as http://parallelspirals.blogspot.com/. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on Ocober 16, 2006 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    I read in a newspaper article yesterday that Buddha was the only ‘God’ who was born (or reborn) on this Earth as an ‘untouchable’. This was in commemoration of the mass conversion of dalits from Hinduism to Buddhism lead by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar about 50 years ago.

    Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was one of the architects of the Indian constitution and is quoted to have said:”I was born a Hindu, but I will not die a Hindu” against the caste system prevalent (even today) in a Hindu society.

    What I’m asking is, is this because  God was too high a being to be born into an ‘untouchable’ family? If that is so, it goes against the teachings in several religions which states (besides the several Constitutions):
    “Man/Woman is created equal”. Another possibility is that ‘the guardians of religion’ felt that this would give too much room for untouchables to rise up against the priest class and had them deliberately deleted.

    Knowing very little of human beings, I would say people would be more likely to accept that such accounts existed and were deliberately deleted. They might even offer to re-instate some of the stories into the religious texts. Truth be said, having stories in books doesn’t do much good for the reality. Even if you didn’t change these texts, would you be ready to offer these people access into places of worship?

    The same idea can even be applied to stories of women. They may also have been deleted considering that women were only supposed to sit at home and cook and such stories would only cause them to demand for their rights. If every man/woman is created equal why do we need laws to ban untouchability and other such practises? Shouldn’t it be embedded in the human DNA?

    Well, that’s too much to ask too. Old habits die hard. But, it’s not that wrong to hope in  youthful idealism, is it?

    I have only stated my point of view. If I hurt your innermost sentiments I would like to apologise, but please consider it for a moment even if you don’t state it publically.

    ===
    listening to:
    Original of the Species – U2
    Rebel Heart – The Corrs
    Fix you – Coldplay

  • Studying City Life

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as http://parallelspirals.blogspot.com/. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on Ocober 16, 2006 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    One of the ways to look at life in India is to travel in a public transport. Since trains compartmentalise everything and autos and cabbies don’t give you the chance anyone else, the bus is the best place to observe the interaction between: men, women, children, college-goers, differently abled and all stratas of society. Better still if you are on a bus in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai. Next time you are in Mumbai take a north-south long distance bus trip. Best way to discover Mumbai and its eccentricities.

    Also might find something interesting that was not in your travel brochure..

    ===
    listening to:
    Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day

  • Exam Fever

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as http://parallelspirals.blogspot.com/. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on Ocober 15, 2006 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    Well, exam’s beginning in another month. Aaaaahhhh! (runs and hides under the bed). Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. Can do nothing from under the bed. Relax…(What???)…Breathe in and breathe out… So, till the end of December…blog posts will mostly be about shouting and running under the bed..studying…sleeping…studying…eating..studying…eating…studying…did I say eating….

    Pardon my attempt at humour…I’m trying to release severe mental trauma and tension. Sorry for killing the medical terminology…those equations are wrong…what’re you doing online??…
    [Ed: Blogger was under severe stress while composing the blog. Kindly overlook any spelling errors etc. Thank you]

    Calm…Relax…Study…
    Hah! Feel much better already. Thank you for bearing with me for this one post. Will do it again before the exams..so bear with me.

    ==
    listening to: (go study….exams in one month and your listening to songs??????)
    I hope you dance – Lee Ann Womack
    I never loved you anyway – The Corrs