Me destroy everything!

Some 35,000 odd years ago came a new species of animal. No ordinary animal though. It could invent, discover, wonder. It out thought its competitors and in time became the predominant species on this planet. On its way it made changes to earth that no other of its off-spring had even imagined. Most of which eventually killed some of the other species.
The 3rd rock from sun has been so changed ,mostly in a negative way, over the many centuries that it seems unlikely to return to its beauty again any time in the near future.
But to blame the modern world for it is absolutely wrong. Didn't the early humans' arrival end with extinction of a number of plant and animal species wherever it set foot such as the mammoth, saber tooths, kiwis and many more? Industrialization is something more like the end of a very dirty sentence that began many centuries ago and which most probably ends in an even dirtier fashion ( maybe a middle finger to our face ).
No other animal, and thats what we are, has been so disharmonious with the natural world as we humans have been all through our history.
And by law of natural selection we may have reached our zenith and now its the rough tumble down a steep slope to reach the pit of our extinction. Nothing will prevent it from fruition for nothing can change the mind of a human. We will continue with our ways and nature will takes its own course. Only hope is that we don't do too much damage before we bid farewell to this blue green piece of rock..... Goodbye!!!

Lokpal and what it means to me

A little known activist from Maharashtra Anna Hazare raised a storm by going on a fast and demanding what on the outside seems like a rather just demand  from the government to bring in the entire bureaucracy and judiciary under the ambit of an all powerful Jan-Lokpal Bill. If this version of bill (the Govt. version is called Lokpal  Bill) is passed by the lower and upper houses it will ensure that the entire political class(including the PM), the bureaucracy, the judiciary become accountable to the people and cases of criminal and corrupt nature to be lodges against them and immediate action to be taken regarding the same.

But the point here is that there are 2 forms of bill- 1 by the representatives of the civil society (meaning us-the aam aadmi) and 1 by the government. And obviously there are number of points of contention between the 2 groups which don't seem to be leveling down.

An important point to ponder over is who selected these "representatives" of ours to fight for the Jan-Lokpal Bill. I personally had never heard of Hazare or the Bhushans till the whole fiasco burst forth and Kejriwal , all I know about him is that he promoted RTI at the grassroots. Only member i know is Justice Hegde and that too only because I hail from Karnataka and have heard of his good deeds. I don't expect the majority of India to know about him as well. Atleast the members of Govt. panel are elected. But these people are not elected so they do not and I repeat do not represent us.

And who are the people supporting our "representatives"? Bollywood personalities for whom, lets face it, its more like a fashion statement than anything else and a chance to be in the public eye a little while longer. And self-proclaimed gurus (most notably Baba Ramdev and Swami Agnivesh) who seem to want to go back to feudal hinduism rather than true hinduism ( what with Homosexuality "cure" by what ? certain breathing techniques and regular updates by Agnivesh on atrocities on hindus and yeah the commentary on why western values are all wrong).

To add to all this, there is  mounting doubts on the true intentions of the  representatives and shady-ous past I say we don't give the Warriors of civil movement any more chances to posture in front of the media and shout allegations and slogans.

Don't get me wrong I truly support the basic premise of Jan-Lokpal but not the way in which we seem to be going about in getting it. India needs a strong anti-corruption law and the only way to get it is by electing good men and women ( rather than people from our community into ) the government and utilizing what is available to us in the form of RTI and Lok-Ayukta to ensure the corrupt and the wrong are punished. By black-mailing the government into doing something ( which by the way is and won't work) we stoop to their level. And one and only way to end corruption is by just "saying NO to it"  .

The Final Year

And comes to an end (hopefully) my UG course. 4 years of having attended college has given me a whole new perspective. Its just impossible to be stuck in a classroom with a crowd and not getting influenced in someway or the other.

A little introspection is warranted but won't be done because well thats seems a little too serious. And the whole point of college I believe is to be relaxed. And relax I did. With much lesser pressure on studies i actually had the chance to try out a few things. Took up cricket coaching, dabbled a little in Cycling and so on.

I didn't have any major experiences in college nor any great moment of revelation and the love life remained in a static null condition( meaning nothing happened..yeah very sad). No big fights, no overt display of affections no biggies at all. The only biggie was the fear of responsibility and that too i guess is more nervousness than fear but thats it. But I believe college and even life itself is made up of only small inconsequential moments which make it worthwhile. Not everything in life needs a "moral of the story" ending. And i hope that the story of my journey through college also has a moral-less ending!

For all those who've grown up loving BHILAI.. some memories

A Destiny Awaits...

On 25th June 1983 a motley group of cricketers did what no one expected off them, they won the holy grail of cricketing world,the world cup. And kick-started a mania for the game in the country of a billion-India. On 15th November 1989 debuted a man who would go on to define what a record meant. That man is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The master batsman since his debut has shouldered the responsibility of an entire nation with remarkable poise and dignity. Matches have been won by India riding on the sheer greatness of 'Kohinoor of India' and after 21 years still do. Given the status of God in this country he has fulfilled each and evry dream of ours. The man with most runs in both forms of the game and standing on the threshold of a near impossible 'Century of Centuries' has achieved everything in his career except what he truly desires- The World Cup! The 2011 WC being hosted by India and with the Indian team for the 1st time ever looking like real contenders to lift the cup has not only raised hopes of all of us but also of the Little Master. For he thoroughly deserves this, a glorious end to a glorious career and the final gem in a crown filled with it. The indian team for once need not play for the fans or pride or themselves or for the country, it needs to play for just one man,one phenomenon-Sachin 10dulkar and help him achieve his ambition..his dream...his destiny!!!

Superpower

Am sure a number of us have hoped to get superpowers. To be stronger than others or maybe teleport anywhere in the universe or just be able to fly away. Lets just see some of the coolest superpowers ever.

SUPER STRENGTH -- Just imagine if you could throw a boulder miles away. Super strength will let you beat up evryone to a pulp.

TELEPATHY -- Read someones mind and may be plant ideas in theirs as well...Inception with no dreams..

FLIGHT -- Fight or Fly syndrome to the letter...just zoom off from any troublesome situation.

RADIOACTIVE/LASER BEAMS -- Just zap away anyone/anything standing in your way or heck just for the fun of it.

TELEPORTATION -- Possibly the 2nd best power to have. Have complete control over the space time fabric. I don't need to specify some very lucrative options that may present to you.

SUPER SPEED -- Well not really much of a superpower but a little bit of practise and maybe you can make something off it.

SONIC BOOM -- We've all shouted ourselves hoarse sometime or the other but just think how it would be your shouts and shrieks could destroy tall skyscrapers..

TELEKENESIS -- Mind over matter is the best way to describe this power. The 3rd best power to have. Hone your mind and you have no mortal danger and no one to stop you from doing what you want..

REGENERATION -- The power to regrow cells, tissues and organs. Nothing and no one can destroy you . The only weak point is the brain. Protect it and you rule the world.

CHAMELEON -- Become whoever you want or whatever you want . A great power for camouflage and sneak attacks but nothing more. Though become a copy of someone powerful and you never know.

MIND SHARP -- A very cool name for the ability to learn and understand the ways of the world. I rate it as the joint 2nd best power along with teleportation. You can learn to have more powers and achieve great power.

SUBDUER --  Nullify anyones power and make them bow in front of you. Used wisely there is no stopping you.

THE SPONGE --  An ordinary name for the greatest power. Absorb others power  and use them. Fly, send out power beams, teleport, control minds, regenerate, copy other forms, and hurl boulders..you can do anything and thats why the greatest power to have...my NO. 1. But every creature has a natural enemy by the laws of nature. Yours is arrogance and the subduer.

Any other power you feel i have missed out feel free to leave comments. And if you find out how to get any of these powers please do tell me!!!

Indian Beauty

For those who after reading the title are imagining beautiful indian women I would suggest to move on this blog. For this article I will try and talk about the beauty of India or Indianess more accurately.

At 1st glance by anyone, not just foreigners but indians as well, India looks like a dirty, unorganized & dishevelled country. And they are absolutely right. India is dirty with people preferring to consider the roads as dust bins more than infrastructure. It is unorganized and dishevelled for nothing here seems to have a basic framework and work, from personal to public, goes on in a random manner. Beauty of India lies in surprisingly these very facts which for anyone but indian is nauseating. It is the reason why most of the world looks at India and wonders " How in the hell does it even stand up leave alone walk and run??"

But somehow, maybe through many millenia of dogged determination the Indian has mastered the art of not just surviving but sometimes flourishing in the most trying of situations and conditions. And there in lies our truest strength to someday reclaim our rightful place in the world .."The Golden Bird"

Colour of Religion

Dawn of the new millenium brought to attention the world over a growing threat from islamic ideologue. Though India had been suffering from it ever since independence due to mostly political and sometimes religious  reasons the world especially the superpower US came face to face with islamic terrorism only after 9/11 attacks. The damage that these islamic fundamentalists have done to Islam and its people will take many years to repair.

The middle ages also saw another religious extremism, that from Christianity. To say that the christian crusades were bloody would be an understatement which originally was to recapture the "holy" land from muslims ended up becoming a war against all other belief systems. Christianity still has not been able to break the hold of that gruesome period on its psyche though its been close to 6 centuries since the crusaders last roamed.

Hinduism has had a long history, no tradition of compassion towards all irrespective of faith. Yet the last 2 decades have stood as spectator to a  new and budding extremism- the Hindu fanatics. Driven by political leaders masquerading behind "Hindutva" philosophy it still has not reached its potential unlike the others, christianity and islam ,but with rising support and political patronage it will in a few years. The coming centuries may well be the golden ,no "Saffron" age of Hindu extremism. Unless the political class and common man nip it in its bud now it will develop into a very thorny problem for us .

Politicians and intellectuals may say there is no colour for extremism but common sense tells there is. The middle ages witnessed the Red White and Blue extremism . We are witnessing Green (Islamic and not environmentalists) fundamentalism and in the future we may suffer from "Saffron" terrorism. No guesses which country will suffer most from it.....