RUMINATIONS

Food for Thought !!!

2006-05-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

If the sky is the limit, then what is space, over the limit?

Are children who act in rated 'R' movies allowed to see them?

Aren't the 'good things that come to those who wait' just the leftovers from the people that got there first?

If the swat team breaks down your door do they have to replace it later?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Can you get cornered in a round room?

Wouldn't it be smart to make the sticky stuff on envelopes taste like chocolate?

"Have you ever noticed that if you rearranged the letters in mother in law, they come out to Woman Hitler?"

Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures’?

Why is it when we talk to God we are praying, but when God talks to us we are put into the loony bin?

Why is vanilla ice cream white when vanilla extract is brown?

Why do you get in trouble for blocking an exit when you're standing in the doorway? In case of an emergency, wouldn't you run out, too, therefore NOT blocking the exit?
If mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?

If you were a genie and a person asked you this wish, "I wish you would not grant me this wish" what would you do?

Did Noah have woodpeckers on the ark? If he did, where did he keep them?

Why is Charlie short for Charles if they are both the same number of letters?
If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

If a bunch of cats jump on top of each other, is it still called a dog pile?
Why is it when we duck they call us chicken?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

When you see the weather report and it says "partly cloudy" and then the next day it says "partly sunny"; what’s the difference?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

If people say if you eat dessert before dinner it will ruin your appetite won’t eating dinner before dessert ruin your appetite for dessert?

Religion of Terror

2006-04-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Jama Masjid blasts on Friday only confirmed what all intellectuals have always been aware of, that terror has no religion. There have been numerous incidences of attacks on places of worship Raghunath temple in 2002, Akshardham in 2004, Varanasi blast in 2006 and now these blasts in Jama Masjid are to name a few. And these brutal acts are not limited to India alone. If the demolition of statues of Mahatma Buddha in Bam district of Afghanistan was to test the patience of millions of devotees all over the world attack on Al Askari Mosque of Samara City in Iraq this year was another instance of such dastardly acts.

So what makes these men of no honor attack such places that should be considered symbol of peace both of soul and humanity in general? I think the answer lies in the deep mistrust an average individual has for other religion. The phenomenon is not something new. The history is replete with crusades and other religious wars just to stamp authority of one creed over other. Destruction of holy places has been considered the greatest humiliation on the suppressed community and there I think lays the reason for the attacks. The aim is surely to incite the religious feelings of the people so that people of one community may blast their anger balloons on the people of other community. The death count post Godhra incident was more than 1000. Although the source of trouble in this case was not any terrorist activity (or is it??) the example just goes on to show how destructive communal clashes can be. Jerusalem is another prime example ( I would not even contemplate the head count over there considering Jerusalem has been fought over by armies of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines,Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Crusaders, Mongols, Mamelukes, Turks, British, Jordanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Iraqis, all in the name of religion !!!!).

Evidently we must realize that Christ, Mohammad, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Nanak, Moosa, Ali are great men whose messages are not limited for any one religion. All these great men incarnated on this earth for the welfare of humanity & not for the welfare of any one sect. So we the human beings have this moral responsibility to give regard to all those incarnations of all sects who embodied themselves in the human form on this earth. It is essential because if we wish our Gods or holy places to be revered, we shall have to pay reverence to Gods & holy places of the other faiths. Not only in India but in the entire world & almost all the people of the world are bearing the pain of attacks on their religious faiths. At such times, all of us must show the tolerance & goodwill for one another so that the evil spirits might not succeed in their nefarious actions.

Forsaken by our own ???

2006-04-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

Since childhood I was always told that there is no substitute to hard work, our leaders are surely trying hard to change that. Yes I am talking about the decision of our Government regarding reservation in IITs, IIMs, DU etc. It grieves my heart that our leaders are forsaking us just for being in a position of power. The feeling is almost like that of a hurt child whose parents have chosen a favorite among their two children and decided that the other one is worthless. I am a firm believer of “doing everything for survival” but it disgusts me that our politician have chosen to play with the future of crores of Indian students and quite possibly that of our country just to prolong their sagging political career.

For those of you who are wondering why am I agitated about reservation in selected elite institutions—well first reason is that these institutes are the jewel in our educational system. These are the only institutes renowned worldwide for their excellence. And if you think above caste politics, these reservations do compromise on the quality of these institutes. Second reason is that it does not stop here. As it is worded, the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, inserting Clause 5 in Article 15, empowers the government to make any law for OBC/SC/ST reservation in private "educational institutions". Which basically mean tomorrow some other political entity can introduce reservations in private schools too. Parents beware, your kid, for whom u have dreamt a bright future, may not even be able to go to a school, let alone a college.

What are our options? Leave our motherland and go somewhere else where merit is the criteria for distinction rather than the family into which you were born? How many of us can afford that? And more importantly why should we do that? Are we not citizens of this diverse country, don’t we have the right to survive/serve in our own country….if yes why is it being made very tough, if not downright impossible, for us to live even on hardship?

The other option which I believe is quite simple and yet powerful is to take proactive interest in the election of those who will govern us. We can’t choose our parents but we can at least choose who will rule (if that is correct word) us. Why do we abstain from voting? It is our apathy against election process that has given these short sighted politicians power to run our lives in the first place. If we would have exercised our electoral rights, we would have been able to select leaders (in true sense) who would have risen above such petty politics and concentrated on broader issues and brought reforms (much like Mr Manmohan singh and Sonia Gandhi were proposing before showing that they are mere politicians)

I think I should also clarify my stance over here. I am not against the upliftment of any section of society. I am fortunate enough to have friends belonging to OBC who refused to avail this quota and secured admissions in colleges on their merit and I am really proud of them. But I sincerely don’t believe that reserving seats like this is the way to do it because I don’t think this will shorten the bridge between classes but only throw the future of this country into a chasm from which it will be impossible to recover.

PS – Mr PM I hope you don’t have plans to force American Government to make reservations based on caste in their 65000 H1-B cap too. I plead with you to spare at least some place for us to go. I assure you that with the technological advances we will do our best to be born with proper surname in our next avatar as human. Have pity on us just this time.