Children on Children's Day

That children are the citizens of tomorrow- is an oft repeated phrase in a speech a child gives on Children's Day. In fact, yours truly is guilty of starting this post with it. International Children's Day is celebrated on June 1, and Children's Day in India on November 14th of every year. While usually it is a day celebrating children and their innocence, it is also a day that one is reminded of the numerous kids that are exempt of the privileges that some of us have so shamelessly misused.

Here's my crib. Why remember them on the day that's meant to be theirs? The rest 364 days, forget about them or don't give them that much attention. In no means is it a generalization, there are lots of people who have devoted their lives to ameliorate the kids' lives, but they too go unnoticed until its Children's Day. Remember the dead when they died is it? News websites in India flash reports about malnourished children in rural India, the sorry state of affairs prevailing all their life, that money directed to uplift them often fails to even be heard of.

Where do we go from here? Feel sorry for them on the day we are meant to think about them and then go back to our business of doing petty chores that we so relentlessly run behind? Or do something that will in deed be of help? Where do we go from here....

Here's a nice TedTalk I stumbled upon today...Sort of connected...but not I suppose, either or its a good talk

What to do...

Being selfless is often a virtue human beings desire others to possess, but not something they would easily picture themselves having. Sadly, this wasn't the case with her. It was unthinkable for her to be selfish, even if it meant doing something she knew was detrimental to her in the long run. In fact, it was the opposite in this case, her friends yearned for her to be selfish.

It was hard to decipher her. Putting herself first before making a decision wasn't ever the right thing to do, every time she thought about it, there was an impending guilty feeling in her conscience that made her step back. She'd struggled hard enough to make everyone happy, never hoping for a return. But it wasn't enough...people had higher expectations for her every step of her life. Was it because they thought she was capable of doing it or they were vicariously living through her life was indeed debatable...

So what should a girl like this end up doing...Wait for someone to tell her how to change her life or in fact make her own decision...

Abandon sex the TV way

Disclaimer: Dad, if you are reading this, sorry, but you know I had to write about this, its stupid how these people think. There goes creative thinking down the drain- and hence I never adopted it.

Agreed. We've got a population problem in India. Increased population leads to increased pressure on the economy, on the food chain, such and such. Clearly, you can see I am least bothered about the population problem by itself.

Indian Health Minister, Ghulam Naqbi Azad, in an interview about ways to reduce increase in population has said that heightened viewing of television, especially in rural India, will reduce the production of babies. Firstly, LOL at that. (Daddy, LOL=laugh out loud). I mean really, seriously, really? Where did you come up with that Mr. Azad?

I quote him here- "Television has one great benefit above all... if electricity reaches every village people will watch television late into the night and will have no time to produce babies. I would believe 80% of birth control be taken care of by television." Again, LOL. Imagine the plight of the birth control pill companies, even worse poor I-pill was just launched. How will it survive?

Obvious outrage in me, hence the lack of coherence. Someone asked me, what channels will be shown to these people- I say GOOD QUESTION. Now answer that Mr. Azad. Please do not show them something equivalent to the History Channel, cause then they might as well, spend time having sex, and if there's something on TV that's useful(in every sense of the word), then more incentive for them to check it out (;)). I mean learn stuff from TV if you wish to. TV as birth control, yea right.

So all those villages eagerly waiting for electricity, its coming, cause Mr.Azad thinks it will give you something to do. :D Sure it will...

Good Will Hunting

The human race is an odd species. Half its time goes away trying to contemplate the possibilities of maintaining reputation. We are so consumed by what our place in society is, what it will be, we forget who we are. Some would argue that this is not a bad thing necessarily, after all its the survival of the fittest. But take a step back and think about it- is it really worth it? We are in a constant struggle to be someone people want us to be, or what people expect us to be, what we think people expect from us, what will it take to be us? Imagine a world where everyone was exactly who they were- would it really be that easy and playful to live in?

I watched Good Will Hunting for the 'n'th time today and the last scene without Matt Damon finally made sense. He could have been what he was being sculpted into by a frustrated Math professor. But he knew what he wanted. Sure its a Hollywood story, but in retrospect it could be our life...It really isn't about others, it's about us as an individual.

Life has become about others, while death the individual....odd ...

Death...

Disclaimer: This is going to be a very depressing article, both due to the content and due to the fact that it was written on a weekend (great choice of day there). So reading along is totally up to your discretion. And no I am not suicidal, this is just a post.

Last Monday I woke up with an odd feeling- that this was going to be my final week on Earth. My final week to live. And then full stop. Period. Done. That's it, I wouldn't have to wake up in the morning, I wouldn't have to think about what was to be done, make an agenda, procrastination would have no consequences, I wouldn't have to be answerable to anyone, I wouldn't to worry about keeping people happy...oh the number of 'I didn't'-s and 'I wouldn't'-s that I could come up with....

Oddly enough, I wasn't sad or concerned about it. It almost seemed like a relief. I think the rationale behind it was that no matter what we do in life, and no matter if we achieved the fame we all yearned for, one had to die someday with or without that fame, with or without that knowledge. Hence, not a big deal. I sat down thinking to myself how life, in reality, was too long. On average, we live to about 70 years these days. Sure there are exceptions. But we can't help admit that life expectancy has increased. And yet, we seem so concerned about life being too short. I mean how much more time do you need to figure out your life. If you haven't done things by then, you won't do it anymore.

We are scared of death- no doubt about that. And living with that fear, we ruin every ounce of potential fun we are entitled to, or at least think we are entitled to. Almost seems like, things we do are to avoid death. That we know of its existence, should technically make it simpler for us to live, not complicated to the core. That knowledge should in fact just let us live...not die while living...

Gmail Blog

Call me a nerd, call me jobless call me whatever, but one of my things during leisure time ( err ok all the time) is to make sure I am up to date with the newest things on none other than GMAIL. I have to visit the gmail blog everyday to see if there are new updates to the mail system and of course I try and implement. Sometimes I wonder if gmail failed, what would happen to my daily routine.....err lol!!

As I contemplate over that, visit the gmail blog and be amazed

.....

She knew it wasn't going to get better. That feeling was the worst ever. When disappointment... being led off track was tangible. But what could she do? There was no way out. Even if there was, there wasn't enough courage in her to do what she wanted to do, or to at least even acknowledge that it wasn't what she wanted to do.

She'd seen her family spiral down. A little too fast. Domino effect. Better than before. A start she could pin point but was it worth it? An end- none possible? Was it worth thinking about....She'd given up a lot, or at least that's what she thought. It would take a lot more to make her life seem worthwhile.

Was that all she cared about, to get that attention she yearned for? She was one of those people that couldn't do without people. Had to be the center of attention, if she wasn't she found a way to sorta find her place there. She was living someone's life. That was certain. She knew it, acknowledged it. But she didn't have the courage to change it. It wasn't fair to her....it wasn't fair for anyone....

It was the best anyone could do....It was the best she had always known....Its the best she'll always know.....

At a loss for.....

Delhi-6 promises to be a good movie, inspiring as well. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra after all. You start with one video, and proceed to another one; you know that vicious chain of videos you get sucked into on Youtube. So my next video "happened" to be the trailer for Rang de Basanti- that movie that was thought provoking, that was off-beat, that made you think who you were as part of a country, of any country for that matter.

Of course my immediate reaction was to start blogging from what I saw in the RDB trailer- "A Generation Awakens". Myth I say it is. When 26/11 took place, when India was in shock, it seemed it would be the trigger to do something different, and not sit back. Sure we aren't sitting back, but ask yourself if we have in fact done something. Pakistan has not yet accepted involvement in the massacre. The dossier has had no significant impact on either government, it literally is a dossier. Plans were made in Bangladesh, now in Europe...apparently. In all of this, we have the Satyam scandal. The defining fall of India's IT sector in the world. Merryll Lynch backing out, so many clients insulted.

And in the heart of the country, that of the citizens- nothing has changed. We sit back and analyze; rage against those responsible, rage against the government has known no bounds for a while, but all in the coziness of the chair at home, in front of the TV. A two year old is raped in Bombay. Common, what can we do. Mangalore assaults. Horrendous. Let's send Pink Chaddis to the guy, Hindu Talibanization. Conduct certificates for single girls if they want to rent an apartment in Bangalore. Brilliant. Dawood trying to kill Qasab. We have all the news, we do zilch. It will all die out. I am waiting for it.

Half of us are sitting here in the US hoping things are better back home. In the mean time, we can take advantage of the exchange rate while it lasts and make fun of the falling capitalism. Job search isn't going the right way....well there's always India to go back to. And the other half in India too scared to change the status-quo. True you can't blame them because anti-social elements have taken the best of their thinking abilities. For that matter, non anti-social elements as well. Barkha Dutt pulled a brilliant stunt on a blogger, since she didn't like what was said. And she calls herself a journalist. A journalist who prides herself in the quality of work she has put forth over the years. Tell me this Barkha, wouldn't it have been easier for you to write something about that instead of pulling all the legal logistics, asking the blogger to apologise. So much for the freedom of speech you so dearly cherish and you so dearly derive your living out of.

Why has this gotten easier for us to accept? Thomas Friedman had written that our generation is Generation Q- Q for Quiet. We shout, we write, we debate, we blog, but in the end we are quiet, its better that way, we are in that infinite loop of leisure and ease that gets us nowhere.

Yours truly takes full responsibility of being in Gen Q. What will it take to change us in reality?

My bailout s'il vous plait

If there is one word that the GRE/TOEFL is not going to ask this year and the coming years, it's BAILOUT. Everyone knows what it means, after all it has spread its horizon throughout the world now.

Off late, every time I sit down to read the newspaper, I wait in anticipation of news about bailout. Who's next? Another financial institution, more likely than not....Social Security is definitely down the drain by the time I get old enough to be able to claim it.

Where is my bailout please?

Where is she now?

If you know me well, this post will come as a surprise. And let me know if what is in this post is not justified. I am guessing most of you have taken the time out to read the article and have already made a mental picture of what I am about to write. Sure, I am going to write about where this lady is. I do not care that she has a name, I do not care that she got to the US. All I care is I have been in this situation, still am, and have seen what it can do.

"Obama a messiah for Chennai family", that's what the headline read. Since the Obama wave has taken over places and people, yes moi aussi, I read the article, only to end up baffled.

I remember this person applying for a visa to get here to the US so that he can see his only daughter graduate with a bachelor's degree. Only she knows what she went through those three years, those three that she so desperately wants to forget. But sure enough he was denied visa, why - no points for guessing- cause he was a potential immigrant. Yes, his daughter was an American citizen, and yes his wife was here as well, sure that made him an immigrant, a potential one might I add. So he has never been able to set foot into the US ever since then. This to a man, who left the US in '86, has been to the US at least three times ever since then. So no brownie points for being here and leaving, nope! It made him a potential immigrant nonetheless. So would it have helped for his daughter or his wife to have sent a letter to the Congressmen in-charge then and seen if it had helped? Would it have been fair to beg for an entry to this country? Should I judge and say that because of this I had to go through graduation without my dad? Or should I just sit back and say, I guess I deserved it.

The article very sweetly failed to mention where this said lady is right now- India or the US? I wonder why........She wanted to come here for her son's house-warming ceremony, and she did. What wrong had my dad done to visit me for my graduation? That he didn't beg to get here, and held up his pride?

I want to know where she is. I want to know how many people here are NOT potential immigrants.

Written on the 25th of January, 2009