Saddam Hussein sentenced to death ...

Finally the court trying Saddam has pronounced judgement and sentenced him to death.
The newspapers were agog from yesterday about a possible death sentence and they have
been proven right. Looks like this is the time of capital punishments - first Afzal, then the
lawyer in the Maattoo case and now Saddam Hussein.

I guess opinion is divided on whether Afzal should be put to death or not, with our own
Arundhati Roy using up quite a few pages of the latest Outlook mag for his cause. I am
not sure I really buy her theory though. Regarding the lawyer, general opinion is that
justice has been done, though delayed. The crime was pretty heinous and would look
like it deserves the punishment doled out.

Coming to Saddam Hussein, the crimes attributed to him, have been committed by many
a dictator, and in most cases with the active support of the US & other western countries,
that are working behind the scenes to have him crucified.

This is not to say that he is innocent. The guy has quite some blood on his hands and needs
to be punished. But then, do not Dubya and Blair deserve the same or more stringent punishment for killing so many innocent Iraqis (6.5 lakhs as per latest reports) ? And that
too without any real reason. They invaded a country just like that, bombed it to dust, killed innocent men/women/children and in short turned it into a mess. Agreed that Saddam was
no just ruler, but atleast the people had the basic necessities and there was no chaos like
what is seen today.

The 1st Gulf war was started due to Saddam invading Kuwait and which was a blatantly
wrong thing to do. However, if reports are to be believed, he had an informal go-ahead
from Bush Sr., who later went back on his commitment. Either ways, it was wrong to
invade another country and Iraq paid for it, along with Saddam. However, there was no justification for invading Iraq the 2nd time. Even if he did have WMDs, they would have
been sourced from the US only.

So it has been such a sorry joke - first arm dictators, then invade them after accusing them
of having WMDs which you only provided them in the first place.

I was in college when the 1st Gulf war happened and people in Kerala keenly followed the happenings as it had a large number of its people working in the Gulf countries, who would
be affected by war breaking out. Even as I conceded that Saddam was at fault, I admired
him for taking on the world's bully. He might have lost the war, but no one can accuse him
of not putting up a fight. The Yankees might have won finally, but the world got someone
who could stand up to a bully.

The 2nd time around, there wasn't much to fault Iraq/Saddam of and still the US and UK
invaded it. The Americans have seen a thousand odd of their soldiers returning home in
bodybags and many more maimed. The way these guys are bogged down in Iraq, this does
not seem to be the end of casualties. Sentencing Saddam to death is only going to add fuel
to the fire.

The US is already aware of the grave mistake it did by getting into Iraq and this is one misadventure they are not going to forget for a long time. But then, I am not betting on
that possibility either. They forgot Vietnam, didn't they ? As someone aptly put it, "The
only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history".

The Mallu blogging scene.

Even though I have been blogging for sometime now and also have been a regular at some
nice blogs like waiterrant, clublife, Crystal blur etc, I never knew that there were a whole
lot of Mallus blogging away, and in style.

I somehow did not associate Mallus with blogging. I realised how wrong I was when I
stumbled upon the well written and humorous blog of Silverine. Silverine is a Mallu girl working/based at Bangalore and describes herself thus, "Cancerian, happy go lucky girl
who likes to sock life in the face if it gets too serious".

On her blog are links to a whole array of Mallu blogs dealing with varied topics. Have not
had the time to go through them yet, but will try to sample them as and when possible.

Till then, all ye Mallus, blog on, you have nothing to loose but your inhibitions.

Kerala Piravi - Golden anniversary of the creation of Kerala state

It is 1st November again and a big day for all Keralites. OK, not as big as Onam maybe,
but nevertheless important. And this year it is extra special as it is the Golden Anniversary.

A Happy Birthday to GOD's Own Country.

Lots of emails from Mallu friends with photographs capturing the beauty of Kerala.
Actually, is it really possible to capture her beauty using a camera ? I have tried many
times and even though the photos came out pretty good, I always felt that it looked
much better in reality.

Of all the photos (of beaches, backwaters, kathakali artist, pookkalam, tea estates,
waterfalls etc) that came in, what really attracted me was the following caricature
and the accompanying lines (which I am told were written by Malayalam poet Vayalar).

Pardon my ignorance as inspite of being a Keralite, I have spent almost all my life outside
Kerala. Well, what's new about that, right ?


A rough translation for the benefit of non-Mallus would go as below :

Are there people who have lived in this place to their heart's content ?
Are there people who have lived here and loved to their heart's desire till their last breath ?
Please give me another life on this beautiful shore,
Please give me another life here...

Capital punishment - various viewpoints.

I have been reading different views in the newspapers by readers, apart from the editorials, concerning the courts awarding capital punishment to the accused in the Parliament attack
case.

Some are for capital punishment. Some are normally against capital punishment, but want
it to be awarded in this case, as it involves terrorism. And the rest are fully against capital punishment etc.

Those that do not want a pardon to happen in this case cite the following :
1) A terrorist act and an attack on our country's foremost institution.
2) It would be unfair to the 9 security people killed in the attack.
3) The accused showing no remorse and not asking for pardon personally
(it is his family that have asked for pardon on his behalf).
4) The accused not accepting Indian constitution and authority.
5) A reduction to life sentence would mean that he will be again out in the
streets in 12 years plotting another attack.
6) If sentenced to life, could lead to another air hijacking in future to get him
released and free to plot more terror games.

Those that want a pardon in this case cite :
1) No human has the right to take another's life.
2) It is inhuman; the world as such is moving away from this type of punishment.
3) India, the land of Ahimsa, should not practice such western punishments.
4) If at a later stage, it turns out that the person was not guilty, it would not be
possible to reverse the injustice meted to him etc.

I personally am confused. I think that this is a grave crime and deserves serious
punishment. Also, I am worried about the signal this would send to our armed
forces (and their families) who sacrifice their life for our safety. But, I also believe
that no human has the right to take another's life. But if the sentence is reduced
to life, there is the possibility of trouble later as in points 5 & 6 above.

A person I know mentioned another novel / simple approach - pardon him (which will
satisfy those protesting against his being hanged), then bump him off in a stage-managed encounter (will satisfy those that are baying for his blood).

Ingenious, eh ? More like, killing two birds with one stone, and satisfying everybody.

Long time, no post.

Phew ! It's a long time since I posted anything here.

Not that I have any regular readers that are complaining. But still, need to start devoting
some time on a regular basis to this blog.

A nuke in hand is worth two with Bush.

So, finally Bush came, saw and conquered too, if we are to believe the media. I am not
against new technology, FDI or responsible nuclear behaviour, but somehow the visit
of George Bush left a bad taste.

I feel bad that my country and its administrators were laying out the red carpet for a
criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians that
include children and women, who due to no fault of theirs or their country had to suffer
bombing of their country and illegal occupation by foreign forces.

All this so that the US could dip into the huge oil reserves of Iraq to feed the increasing
oil-dependency of its citizens. All this by misling Americans and the world that somehow
Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and could wreak more havoc on the world in
general and the US in particular with the WMDs that he is in posession of. Even when
the whole world knew this to be untrue, the US and UK went ahead with their plan of
bombing Iraq to dust and even after 3 years, there is no sign of any WMDs.

And BTW, most dictatorships have always been armed by the US, to further its aims
or to have an ally in its erstwhile war with Russia. So, even if Saddam had any WMDs,
it would have been supplied by the US only. What a big joke. You supply a dictator
with WMDs so that he can wreak havoc on his enemy countries or even his subjects
and then later you accuse him of having WMDs which you sold him in the first place.

I am pretty sure that India will not benefit as much as the US from this much hyped
nuclear treaty. We could be lucky if we even get a 25% benefit for every 75% benefit
the US gains from this treaty. And, as history has proved time and again, while we
will be expected to keep our end of the treaty, do not even in your wildest dreams
expect the US to keep its word as we go down the line.

Till the Prime Minister briefs Parliament and we see the fine print of the treaty, all we
can do is keep our fingers crossed.

Saamy gets connected. And how ...

Saamy, my neighbour living in the colony adjacent to our apartment complex has got
connected. He's got his own cellphone, which is great since it indicates that all sections
of Indian society are reaping the benefits of the telecom revolution.

BTW, I guess this must be the only instance where all sections of the society have solidly
embraced a new technology in the Indian scenario. TV comes close, but I guess it took a
lot more time to spread, when compared to cellphones. And even today, the spread of TV
in India is much less compared to that of cellphones.

Our cellular penetration is awesome, to put it mildly. Go to any city, town or village in
India and you can see people chatting on their mobiles. I don't remember seeing such
high usage even in the US or Europe.

Saamy, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a house painter by vocation and I guess the
mobile phone helps him get more work / business. However, what I found irritating was
his kid-with-new-toy behaviour. Like any new mobile user, he wants the world to know
that he has a cellphone. So, he positions himself on the stairs of his first floor home, calls
up friends / relatives and then proceeds to chat at real loud volume. I am sure his banter reaches each and every home in a 20m radius around him.

Last weekend, he was again at it, talking in a loud voice with a friend about meeting him
in the evening for a few drinks. Luckily for everyone around, his wife stepped out of their
home as soon as she heard the "drinks" part and told him in no uncertain terms that there
was no way he would go drink that day. So, Mr.Saamy disconnected the call and tried to
persuade her to grant permission for a boy's night out.

I am not sure he succeeded because I did not hear at night the usual racket that he makes
on returning home drunk. Maybe, this incident will make Saamy talk quieter on the phone
from now on and us neighbors could have it easier.

Why single out only the RSS for criticism ?

Reading my previous posts could give an impression that I am singling out only the RSS
(and thus only Hindu fundamentalist organisastions) for criticism. However, that is not
definitely the case and it is time I made my intentions clear.

I am against any form of religious fundamentalism, be it Hindu, Christian, Muslim or any
of the other religions in the world. I believe that religion is separate from politics and the
thrust of any religion should be to prompt its followers to do good. If a religion preaches
the so-called Golden Rule "Treat others as you would like to be treated", then I guess it
is worth following.

A religion should bring me closer to God, should teach me to be good towards other human beings, to lead a respectable life. If instead, a religion teaches me to kill my fellow human
being, I would rather stay away from it.

We do have fundamentalist / communal outfits from other religions also like the Indian
Union Muslim League and I am sure there must be some Christian outfits also (though I
do not know of any myself).

All these are abominable as far as I am concerned and can only do more harm than good
to our country. I hope that the Indian youth do not get caught in the web laid by these
so-called nationalists and have the prudence to avoid them.

Indianising Muslims and Christians, whatever that means ...

Another one from the head-knickerwallah of the RSS, Mr.Sudarshan, who seems to be bent upon proving conventional wisdom wrong. As people age, they tend to become wiser & tend
to deliver sage counsel. But not so for the types of Mr.Sudarshan.

After his stupid exhortation to India's Hindus to go ahead and multiply, about which I wrote
here (http://indiandream.blogspot.com/2006/01/go-ahead-and-multiply.html), another
great idea has struck him. This time it is to Indianise those who are not Hindus, whatever it means. To quote him, "We cannot throw our Muslims and Christians into the ocean. So, let
us Indianise them."

From when did India become synonymous with a particular religion ? My passport mentions
my country as "Republic of India". It does not mention "Hindu Republic of India" as in the "Islamic Republic of Paksitan".

Who the hell is Sudarshan to think about what should be the ethnic / religious composition
of India ? What authority does the RSS even have to debate such things ? They are at best
a group of thugs who use religion for their own petty gains. What locus standi does the RSS
have to make such an observation ?

Who made them the voice of even the Hindus, leave alone all Indians ? If they were indeed
the voice of all the Hindus in India, the BJP would be in power today, which fortunately is
not the case.

India is lucky that the majority are not taken in by the absurd logic of communalists. Else,
we would have probably degenerated into the kind of chaos that can be seen in countries
where religion is allowed to mix into politics.

Playing a vigilance officer.

This was a funny incident that happened during a trip to Kerala few months ago. As is my practice for years, I board the Tvm Mail at Chennai in the evening with enough stuff to
read to last me atleast till I hit the bed around 10PM. And, since the scheduled arrival
time at my station is 9AM (usually the train is late by atleast 30 mins), I can afford to
sleep late till 8AM or so.

This time also, I was sleeping or actually half-asleep around 8AM when I was woken up
by some shouting coming from the next coupe. What I understood was that a lady had
boarded the train at Cochin and got into the sleeper compartment with only a normal
ticket. And to top it all, she had some 4-5 kids with her.

As per Railway rules it is illegal to do what she did and though the T.T.E. can fine people
caught doing so, they usually ask them to detrain at the next station and board the
unreserved compartment.

However, this T.T.E. looked at it differently. He saw a great opportunity to make some
money on the side. He started off with berating the lady about how grave a mistake she
had done and then went on to explain the huge amount of money that she will have to
pay as fine. And then left it to her. Kind of like "OK, pay this huge amount or pay me
something and I will gloss it over".

I was already irritated having been woken up from my slumber and to top it, here was
a guy brazenly engaging in corruption apart from harassing the poor lady who most
probably did not know that she was not supposed to board that compartment.

I woke up, took a few minutes to freshen up & came back to my seat. I expected atleast
someone to plead the lady's cause, but everyone was sitting back and enjoying the drama,
if you could call it that. Finally, I decided that enough was enough & walked to the T.T.E.,
bent a little (he was sitting) and looked at his badge as if trying to read the name.
This done, I just returned back to my seat and took out a book to read.

As my seat was facing away from the TTE, I am not sure of his facial impression, but I
could bet that he was astonished and maybe this was something he never encountered
in his whole career. There was silence for a couple of minutes and then the TTE walked
over to me and sat on the opposite seat.

TTE : What were you trying to do ?
Me : Just looking at your badge.

TTE : What for ?
Me : What else for other than knowing your name ?

TTE : Why do you want my name ?
Me : Just like that. You have the badge there to indicate your name. Is it a crime to read it ?

TTE : No it is not. But, what are you going to do ? Who are you ? Show me an identity.
Me: Why are you bothered about what I am going to do with that information. And
regarding my identity, all you can demand to see is my ticket. I need not produce my
identity when demanded by the TTE.

TTE : Oh, OK. Why don't you write down my name so that you do not forget ?
ME: Well, now that you mention it, it is a good idea as I might forget. Thanks.

And then I take out my pen and my diary, look again at his badge & note down the name.

Now, the guy is like mad and unsure what to do next. He sits there staring at me for a few
minutes, while I continue reading my book. Everyone around is watching us.

He gets up, goes to the adjoining coupe and says "I am trying to do things as per the law
and here you have people noting down my name for that". And so on .....

Finally, he tells the lady and kids to detrain at the next station and board the unreserved
compartment. No fine charged or bribe demanded.

Mission success, I return to my Malayalam novel by Zachariah.

Moral : All we need to do is stand up against corruption instead of just talking about it.
As in this case, you don't even need to say a word to put the point across.
Let's do our bit to make India corruption-free.

P.S. : Since I travel very often to Kerala, and since the TTEs aboard the train are regulars,
I do come across this guy occasionally. Don't know whether he remembers me though.
But I am sure, he would never forget that incident.

The Danes were here ?

While on the topic of cartoons published by a Danish newspaper, I was thinking of a
recent discovery that I made about the history of our nation.

It all started during a trip to Karaikkal (part of the Union Territory of Pondichery).
Though a part of Pondichery, it is physically located around 150kms from Pondichery.
Nothing unusual, considering the fact that Mahi and Yanam (the other two parts of
Pondichery) are located much farther away in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
All these places were French colonies and joined the Indian Union after India secured independence from the British.

While at Karaikkal, I decided to go around the place and visit any places of interest
including the famous temple of God Sani (Saturn) and then came to know that a few
kilometres away was a fort from the colonial times at a place called Tharangambadi.
Unable to pronounce it, the French had shortened it to Tranqebar.

When I directed the cab driver to go to the fort, he was always referring to it as the
Dutch Kottai (Dutch fort). So, I was like, "OK, so who all were here ? The French, the
British and also the Dutch... ". However, I was in for a big surprise when I reached the
fort and read about its history. It seems the term "Dutch fort" was a misnomer, because
the Fort was built by the Danes who had visited the place sometime in the 16th century.

I do not claim to remember all the history lessons that I crammed at school. But, I was
pretty sure that I had never read of the Danes having a colony in India (I might be wrong
though). I remember reading about the French, the British and the Dutch. Looks like the
Danes had also caught the colonising bug and had reached Tranqebar where they had
established the Fort just close to the sea. Later, unable to withstand the British
onslaught, they had sold the fort to the English, and left for sweet home.

Over the centuries, the sea had damaged the fort and infact some structures were taken
by the sea. But the ASI has done a commendable job of restoring the fort to its past glory.
A must-visit place, if you are anywhere near Karaikkal or Nagapattinam, not just for the
beauty, but also for that bit of history that we were not aware of.

Just close by is a temple from olden times, severely damaged by the sea. It is sad that
no one is taking any effort to renovate it or atleast to limit any further damage.

Does 10 equal 35 ?

Strange logic isn't it ? I can hear you asking, how in the world can 10 be equal to 35 ?
Unless ofcourse you are an employee of a call centre in India catering to US customers,
in which case you know the logic behind it.

Apparently, it seems this is one golden rule that the Indian call centres (dealing with
American clients), make sure that all their employees are aware of, during the initial orientation / training.

What this means is that a 35-year old American has the mental build-up of a 10-year
old Indian. And thus, the call centre employees need to be extra patient dealing with
them, as if they are kids, and be ready to handle all sorts of inane queries.

Well, it is not like all Americans are like this because I do happen to know quite a few
Americans and they do not fit into this logic. They are pretty intelligent guys with a
sharp mind and aware of things around them. But then again, they are techies that I
work with and I do not have any exposure to normal Americans who would have been
the rationale behind this logic.

Infact, you need not go far to find an example that perfectly fits this logic. Just think of
the most powerful man in the world today who also happens to be an American.

OK, OK, I know. For him, the rule would need to be changed to 60 equals 10. :-)

Logic courtesy : The novel "One night @ the call centre" by Chetan Bhagat.

The Danish storm in a tea cup.

A big storm has been unleashed by the publication of some cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed in a supposedly derogatory way, in a Danish newspaper. Ofcourse, as far
asMuslims are concerned, depiction of Mohammed itself is a no-no, irrespective of the
way he has been depicted.

I was trying to find the cartoons on the Net, to see what is it that could have offended
so many people all over the world to such an extent, that they have been protesting for
weeks & also setting ablaze Danish embassies (and even that of other western countries).
I google-ed the cartoons and to use an oft-repeated cliche, one link led to another and
finally I landed at http://www.faithfreedom.org/ where they had the cartoons.

I could not make sense of most of them and was like, "Did these necessitate the attention
that was generated ?"

But then, I am not a Muslim and thus might not be able to comprehend their outrage.
Anyway, the point here is not about whether the outrage is justified or not. This article
is about the website mentioned above and the contents of the website.

This website is managed by a group of ex-Muslims. Yes, you heard it right. The term
ex-Muslim refer to those who were born as Muslims, grew up as Muslims, but then of
their own free will decided to renounce Islam. The reason for denouncing/leaving Islam
was because, they learnt that Islam propogates / advocates practices that are not
advocated by other religions in the world.

And this understanding comes from their reading the Quran and the Hadith itself. They
also cite references from these books, which suggest that Mohammed has committed all
sorts of crimes (their list includes rape, paedophilia, immoral behaviour, lust etc) which
are not becoming of someone who is supposed to be a Prophet & the intermediary
between GOD and man.

Reading those articles can change the outlook you had about Islam. With the kind of
religious fanaticism prevalent today, it is surprising how these guys can dish out such
stuff and still hold on to their lives. I am not an expert on Islam and have never read
the Quran. So, am no authority on this subject & thus am not sure which side is correct.

Anyway, these guys call on everyone to do something to prevent a disaster. They want
Muslims to leave Islam due to the evil propogated by it. And they want non-Muslims to understand how much of a threat Islam is to the world and to work towards erasing it
from the world.

India needs more like him.

It is tough writing about someone whom you have not even met, forget knowing personally. All you know about that person is from someone else who knows him and then it is upto you whether to believe it or not. In this case, I guess I could take my wife's views as the truth because I know that she is not one to speak what she is not sure of .

The person in question here is Dr.Jacob Thomas I.P.S., the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation (better known as Supplyco). The Supplyco website does not give any details about his academic qualifications except for the "Dr" prefix indicating a doctorate (I heard he has more than one doctorate) and is an I.P.S. I do know that he is an Agriculture graduate. Don't know his post-graduate specialisation though.

It would be in order to give a brief description of Supplyco also, which he heads. Quoting from their website "http://www.supplycokerala.com/"

"Supplyco is the gateway for the 30 million people of the State of Kerala, assuring the much 
needed food security in a substantive style by supplying life's essentials and reaching out to the 
rural-poor and the urban-rich alike. Incorporated in 1974 as a fully owned Government 
Company with an authorised capital of 15 crores, to meet the limited objectives of regulating
the market price of essential commodities at reasonable prices."

OK, the above is the official description about Supplyco. To know what Supplyco means to the public in Kerala, all you need to do is tell someone that you are working at Supplyco. If that person has heard of Supplyco, I can guarantee that the response will be something like, "Really. Then you must be making a lot of money on the side. Lucky you."

Coming back to the CMD, what makes him special or any better than the other bureaucrats manning other government organisations in India ? Actually, he cannot be compared to any usual bureaucrat due to his various qualities like integrity, dedication to work, broad outlook, an eye for technology and involvement in social work. If I remember right, it is maybe a little more than a year since he took over as CMD of Supplyco.

And it has been more than two years since my wife started her career with Supplyco as a Junior Manager (Quality Control). She was part of a group of 7 young guys/girls recruited by the Kerala Govt to the post of J.M. (Q.C). Their role in Supplyco includes inspecting the quality of food items (rice, pulses, spices etc) procured by Supplyco to sell at their stores and at the local public distribution system (PDS) outlets which are also known as ration shops.

I have met these group of young people who were excited about getting a job (a Govt. job does not come easy in India) and more importantly wanted to do it as per the rules. But then, they were not aware of how things worked at Supplyco at that time. Corruption was rampant, the suppliers were bribing everyone that mattered and would supply inferior stuff which was either not as per the specifications or in some cases even spoilt. Still, they would get their bills cleared on time and were minting money like crazy.

The new batch of managers found themselves in an unenviable position. They had only two options - either get corrupted and face the consequences at a later stage OR work with integrity and face the wrath of not only the suppliers but also their managers, who would bombard them with memos, suspensions and enquiries for doing their job the way they were supposed to do.

It is a good sign for India and a brownie point for today's youth that these young people decided that they would not get corrupted, come what may. Ofcourse taking a resolution is easy, but standing up to all kinds of pressure to hold on to that resolution is tough. There were cases where the supliers threatened them with official action if they rejected the sub-standard stuff. There were cases of managers verbally (never in written form) ordering them to accept stuff not meeting the specifications. And along the way came vigilance enquiries and memos for actually doing their job.

While it was tough for all of them, a couple of them were slowly loosing their morale and started deciding about quitting Supplyco. How fun is it to work in a place where you are actually punished for doing your job properly? One girl even put in her papers.

Luckily for them, the existing CMD was replaced with Dr.Jacob Thomas. Here was a person who meant what he talked, was aware of Supplyco's reputation and who was serious about what he was doing. For him, this was more than a job. He had a mission to achieve - to set things right at Supplyco and bring things back on track. Not an easy mission when you think of how prevalent corruption was in the organisation. But then, he is also no normal person.

He came in, took some time to study the existing situation and started putting in place new ideas to stem the rot. He had meetings with the managers, understood the pressure faced by them and promised them all his support in doing their job. He personally talked with the girl who quit and convinced her to come back to Supplyco. He changed the tender practices, made things more transparent and made people accountable. He streamlined the purchase department, which usually is the starting point of corruption in any organisation.

Ofcourse, he met with opposition along the way - from suppliers who felt the heat, from his own employees who were now denied the cut from suppliers that they had been used to for so long. Fortunately for him, he had the full confidence and backing of both the Chief Minister Mr.Oommen Chandy and the minister that he reports to, Mr. Adoor Prakash, which helped him in dealing with all kinds of opposition.

Under his management, Supplyco has set record turnover levels, never seen before in its history and employees can do their work with freedom. He is constantly looking for new avenues in Supplyco that he could make better, areas where computerisation would help and at how technology can help in making things better. He puts in long hours at work and it is the office gossip that his driver and Personal Assistant are two unlucky souls - they can't leave for the day before him, right ? :-)

And after all this, he finds time for his family (wife and two daughters), to keep fit and also for social work (he is part of a group that works for the developement of slum dwellers). If only we had more like him, India would accelerate from being a third world country to the best in the world.

Dr. Jacob Thomas I.P.S., we appreciate your selfless and true service to the nation.

Women and the art of persuasion.

You gotta hand it to women, when it comes to the fine art of persuasion. Got to witness a
sterling example of this the other day from my bedroom window, which overlooks a very densely populated colony.

At any given point of time, you could hear someone quarelling with someone else in this
colony with lots of onlookers to egg them on. Drunken brawls are common and so is the
use of real filthy language. Anyone living near this colony is sure to pick up real fast the
choicest abuses that have become part of the classical language called Tamil.

The main characters here are Mr.Saamy, his wife & two kids. Saamy is a house painter
by vocation & his wife works as a maid in a few homes. He must be having a real name,
but I have always heard him referred to as Saamy which I guess is due to his penchant
for visiting Swamy Ayyappan's temple in Sabarimala (Kerala).

As is his practice the year round except when he has taken a vow to go to Sabarimala,
Saamy returns from work either a little drunk or somewhat drunk or fully drunk. On
most of these drunken days, he is pretty decent & limits his antics to singing a movie
song or enquiring with the neighbours about their well-being etc. But on certain days
when he has had a little too much to drink, he can be hard to control. This was one of
those days.

Saamy stays on the upper floor of a 2 storey home. He is in no mood to climb up to his
home and instead is content to stand below and starts singing loudly. In between, he
stops to abuse someone at work and to cut the story short, is creating quite a ruckus.
His wife and kids come down and try to convince him to quiten down and come up to
their home. But, well Saamy is not convinced so easily.

His wife pleads, the kids request him and yet Saamy stands his ground. His wife almost
falls at his feet & pleads him to come up. She keeps repeating, "Enge, dayavu seydhu ulla
vaanga. Ulle vandhu pesalam inge" meaning "Please come in. We can talk it out inside the home". This continues for some 5-10 minutes. You start pitying the poor woman who has
so much respect and patience for her man, even though he has come home drunk and is
creating such a nuisance.

Finally, they somehow are able to convince him and he agrees to go up. They literally drag
him up the stairs as he is clearly unable to walk properly. They get him inside the house &
the doors shut. I am about to move away from the window when I hear the wife shouting
at him like a madwoman. She is using all the abuses that you only normally hear men use
and which also includes the Tamil word for "bastard". And to top it, she is also hitting him
left and right. It takes her around 5 minutes to give vent to all her pent up anger. Ofcourse Mr.Saamy won't remember this the next day.

I was astonished at the sudden change in that woman. Someone who was the epitome of
patience a few minutes ago had transformed into almost a witch. And to think that she was
so patiently getting him inside the home only to treat him to her anger in the privacy of
their home.

All I got to say is, "I would not like my wife to emulate her".

call centre lingo

I was having my usual 6PM coffee + cigarette routine outside my office complex, which incidentally has various IT-related businesses like call centres, medical transcription
centres etc apart from software development companies.

6PM Indian time would be early morning in most parts of the US (except maybe the West
coast) and the US of A is slowly waking up. Europe has already been up for sometime now.
What this means for the Indian call centre industry is that, there are calls to attend and customers to face (over the phone that is).

You can see the cabs hired by call centre companies rushing past as they drop employees
at work. Some of them gather for a quick cigarette before they get in for the night shift.

I did not really intend to overhear their conversation. But they were so close and also so
loud that there was no way I could have avoided hearing it, even if I wanted to. Well, it
was about nothing serious. Just about how they had spent their weekend.

The usual banter about the discos / pubs visited, the hot chicks etc. What did strike me
was that for every two words they uttered, they used either the word "fu.." or some
variation of it. I mean, I can understand it if someone uses that word once in every
sentence, which itself is not a rational use of the word. But, here these guys were like
using it more like punctuation.

Have noticed this phenomenon earlier too and always with call centre guys. I am not in
any way implying that all call-centre guys talk like that. But the ones that do, usually
seem to be from that domain. I was wondering how this speech phenomenon came about.

Do they think its cool ? If so, it is definitely not. It actually sounds crude. Do they think Americans talk like that ? None that I ever met during my trips abroad. It is strange to
see our current Indian generation think of such things as fads.

Well, why blame them when most of us are aping the Western way of life in some way
or the other - food, drinks, materialism, spending, sexual habits, whatever ? While the
westerners having understood the uselessness of their habits are moving towards the
good facets of our culture.

Go ahead and multiply.

The title of this post can be found at more than one place in The Bible. Over the years,
this exhortation has lost its relevance because today we are in a different age and the
above maxim can prove suicidal, if followed.

The Earth can support only so many people and resources being finite, this could have
a huge impact on the planet and the people on it. No wonder, even the Christian leaders
do not ask their following to toe this line as they are aware of the negative fallouts. Even
when they are against contraceptive methods like condoms / pills etc, they do not suggest
unlimited procreation. Instead they suggest methods like abstinence which I know are not
really very helpful.

I personally do not think the Bible is against condoms and believe that condoms are the
best bet to control the burgeoning population and also to control the spread of AIDs.
However, I am digressing from the topic.

This post is a reply to the call by Mr.Sudarshan (top RSS leader) to Hindus to go ahead
and have a minimum of 3 kids. Ofcourse he would be happy if they have more.

Reason behind this twisted logic is to overcome what he feels is the high rate of growth of
Muslims, which was made infamous by the 'butcher of Gujarat' by the line "Hum Paanch, hamare pachees", which translates to "We Five, Ours TwentyFive". This refers to a muslim
man & his 4 wives (the max they are allowed) and their kids. Other than illiterate Muslims,
I am not sure how many of them have more than 1 wife. The Muslims I know, do not, in
any case.

As mentioned earlier on this blog, there is no way any of the minority communities (all of
which total up to a mere 15%) can be a threat to the 85% majority. But then logic is useless
to politicians and fundamentalists who find it better to serve up absurdities to the majority public who are illiterate and will swallow whatever they say.

The main obstacle today to India's development is its high population. The reason why
infrastructure fails to keep with the demand, the reason for illiteracy, the reason behind
hunger etc. And here we have a leader exhorting his cadres to go ahead and spawn more.

When will our leaders ever start talking sense ? When will they rise above the petty hatred
and think of the national well being. As far as I can see, not in the near future.

So, what can be done about this situation ? Is there nothing we can do as Indian citizens ?
Yes, there is a lot that can be done. To start with, we could stop talking about change and
instead be instrumental in bringing it about. The following maxim sums it up well,
"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Let us not rely on our so-called leaders to lead the way to a better India. Let us instead
think of contributing our efforts to making this happen.

Jai Hind.

Some miracles of Nature.

Had been to Kerala for a short 3-day X'mas vacation. The moment I reached home, wifey
asked me to grab the camera and have a look at some real strange phenomena observed
in our backyard.

With a Masters degree in Agriculture, if she finds some plant-related thing strange, then
I can bet it would be something that I never would have seen before. Got a chance to see
some really strange stuff. Surely amazing are the ways of nature.

1) Normally, Banana plants flower from the centre of the pseudostem of the plant. This
one flowers from the trunk of the plant itself. It started as a swelling of the stem (sort of
like pregnancy) and when we cut open the swelling (caesarean section ?), the flower was exposed.



2. Arecanut trees usually propogate via the nuts that fall to the ground. But here's a way of
propogation unusual to arecanut trees - new saplings sprouting from the roots of the mother tree.



3) And finally a coconut tree with the trunk branching into two individual trees. This has
been around at our place for a few years now and does not evoke much curiosity now.
But when it happened years ago, it was an amazing sight.

Kee Kee. Keeya Keeya.

Each language has different variants of it that are spoken in different places. Malayalam is
also no exception and depending on which place in Kerala you are from, your Malayalam
will be modelled accordingly.

Those from Thrissur are known to sing (not speak) Malayalam. It is infact quite interesting
to hear their version of Malayalam. Those from Central Travancore are supposed to speak
the correct version. OK, being from that region, I can pride on speaking correct Malayalam.

Those from Trivandrum speak some gibberish which they like to call as Malayalam, but
which essentially is quite amusing to others. Using plurals for things like water (Vellangal),
wrong pronunciation (jwali for Joli meaning work) etc.

Till last week, I was under the impression that no other region in Kerala speaks worser Malayalam. But that was only till I met a few guys (friends of my friend) from Kannur.
Man, these quys could talk to you in what they call Malayalam, but you would not be
able to make out most of it.

A few samples :

On odthu ?
" Avan endhiye ?" is the Malayalam equivalent, whose English is "Where is he?".

Idhu angittu chadikku.
"Idhu angottu kalayu" in Malayalam. The english version being "Throw this there".

The funniest part is the "Kee Kee. Keeya Keeya" incident that he mentioned and which
inspired this blog-post.

Two women from Kannur reach Trivandrum by bus. When they get to the stop where
they need to get off, one of them gets down from the bus. Due to the crowd blocking her
way, the other women is finding it difficult to get out.

The woman outside gets worried and says "Kee. Kee." The conductor and others in the
bus are perplexed. Then they hear a voice from inside the bus "Keeya Keeya" leading
the conductor to wonder aloud whether this is some kind of bird language.

For those who do not know bird language, "Kee" in Kannur Malayalam means "Irangu"
ie. "get down". And "Keeya" is "Keeyuwa" ie iranguva in Malayalam proper and "I am
getting down" in English.

There are instances where particular words in a language transform into something else,
like say the Tamil word "Kazhuthai". In the version of Tamil spoken in Madras, this is
said as "Kaidhe". Still, there can be seen some connection with the original. But where
is the connection between "Kee" and "Irangu", for God's sake ?

BTW, I have heard people from Kannur say that they are the most straight-forward of
all Malayalis and Malayalis elsewhere are cunning and crooked. I would agree with that,
but then also wonder why Kannur is also the hotbed of violence in Kerala - such a lot of
political killings happen there (mostly between RSS and Communist party cadres).

What would I not give to get back the old days?

Yes, the days when I was still a teen. The days when love was an innocent emotion, devoid
of lust. A girl was an object to worship and admire, not something to lust for. When all a girl
had to do was throw a glance at you (a smile would be a bonus) and your heart would pound madly with excitement.

I was 15 years old when we moved from Assam to Kerala. All my life till then was spent in
Gujarat & Assam. And Kerala was just a place where we went on a 1-month vacation every
year. A place that was raining forever, with a nice home in half-an-acre of land, with doting grandparents, a place that had mangoes, jackfruits, cashewnuts and all varieties of bananas.

A place where fishing was fun and easy - the fields behind our home would invariably get
flooded every year from the nearby river.

But, when the same place becomes home, it takes on an entirely different meaning. It was
no longer a place to vacation, but a place where I would be living, studying and growing up.
I discovered lots of things during my 2-year stay there and also took on a couple of bad
habits which are still with me.

But then I also learnt a lot during the 2 years there - the culture, the people and especially
the fact that the girls there are the best in the whole world. Yes, after having been in almost
all parts of India, some of Europe and a few states in the US, I can take the liberty of saying
that they are the best.

At that time, love was an emotion that was still unclear. You see it in the movies, but do not know what it is about. Every time you see a girl, you fall in love anew. You would go to the
inter-church cultural competitions and are watching the programmes. Suddenly, your eyes move from the stage and lock on the eyes of a pretty lass. That brief look from her is enough
to make you feel like Mr.Universe.

You do not know who she is, what her name is, where she is from. But those are trivial to
you - you are already in love. You act like you are watching the stage, whereas your eyes
keep darting to her every now and then. She also obliges you occasionally, making your day.
The eye-games last till the programme is over & you reluctantly leave the place - ofcourse
only after she has left. In all probability, to never see the girl again, but hoping against hope
that you will.

Do we see this excitement today when love is confused with lust and all that we think of is
to satisfy the body ? Where are those emotions that made you fly ? Is it that as we grow,
we keep losing the innocent pleasures and hanker after short-term pleasures ?

Is it still haraam ?

It was raining almost the whole weekend in Madras - atleast quite a bit on Saturday and
really good on Sunday. This year, the weather gods seem to have blessed Madras quite abundantly, as far as rains are concerned. On second thoughts, is it a blessing ? Because
Madras will not really be able to cope with such rains and the place would get flooded
creating problems for all. The last time I saw such rains was more than a decade ago
(electric train tracks flooded, no traffic etc).

So, what do you do on a weekend when it is pouring and without much that you can do ?
Well, if you are Mallus (the Tamilians too are catching up), you get a few friends together,
buy some nice liquor, order some great home-delivered and have a blast. That's exactly
what we did on Saturday evening. Initially planned to be a small group of just 3 friends,
it extended to double that number due to some friends dropping in.

The three new entrants were friends of my friend and not previously known to me. While
introductions were being made, I found that one of them is a Muslim. I have many Muslim
friends and what I have noticed among them is that a vast majority of them do not drink.
You could say around 95% do not drink. But, take Christians or Hindus and it is exactly
the opposite - you might not even find 5% that do not drink.

To my surprise, our friend (let's call him Ahmed) was the most impatient for the glasses
to go around. After a few rounds had gone around, I slowly put forward my doubt to him.

Me : Is it not haraam for you guys to drink ?
Ahmed : Which age are you living in, man ?

Me : Well, I have not seen many Muslim guys that drink.
Ahmed : Well, earlier they did not because it was haraam.

Me : So, what has changed now ?
Ahmed : Well, 3 years ago, a minor modification was made to the rule book and so it is OK
for us to drink too.

Me : What modification was done that makes it OK for you guys to drink ?
Ahmed : Instead of "Liquor is haraam", it has been modified to "Liquor is haram".

That was a good one that I heard in a long time.

P.S. : For those who don't know, "Haraam" means something that is forbidden & "Haram"
in Malayalam means "fantasy" or "desire".

A tribute to the Indian Jawan.

OUR TODAY FOR YOUR TOMORROW

Every day without fail,
we read in the papers;
The news that makes a family go pale,
‘Jawans shot dead by ultras’.

We, with rocks in place of hearts,
do calmly turn the page over;
Not a sob escapes our lips,
as we go about our daily chore.

With no time for a moment of silence,
as a mark of respect for our guardian angels;
Not a thought about the pain intense,
of the orphaned wives and kids.

They belong to the unfortunate ilk,
trained to protect the country from enemies;
Ending up with the unsavoury task,
of having to fight their own buddies.

Men with bravery and partriotism in their heart,
preferring to die than live as cowards;
Unlucky to be controlled by politicians corrupt,
and made pawns for their selfish needs.

Guarding the country in the North East,
from the cunning and greedy chinks;
And the mountainous North West,
from our troublesome erstwhile siblings.

Never the guys to say No,
even on the killing fields of Siachen;
Do we know what we owe,
to each and every Indian jawan ?

Those of us lucky to have seen the holy place,
known better as the Kohima War Memorial;
And after having read the inscribed message,
do leave with misty eyes, the ground of burial.

Is written there for us heartless,
“When you go back to your loved ones,
Tell them that we gave our Today,
For the sake of their tomorrow”.

------------------------------------------
© 1999 - 2005 Biju Rajan - Inca Red Creations.

Who will wipe her tears ?

The dawn wakes up to the cry of an infant in hunger,
the starving mother rushes to feed and wipe its tears.
Who is there to wipe the tears of this mother,
having a billion sons & daughters.

Men and women dressed in khadi on the stage,
talk about fifty years of her independence.
Does she feel any difference between her own & the English race?
It hurts more to be stabbed by her own sons.

The wheel is turning full circle once again,
with brother stabbing brother & the mother helpless.
In the Mahabharata, it was atleast for pecuniary gain,
her sons today die over meaningless caste and religious issues.

Her children grow up studying Science and Technology,
with no one to breath in them a whiff of Patriotism.
Growing up into adults ashamed to admit love for their country,
lacking the knowledge and will to stand up for the national anthem.

The star-spangled banner is an object of pride,
for every American worth his salt.
Can we say the same about our compatriots,
most of whom won’t know the Tricolor upside down ?

Never hesitating to fight for our selfish rights,
conveniently forgetting our duty towards her.
Ain’t it time we asked ourselves,
what we did for our Mother ?

For every hundred of us ready to fly to the land of dreams,
do we have atleast one to work for her advancement.
Or, have we turned away our eyes from her sorrows,
holding money and not our Mother important.

Can’t we make an example of the illiterate auto-driver,
proclaiming proudly on the back of his vehicle that,
“Eighty percent of Indians might be dishonest,
still my beloved India is the best”.

----------------------------------------------------
© 2000 - 2005 Biju Rajan - Inca Red Creations.

What is a friend to me ?

Someone whom I can trust,
With my most intimate secrets.
Whom I can look up to,
To hear my sob-story;
When I am down in the pits.

Someone who takes me for what I am,
Knowing me like I know myself.
Never expecting me to put on a false facade,
Who instinctively whistles along to my favourite songs.
Knowing the rush of emotions, it arouses in me.

Someone who is there to make me look brave,
When inside I am really trembling like a leaf;
At the prospect of proposing to my college crush.
Who then, convinces me ever so diplomatically;
That rejection by a girl, is not the end of the world.

Someone who always has the time,
To get drunk with me and stay up all night;
Talking girls, life and other trivia.
Who always has a solution for all the stupid problems,
That I get myself into, every now and then.

Someone who keeps in touch regularly,
Not being mad that I did not return his call;
That I did not mail him in a long time.
Who never lets his ego come in the way.
Of the relationship that I share with him.

Someone who makes me go wild with Joy;
Just by thinking that I have him as a friend;
Knowing that he'll be there for me, when it matters most.
Who gives my existence a reason to be happy about,
And my drab Life a whole new meaning.

Someone who knows that the value of a gift,
Is not in the amount of money it costs;
But in the precious time spent;
Arriving at the perfect present,
That he knows, will make my day memorable.

Someone, who makes me feel.
That there's nothing else I need;
To ask from the Creator.
That just having him as my Friend,
Makes me the richest person in the world.

P.S.: The "friend" here is referred to in the masculine gender.
But this in no way implies that only Guys make Good friends.

------------------------------------------------------
© 1999 - 2005 Biju Rajan - Inca Red Creations.

If only those who sent us to Iraq lay awake at night.

A gripping article (The Hindu 4-Dec-04), written by a US marine who was in Iraq (you
could say it's straight from the horse's mouth). Let the world know the true reason behind
this unwanted war & the thousands of innocent Iraqis who had to die for a few's greed.

Hopefully this will make some more Americans understand the real reason behind the war.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The civilians killed in Iraq
By Michael Hoffman

THE CHAOS of war should never be understated.
On the way to Baghdad, I saw bodies by the road, many in civilian clothing. Every time a
car got near my Humvee, everyone inside braced themselves, not knowing if gunfire would suddenly erupt out of it. When your enemy is unclear, everyone becomes your enemy.

I will not judge the marine who killed the wounded Iraqi. I do not know what was going on around him or what he experienced in the hours before. But I do know what the stress of
combat will do. I remember talking to a friend who told how, after a greatly loved lieutenant
was killed in Nassiriya, the unit started shooting anyone that got close. I remember when a pickup truck got too close to my convoy, the armoured vehicle up front shot the passenger
to get the message to the driver. Just as these marines should face charges, then those that
put us in these situations should have to answer for their actions.

In his book The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien said: "You can tell a true war story by
its absolute and uncompromised allegiance to obscenity and evil." This is something people
in the United States have forgotten after years of watching CNN. War is dirty, is always
wrong, but sometimes unavoidable. That is why all these horrible things must rest on the shoulders of those leaders who supported a war that did not have to be fought.

I know the commitment it takes to serve your country, but I also know this war has
nothing to do with protecting my country. My sergeant put it best a week before we
left for the Middle East :
"Don't think you're going to be heroes. You're not going for weapons of mass destruction.
You're not going to get rid of Saddam, or to make Iraq safe for democracy. You're going
for one reason, and that's oil."

War for oil: is a term the troops in Iraq know well. That is the only reason left for this war, leaving those on the ground with only one reason to fight — get home alive. When this kind
of desperation sinks in, it is easy to make the person across from you less then human,
easier to do horrible things to them.

Did the soldiers who committed those acts in Abu Ghraib view Iraqis as equals?
Those who committed these acts will have to live with the memories — just as I wonder
how many Iraqi children were killed by my artillery battery, or how many Iraqis were
trapped in burning vehicles on the road to Baghdad.

These are the thoughts that keep me up at night: the bodies of children and the burned
remains of Iraqi troops that couldn't get out in time. But those who put all of us there will
never understand this. That is why they need to be judged. But they will never receive
the most just punishment: feeling what myself and all the other veterans of this hideous
war will deal with for the rest of our lives. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
(Michael Hoffman took part in the invasion of Iraq as a U.S. marine and is co-founder of
Iraq Veterans Against the War, www.ivaw.net)

URL : http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/04/stories/2004120402451000.htm

Why is it so difficult ?

Why is it so difficult for our panchayats, municipalities and corporations to do even simple
things like maintaining a neat and clean bus stand or railway station or even an airport ?
I am not talking about having them like the immaculate ones in the developed world. But
atleast neat and tidy.

Is it that difficult a task to do ? Especially considering that these are the entry points for
visitors to our country and leave an impression that can be tough to erase. As I am at
Madras, let me take examples from Madras, though this is true about most cities and
towns in India.

Had been to the Madras Central railway station yesterday to see off my wife. Being the
rainy season, the whole campus was slushy and having puddles of rain water everywhere.
Is it an impossible task to concretize the whole campus and have means for the rainwater
to flow away ? It might be a short-term inconvenience to the users, but once done, it will
change an eyesore into a good and convenient public space.

Again, the parking areas for 2-wheelers are uneven and without a firm platform. When
the contractor can charge Rs.3/- for even parking a bike for a few minutes, why cannot
he channelise some of that money into having a proper parking space, which will make
parking an easier job for the users, instead of wading thru slush. And, why cannot the
authorities exert pressure on the contractor to provide value for money to the users ?

Even our airport is a mess. Stand on GST road and take a look at the airport and what
you will see is filth all around,unauthorised shops on the pavement, haphazardly parked
vehicles etc. Is it that tough to spruce up the surroundings ?

Are we, the public, the reason behind this disorder and complacency on the part of the authorities ? I would say yes. Apart from the fact that we contribute in a big way in
keeping our surroundings filthy, most of us do not care. We do not take the time or
effort to bring up such issues thereby encouraging the authorities to continue operating
with a don't-care attitude.

Bird watching (the feathered kind).

Visited the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary near Chengalpattu (some 85kms from Madras)
last Sunday with my wife. Another colleague and his family joined the trip. More than
watching the birds, what was more on my mind was a chance to rev up my Baleno on
the highway.

Apparently, this time of the year seems to be the best time/season to visit the sanctuary.
It is either raining or already rained a lot and thus the lake is full of water, attracting lots
of birds and also seems to be the nesting season. The drive was pretty good & we reached
there around 10AM.

Once inside the park, you have a pathway to walk on, lined with trees providing ample
shade. And when you look into the lake, all you see on the partly submerged trees/bushes
is birds. Lots of them in various hues of white, grey and a combination of both. If you have
a good binocular of your own, you can spend hours watching these 2-legged beauties. You
have the spoon bill, flat bill stork, egrets, and almost every known bird.











There is a tower with a fixed binocular that you can use for free. A guide there shows the
main birds out to you. The service is free, but then like anywhere else in India, it will not
hurt to tip.

A nice place to visit on the weekend with your family. An ideal location for singles too who
want to spend some quite time with their dates. And don't forget your binoculars, because
even if not used for watching birds, you could use it to hide yourself if your family happens
to drop in when you are with your date. :-)

Outside the sanctuary, you have a gang of really bold monkeys that run around on the buses
and vehicles parked there and treat you to some really nice tricks.

Tamil culture ... ??? What was that again ?

Over the past many weeks there has been such a big issue over some sane comments made
by cine actress Khusboo, that the lay man has most probably no idea of what it was that she actually said, which seems to have offended the so-called guardians of Tamil culture.

Much water has since flowed down the Cooum (or the Buckingham Canal as it is also known)
and there have been serious debates on this issue in all possible media. For those who came
in late or do not know, what she actually mentioned to a news magazine was something like :

>> Pre-marital sex per se is not a bad thing, but women should remember to take care to
avoid unwanted pregnancy and STDs.

>> No educated man should expect his wife to be a virgin.

Analysing these 2 comments, let us see where Tamil culture got hit.

Pre-marital sex (or for that matter extra-marital sex) has been here for ages and it is a phenomenon not only in the cities of Tamilnadu, but also in the villages. Guys and girls
making out in the fields or in the pump-set room or even in their houses when no one is
around, is common in the villages of Tamilnadu like anywhere else in India.

Also, we hear about this women running of with someone else's husband or this man
leaving his wife for another woman. So, this is no Khushboo's invention or contribution
to Tamil culture. She has only been correct in asking the young generation to avoid STDs
and pregnancies.

The 2nd comment is related to the first one. If people are going to have pre-marital sex,
then ofcourse they are going to lose their virginity. So, it will not be surprising if some guys
get married to women who have had some experience of their own. Well, what is the big
deal in that ?

Because when pre-marital sex happens, it is not just the girls that lose their virginity.
The guys also lose their virginity and the women whom they marry later are ending up
with non-virgin men.

And anyway, what is this culture that people are talking about ? We are from a country
that gave the Kamasutra to the world. Our temples (even those in Tamilnadu) have
depictions of all kinds of sexual activities (hetero, homo, whatever). How does sex become
a bad word in our culture. Or is it that Tamilians have not heard of pre-marital sex or
never had any Tamilian who did it ? Give me a break.

Having spent more than half my life in Madras, I have a pretty good understanding of the
way things are here. I speak Tamil as fluently as a Tamilian (picked up the language in a
matter of months), can read Tamil much better than the average Tamilian (self learnt),
have most of my friends as Tamilians and know for sure that Tamil film music is the best
in India.

But then you have to list out the other side too. Tamilians, as a rule, like to get on to the
rooftops and shout about how great and ancient a language Tamil is. Since I am proficient
in Hindi and Malayalam also, I can accept the "ancient" part, though Tamil is useless
compared to Hindi or Malayalam as far as flexibility is concerned.

Reason being that to ensure that it remained pure, they did not go ahead with the times
and modified it. English is so acceptable all over the world because it is open to new words
from other languages. Agreed that they come up with a Tamil word equivalent for every
thing eg. kanipori for computer, but then when did you last hear someone refer to the PC
as kanipori.

You know what, there was this guy who many decades ago went on a fast-until-death to
make Tamil the national language. What brains in action there ?

Then they complain about Tamil not being used anywhere. But these same guys when they meet others who know Tamil, would still use English or even Hindi. Compare this with Mallus who would break into Malayalam the moment they know that the other guy is Mallu.

Another problem with the average Tamilian is the need to force the language on others.
They seem to have forgotten their own struggle against what they felt was the imposition
of Hindi on them. As long as you are on home turf, that is fine. But the moment you are in another state, it is better not to flaunt your love for your language.

What is the need for having a statue of Tiruvalluvar in B'lore ? Especially considering the language related violence that happened between Tamilians and Kannadigas. I agree that
he was a great Tamil poet and I like his short 2-line poems. But, then there are other ways
to help people discover his writings than by installing statues.

Start using your language yourselves guys, instead of worrying about it becoming dead.

The Pearl Harbour attack on 7 Dec 1941

The 7th of December - a significant day in history for both Americans and the Japanese.
For the Americans because it would remind them of one of the biggest attacks ever on
American soil. Also because it would make them regret the fact that even though they
were technologically superior in war, they were caught napping and became sitting ducks
in the Japanese attack.

For the Japanese, it might be an occasion that they remember with pride, of a time way
back when the Japanese were known for military might, rather than for their Sonys,
Toyotas and Hondas.

The attack by Japanese kamikaze pilots on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor must be
the biggest attack before 9/11 on American soil (if you can call Hawaii that). It is a pity
that this happened in the past because if it was sometime recently and if it had happened
in mainland US, the Americans would have understood the pain and grief borne by the
people of Iraq and Afghanistan due to the reckless bombing by American planes there.

You should give it to the Japanese ...
The guts to meet the enemy in his own backyard. Man, that was awesome.
And hopefully a warning to the countries of the world that bully other countries.

The significance of Dec6th

The 6th of December - a significant day in history for India and Indians, due to an event of
far reaching implication that happened on that day.

Well, the event referred above would be known to all Indians - the demolition of the Babri Masjid by senseless & stupid people who are pawns in the game played by selfish politicians
in the name of GOD to gain political power. None of the s0-called Ram Bhakthas are really
bothered about where Ram was born or whether a temple comes up there or a masjid. All
they needed was a wave that would bring them to power.

As is rightly said, "Power corrupts and corrupts absolutely".

They goad man to kill man for the sake of some idol which each claims is the better GOD,
even though there is no proof (yet) that GOD does exist or even existed. Such stupidity on
the part of the people is only possible when they are kept illiterate and without jobs. No
wonder the politicians are not willing to further the cause of literacy because once people
are literate and start making sense of things, where will they get humans to sacrifice at the
altar of their political ambition ?

And add to this the neo-Hinduist - an educated man / woman having a good job & leading
a good middle-class life. They are vocal in their armchair support for the fundamentalists,
but only from the cosy comfort of their homes / offices. No real work for them involving
sweat, forget any blood letting. Well, for that you have the illiterates. So why bother ?

These guys talk about the minority communities being a threat to the majority community. Stupid assholes with crazy logic. Bunch together all the different types of minorities in India
and the grand total comes to 15%, with the remaining 85% being the majority.

How in the world can 15% be a threat to 85% ?

5 simple steps to a better Madras

Yes, I am among the minority who prefer to call my city by its erstwhile name of Madras
(instead of the new Chennai). Same goes for Bombay, Calcutta etc.

It's close to 19 years since I came to Madras and from the initial dislike of the city (mainly
the filth, garish posters, noise pollution etc), I slowly fell in love with this city. However, looks
like I am again at a stage where I have started to dislike the city (this time it is the traffic
mainly and ofcourse water scarcity and water logging) and even plan to move to a smaller
city or town. However, given a choice between any of the Metros in India, I would still rate
Madras the best (and I have actually stayed in almost all the metros, so this is no idle breast thumping for one's city).

I am surprised that we have a Municipal corporation with councillors for each ward, on top
of which we have a Legislative assembly with MLAs for each assembly constituency (which
would cover many wards) and finally MPs for parliamentary constituencies which would cover
many assembly segments and even with so many so-called people's representatives, the
city is degenerating by the day. So, the dream of Madras ever being like cities in the developed world, will I am sure, just remain what it is - a dream.

And to top it all, this is not exactly rocket science. City management is not something that
needs technology to be imported. Ofcourse, it will not hurt to study the way it is done in other countries. And don't pack your bags to the US yet. All the info you need is available on the
Internet. But that is more hi-level stuff and we can get to that later. For the moment, what would
help is road / traffic management for which there are lots of tried and tested approaches.

1. Have pavements for every road.
Yes, make this mandatory so that pedestrians do not spill out onto the road creating trouble
for motorists. Most of our roads do not have this simple feature and it is time we went ahead
and constructed them (could even include private participation for construction / maintenance).
And for those roads that currently do have pavements, remove encroachers (mainly shopkeepers) and make them available to the public.

2. Have medians for all roads.
And make them atleast 4-5 feet tall. I do see some initiative on this recently. And the way it
is being done should also be appreciated. They have these metal dies which are positioned
correctly and concrete poured into them. In 2 days or so, the concrete sets and you have a
median that is not only uniform looking, but also fast to build and less labour-intensive also.
I am not a traffic management expert, but I guess a pedestrian crossing every 500ms or so
would be more than enough. This would eliminate jaywalking and people crossing the road wherever they feel like. Will also speed up traffic and avoid traffic jams. It would also help to
locate bus stands near these pedestrian crossings.

3. Use rubberised / plasticised tar for laying roads.
This has been put to use in Kerala and has been a success. The rubber avoids the rains from damaging the roads as they do now. Another university in TN has been experimenting with waste plastic added to tar and serving the same purpose, with the added advantage that we need not worry about handling the tonnes of plastic waste that we produce. Also, it would reduce our crude import bill as tar is one of the byproducts of crude.

4. Encourage public transportation
Handover the MTC to a bright IAS kind of guy with ideas and it should not be long before we
wean people away from private transport to buses and also make a profit for MTC. Start with a detailed study of the busy routes, the peak times at those routes, approx. passengers. Spruce
up the existing buses, procure more (take a WB / AMF loan if required), cut / reduce services
on routes that do not have enough traffic to justify frequent service, introduce the new efforts to
the public and then sit back and reap the results. I am sure that most people who commute daily
by their own bike / car, would rather prefer to commute by bus, provided adequate services are available.

5. Proper traffic lights (correct sequence of lights + timers).
Ensure that all traffic lights work fin till atleast 11PM at night. Also, replace the older bulb based lights to the newer LED lights which are brighter. Ensure that the lights operate in the correct sequence ie. there should always be the yellow / ember light during the change from red to green and vice-versa. The ember light enables users to get prepared. Also, it would be useful to have timers fitted in conjunction with the lights which indicate the seconds remaining till the next change of light. Thus if you are at a red light and the timer indicates that there are 75 seconds till it becomes green, you could switch off the engine and relax. Saves you petrol too.

And ofcourse as road users, we could also put in our bit, by following the traffic rules and driving safely.

A kid's mind is like a sponge.

Am back in Chennai after spending 9 great days in paradise, oops Kerala. :-)
The weather was great in Kerala, had quite some work to be done around the
house which kept me busy, went around visiting some relatives and had nice
home food after around 2 months (esp. welcome after the one month that I
spent in the US eating lousy Pizzas, Hamburgers, etc).

As usual, no visit to Kerala is complete without a trip to Kollam to meet my
niece Divya. Also, had to give her the stuff that I brought for her from the US.
While there, my sister mentioned that the day before I was to reach Kerala,
she noticed Divya trying to eat much more than what she usually does. She had
more breakfast than she usually takes, tucked in more lunch and by dinner time,
she was unable to even eat what she usually eats. Still, she was trying to eat as
much as possible.

Having noticed this strange behaviour since morning, my sister asked her the reason.

It seems that during my last trip to Kerala, when I met Divya, I had mentioned that
she was growing in height, but looked very lean. And told her that when I see her next,
I want her to have put on some weight and look like a gundu mani. This was the impetus
behind her last minute attempt at eating more.

I was surprised at the impact of my comment made in jest on a young mind. We adults
are not aware of how much kids look up to us and how seriously they take our comments.
This incident will make me more careful in what I say around kids.

The good side of this is that since kids look up to us, we can use this opportunity to inculcate good behaviour and civic sense in them. All we have to do is do things properly and kids will follow without us having to even open our mouth to preach to them. Instead of lamenting
about the littering habits of people around us, all we need to do is look for the trash can the
next time we have the chocolate wrapper to dispose off. You can be sure that the young
mind that observes this, will automatically emulate you and grow up to be a better person.

No public transportation please. We are American.

Got an insight into yet another American way of thinking when I was in the US last Oct'05.

My friend who used to live in Baltimore had moved to a swanky new row-type home in
Virginia and I had gone to visit him during the weekend. He has a 30 minute drive to his workplace in D.C. from his residence.

Since the place where he lives was now a big community and with most of the residents
working in D.C., I was wondering why they did not have any means of public transportation (buses, MRTS, whatever) connecting both the places. What he replied gave me an idea as
to why there is almost nil public transportation in the US whereas almost all of Europe is
connected by train and within the different countries they have efficient public transportation by means of buses etc.

He said that the authorities had come up with a plan to provide a means of public
transportation to connect D.C. and this part of Virginia. And the idea that they proposed, sounded pretty good to me. What they wanted to do was to make use of the existing wide beltway and have a kind of train service running on the median of the beltway with stations
set every few miles or so. I assume that the plan was sort of like the MRTS (elevated rail)
in Madras which runs over the swampy land of the Buckingham Canal which has no use otherwise.

But, it seems this idea was vetoed by the current residents, to my surprise. In India, we
would always like to stay somewhere that is well connected by a public transportation
system.

The reason for the residents not warming up to this plan was quite simple. Currently the
people owning / renting a home in the community would definitely need to own a car due
to the commute involved. But, if a public transportation system comes in, this would mean
that even people without a car of their own (read low-income, mainly black) would move
into the community.

As per the residents, this has two fallouts. The property / rental valus will fall if the
community projects residents of the kind mentioned above. Also, the residents seem to
have reason to believe that the current peace and tranquility that is prevalent in the
community will be lost and would give way to violence, which they would not like to
expose their kids and family to.

So, they veto any suggestion by the government to build public transportation to their community, like buses, trains etc. And this is true not only for Virginia. I have heard the
same argument in Atlanta too.

All these years, I was thinking that it was the powerful car manufacturers lobby that was
behind poor public transportation in the US. Now I know better.