Economic bubble- man made greed

The great depression is in news; well I don’t want to add another comment to it. The entire world is bleeding because of the greed of the few. But it seems that nobody has learned. This economic bubble has hurt only the poor. The rich are still happy, but it’s the common man who is suffering. 

The US Fed has bailed out big corporations but did it help the common man??? The story is same in India, China, EU or elsewhere. Big corporations and those criminals responsible for our situation were bailed out but not the common and poor. The government should increase the money in the common man rather increasing the bank balance of these criminals. We are hearing daily about lay offs, When a single job is lost, idiots not the lost of a single person in most case the entire family has to suffer.

The bailed out Companies are giving millions as bonus but the same time millions are starved to death because of them. Countries have reduced their humanitarian aid. There is a big crisis looming over billions on our planet. They will get less food, no medicine, and no protection. There will be more riots, more anarchy, more corruption, more hunger, more diseases and many deaths. Add the color of terrorism to this and the picture is perfect!

We have seen many beggars in rags struggling for their daily bread but now we can see the modern corporate beggars flying in their private jet and begging!!! Long live capitalism 

Don’t our governments have any responsibility towards the common man or they want to save the ass of those famous??? Personally I feel all these criminals should be made to work without any pay and recover all the bonuses which they got from the sweat of the poor man. But who cares, the same people are appointed to rescue us from the mess created by them!!!

God Save us

Rape of Goa

Goa Education Minister Babush Monserratte's son Rohit, who allegedly raped a German minor girl, was granted bail on Monday. The mother of the minor had withdrawn the charges against him. 

This was the headline in almost all the news channels today. What a shame. The state with such rich culture and tolerance had become the breeding ground of pedophiles and rapists. The state was portrayed as the tourist destination of India, with it cosmopolitan culture soon we had foreign tourist swarming in large numbers. With more publicity came the bad apples, a nexus of drugs, prostitution & sex, the trilogy of destruction, the evils playground.

Dil chahta hai showed Goa in a different light where friends could hang out, part hard & spend some good time together. But now if I say to my family that I am going to Goa they will think twice. The place has earned the reputation of evil. Who is to blame – the administration, locales everybody.  Tourists come to India to see the things which they don’t get in their motherland. Creating another Paris or Bali won’t add anything. They should be treated to the rich culture of the land and not something which they can any where else.

Now going back to the main story. Once gain the money & power wins & truth is defeated. It’s not shocking that the mother had withdrawn her complaint. The agony after the rape which she and her daughter might have undergone would be much worse and brutal than the actual incident itself, The constant media attention, the threat of the powerful politician trying to save his son ( I shouldn’t give my verdict before court but…) would have created a miserable life for her.

Mr. Minister you said you are confident of the Law, where is the law when the victim is treated like a culprit with all the psychological tools employed to destruct her self belief.

It said that “ athiti devo bhava” that is guest are God they should be treated like God. Look round us; are we treating our guests like God or some criminals? 

I pray for the well being of the German tourist and many such innocent sisters who were destroyed by these two legged animals. Let’s support them by all the means we can. Surely the democracy is more powerful than the money or politics. Let us show them our power of unity. 

The mantra -  protest, protest  & protest.

I am alone

The heart beat is slow

my eyes are weak

the future is bleak

its dark everywhere

i cant see my future

its crises everywhere

The journey is big

its frightening

i am alone

no body to depend on

no body with whom i could play

i could cry

i could laugh

no body

 with whom i could share my success

 with whom i could share my dreams

alas

I am alone

walking ....

crying....

not a single hand to give me support...

A visit to dome of love

This was an evening which will remain in my memory for a long time. It was a day of candle visit. It was an evening which I spent with few sweet angles sent from heaven smiling, singling and playing. It was an evening when I didn’t think about PD, efforts, task or Paulo Coelho or any body but only pure love.

I almost forgot about the candle visit. After weeks (or months) I was planning to go home early. Somebody reminded me about the visit. We a group of around 13 people set for the rendezvous. We reached Swanthanam Orphanage by 6:30. The angles at Swanthanam were having their daily prayer. We waited outside, I could spot smile on many faces when they saw us. For a moment I also closed my eyes joining them in their prayer.

After the prayer the children joined us. We had sweets for them. We gave it the “Chechi” for distribution. The moment I entered the hall Silpa caught me and complained that I didn’t keep my promise. (Actually I had promised them that I would visit them few months back but I couldn’t). Again they complained that we didn’t bring all those Chechis (big sisters) from our company. I said I will bring them next time (another promiseJ).

There were a lot of new faces. I couldn’t re-collect the names of many but almost everybody remembered mine. They are just like any other children only staying with such a big family. We had a small concert with Rebin and me representing IBS. It was a competition. The result was written on wall we lost miserably. We heard stories of their school and all the adventures they had. My story was simple (now don’t ask me for that it not so complex, quite simple). Like Airtel Ad “Dil Ki Baath” We talked the language of heart breaking the boundaries. Ammu & her small gang want me to lift them. It was a good exercise for my hand. Almost everybody was busy with these restless bundles of joy. Renu had three children on her lap always. She was practicing very hardJ.

There is a lot to write but I am stopping myself with a promise and belief that I will pen many such events.

When we compare our life with these children we know how fortunate we are. They were happy that we visited them. They were happy with what God gave them. They didn’t complain but only had a strong desire to live the life to full. May be I should (rather we all) learn something from them.

If I had missed this trip I would have missed one of the brightest evenings of my life. Today I slept with a smile on my lips and peace in my heart.

Chasing Liberty: The Freedom of Love

I will recommend this movie (Chasing Liberty) to anybody. Today I was supposed to go to my usual music practice. Today morning before jumping out with my guitar, I thought I will spend half an hour in front of TV and watch some thing, Bingo!!! I saw this. Forget about the music class, I sat there watching the movie without a break.

This is such cute & wonderful movie. This is a unique, one-of-a-kind feel good movie. 

Mandy Moore again astonishes me with her flawless acting. She's irresistible. I don’t believe in miracles certainly not in love. But I would admit that this has again brought me back to the level of normal human being. I thought I was a robot. It gave a break from the mechanic, well scheduled life of mine. I would rate “Walk to remember” more than “Chasing liberty” but then this is worth watching couple of times. It is a collector’s item even if you are not a fan of Mandy Moore.

After all love is worth the freedom, the freedom to express, the freedom to decide and of course the freedom to love. 

Watch this movie whenever you can especially when you feel bored with the life running along & with the clock. It might not improve your life but can certainly bring a good smile on your lips and in your heart.

Plot

Anna Foster (Mandy Moore) has never had an ordinary life. At eighteen years old, she is the most protected girl in America; she is the First Daughter. Frustrated with her overprotective father, the President of the United States of America (Mark Harmon), Anna makes a deal with him: only two agents are allowed to guard her while she attends a concert in Prague. When her father backs out of his promise, Anna flies into a temper and goes on the run with Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), a handsome photographer she runs into outside of the music club. They travel together with the intention of going to the Love Parade in Berlin. Anna hasn't told Ben who she is but more importantly, Ben hasn't told her who he is. Under the orders of Anna's father, Ben is supposed to keep an eye on the rebellious girl but falling in love with her wasn't something he expected to do. Romance blossoms between the wild, sassy Anna and the cool, distant Ben as they backpack through Europe.

American crises & Indian IT companies

The great meltdown has begun. Americas top 3 financial companies out of business and the rest also in serious problems, share market across the globe tumbling down , in china almost 66 % and other developing countries including India up to 40% doesn’t provide a rosy picture of the financial situation.

Many asked me how it’s going to affect India in general and IT sector in particular. They were worried about the lay offs with Satyam leading the pack with 4500 layoffs. Frankly speaking even I am worried by the recent developments. But still there is some hope. The situation is not so bad.

The current crisis is man made it’s a long awaited correction happening in the consumer America. The problem is of credit crises and liquidity crunch. No major financial institution is ready to lend capital to others. The financial sector has lost the confidence. This is the reason the major national banks like Federal Reserve is pouring billions of dollars into financial sector to cool it down. (I know it didn’t strike a chord with most of you. Reading too much finance news? :D)

As far as India is concerned, she will also feel the heat but since the market is not so tightly coupled with US financial market, she can survive. For the next couple of quarters the profit margin of the major companies even IT companies will come down but then it has to go up. In this crisis everybody is talking of efficiency and improvement and the Indian outsourcing & IT companies are providing that to the world. As far as layoffs are concerned well that’s happening almost every year. Satyam might have given the pink slip to 4500 but they are recruiting around 12000. So that should cool you all.

India in nuclear club; third largest emitter of CO2

According to Center for Global Development (CGD) India is in the third position in the list of biggest CO2 emitter through power generation after China and the United States.

In the recent years, India’s energy consumption has been increasing at one of the fastest rates in the world due to population growth and economic development. Another study shows that by 2017, India's energy requirement is expected to be 335 GW. This is a quite big number. This is going to put severe demand pressure on the traditional energy source of the planet. China and India will directly compete with the developed countries for fuel. Imagine what will happen then? Ever increasing fuel cost, high emission of green house gases, not a pleasant view huh? Now itself India is the 3rd largest emitter of green houses gases in power sector with the state owned NTPC leading the march. And this trend is upward.

In this context Nuclear power is the good source (Cant say how safe it is, still we don’t know how to handle nuclear waste properly).It is a clean source that can reduce the dependence on traditional energy source. India didn’t get the NSG waiver because of this. The writing is on the wall. Companies like Blackstone Group, GE and many other corporations are eying the lucrative energy sector of India. Once approved by the respective countries they can sign contracts worth multi billion of US dollars. I don’t think there is anybody, who don’t want their hand in the plum? It’s a scramble for energy sector much like the defense contracts of India. It’s a win- win situation for all. But then by doing so aren’t we creating a wrong precedence? What happens if tomorrow another rogue country comes up with similar arguments (India has a clean history of nuclear non-proliferation which even some of the nuclear super powers can’t claim?). This is a sensitive issue with world energy market in one side and nuclear non-proliferation in another side of the balance. Let’s hope that everything goes fine.

Public support for nuclear power had dramatically decreased after couple of high-profile accidents, such as at the Three Mile Island reactor in the US in March 1979 and the Chernobyl reactor in April 1986 in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

However, in recent years, the nuclear industry has become less defensive about its safety record. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) website, for instance, points out that these are the only major accidents to have occurred in more than 12,700 cumulative reactor-years of commercial operation in 32 countries. The risks from western nuclear power plants, in terms of the consequences of an accident or terrorist attack, are minimal compared to other commonly accepted risks. Nuclear power plants are very robust, it asserts.

But we should look & develop other source of energy also like the wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy. These are much better and clean than the nuclear energy.

It’s a beginning… Let’s see how much we move forward.

Honor killing no honor at all

Its a fashion now - Honor killings but what sense of honor is achieved by these murders? Every other day we hear about many such glorified deaths.The perpetrators unpunished

Honor crimes are not specific to any religion, nor are they limited to any one region of the world. Fathers, brothers, uncles, relatives, community everybody kills for one reason or other. Some justifying tradition , sect, religion. Are they glorifying it or destroying the very fabric of its survival ? They don't know and of course the dead will never know about it. Who is to blame ?

Reports submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights show that honor killings have occurred in Bangladesh, Great Britain, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda. In countries not submitting reports to the UN, the practice was condoned under the rule of the fundamentalist Taliban government in Afghanistan, and has been reported in Iraq and Iran.

In Jordan, if a woman seeks protection from the police because she fears that her family wants to kill her, she will be held in indefinite detention in a local prison. It is important to note that once a woman has sought protection from the government and has been placed in prison, she is prohibited according to the government's policy from leaving the prison even though she has committed no crime. Ironically, women can only be released into the custody of a family member -- perhaps the very persons trying to kill them. If these women are killed, they are buried in unmarked graves and their very existence denied.

The noble values of dignity and seniority are neglected. Instead, the only focus is on the woman’s body and her virginity. According to this definition, the woman is an object owned by the man who assumes responsibility for her behavior and her life. The social traditions lead to the isolation of the woman in her home. She is required to cover her entire body in order to maintain the honor of the man. A decent honorable man has to have a decent honorable woman. The major factor in this theory is the body of the woman that is capable of bringing new members for the family, so that it can extend and live longer. Thus, the woman’s body is the private property of her husband. By maintaining and protecting it, there will be no confusion between families in the community. The family, and men in particular, have the responsibility to defend the honor of ‘their’ woman. (Al-Turki and Zuraiq, 1995, Page 104)

Honor crimes are a clear violation of women's human rights and states are bound to protect women from such violations. Nonetheless, in many countries, honor crimes are either condoned through government inaction or defended as legitimate cultural practices

Links

• The Dynamics of Honour Killings : http://www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=320&filterListType=
• Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing
  

Beaten and buried alive for choosing life partner !!!

Well this was a news item which i could stop my self from posting … no comments required. Its a real horror

Issue not debated in Senate in deference to “tribal traditions”

---

Five women from Umrani tribe in Balochistan were shot at and later buried alive

Though incident took place on July 14, case registered only on Monday

---

ISLAMABAD: Following a national outcry, the government scrambled on Monday to arrest four people suspected of involvement in burying five women alive in Balochistan and exhumed two bodies for investigations.

The Senate, Parliament’s Upper House, thoroughly embarrassed by two of its veteran members, who last week put up a staunch defence of the “honour killings” as a “tribal tradition,” also sought to make amends.

The House had a lengthy discussion on the issue and passed a resolution condemning the burial, demanding that those who behind the crime should be tried and punished.

The five women belonged to the Umrani tribe. Among them, three were teenagers who wanted to marry men of their choice. The two other women were the mother of one girl and an aunt, who supported the decision of the girls.

According to a report by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the women were abducted by a group of men belonging to the Umrani tribe and taken to a remote spot in Jaferabad in eastern Balochistan.

There, the men first sprayed bullets at the teenagers, and while they were still breathing, are reported to have pushed their bodies into a ditch and started throwing mud and stones at them. When the two older women protested, they were pushed into the ditch too and buried with the others.

Though the incident happened on July 14, a case was registered only on Monday morning. The AHRC and newspaper reports alleged the police did not take note of the killings because the brother of a provincial Minister, a member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was involved.

1. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/five-women-beaten-and-buried-alive-in-pakistan-honour-killing-915714.html
2. http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/02/stories/2008090260641400.htm
3. http://infidelsarecool.com/2008/09/01/pakistan-honor-killing-3-teenagers-buried-alive-for-attempting-to-choose-their-own-husbands/

Online petition: Stop the Genocide in Darfur

To US President George Bush and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

As many as 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur. Another 2.5 million have been driven from their homes and into danger. The threat of rape, torture, murder and malnutrition pursue the women and children of Darfur wherever they flee. World leaders must unite now to end the genocide and establish a lasting peace in Darfur.

I therefore ask you to:

1. Make ending the crisis in Darfur one of your top priorities;

2. Push for the fastest possible deployment of the hybrid U.N.-A.U. peacekeeping force authorized by the U.N. Security Council in July 2007;

3. Pressure contributing nations to fully and immediately meet their pledges of troops, funding, equipment, and logistical support;

4. Work to ensure the Sudanese government’s full participation in a just and inclusive peace process, and to overcome any attempts to obstruct or delay the protection of civilians or the peace process;

5. Increase humanitarian aid and ensure access for its safe delivery.

Thank you for your leadership on this urgent matter.

http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/savedarfurcoalition

Kashmir amarnath yatra: Vote politics, terror, communalism

Somebody said referring Jammu & Kashmir “Agar zameen pe jannat hai, to wo yahin hai, yahin hai, yahin hai ” (If there is heaven on earth, it is on this land, it is here, it is right here) but for the past 2 months this heaven was a blast furnace with emotions boiling high. The entire state machinery was on the threshold of breakdown.

The Amarnath Yatra is organised every year by the J &K Govt. during the month of sharavan (July and August); one has to trek a height of about 14,500 ft to reach Baba Amarnath Holy cave - http://www.amarnathyatra.org

At last the big fight over the amarnath land has shown some signs of cooling down. But what was this for. Who lost who won? Politicians and militants sitting in Kashmir, Delhi and Islamabad won but the poor and the common man lost their peace and livelihood. The thin trust between the two regions of the state Jammu and Kashmir was broken. However we try to mend it the crack will remain. An irreparable loss but nobody cares.

For years Pakistan based terrorists are targeting the pilgrims. The pilgrims had to face bombs, bullets, snow, and hard climate to reach the holy cave. Many got moksha (salvation) before they reached the cave thanks to our dear mercenaries (or fighters as few people would like to say). Still we are saying that India is a secular country where the majority can’t follow their religion (that doesn't mean that minority community can practice their belief with out any problem in other parts of country).

J&K govt gave Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) 40 acres of land of providing basic amenities to the pilgrims and hell loose out in Kashmir valley. All the opportunistic, separatist, “secular” the so called common mans leaders sensed an opportunity to play the dangerous game of politics. The militants and other hard lines poured oil into the bonfire and it was a hell with strikes, marches, violent protests. At last the govt had to rollback its order. This move transferred the action from Kashmir to Jammu with Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) spearheading the agitation against the reversal. The economic blockade of Kashmir valley followed and this led to more protests in Kashmir. The once dead “Azad Kashmir” demand resurfaced. Separatists were even successful in conducting a march to the neighboring country. For them the grass is green there!!! But it’s the strength of the Indian democracy which saved them. They want freedom from democracy and want dictatorship. What an irony.

Kashmiri leaders made others believe that Indian govt is trying to make them minority in their land and they should protect themselves from this invasion. But from whom? (Even if this was the plan) from the fellow Indians? Indian constitution gave the rights to each and every Indian to settle down in any part of the country. When any Kashmiri (I shouldn’t use this word, well resident of Kashmir would be a better usage) can go and buy land in any other part of the country why not the same in Kashmir. It’s the foul, cruel politics played by the politicians across the border for the past 60 years and for which the entire world is paying. Yes the entire world is paying for it. Almost all the major terror organizations in the planet originated from Pak or have some connection to it. What was this for? For containing India and solving the mother of all the problems on this planet by hooks or crook

The compromise formula was arrived with the SASB getting rights to lands for the three months of pilgrimage. But the solution and peace is very fragile and can break very easily.

चल पडा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में

चल पडा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में
ज़िन्दगी के नए सफ़र में
ना कोई किनारा है , ना कोई मंजिल
ना कोई दोस्त है, ना हमदम
फिर भी
चल पड़ा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में

ना दिन का सूरज है, ना रात की चांदनी
ना दील की धड़कन, ना खवाबों की बारात
दिन है, मगर रात का अँधेरा है
फिर भी
चल पड़ा हूँ यारों उसकी यादों में

मंजिल पुराना है , मगर सफर अंजना है
नए लोग नए सफर, मगर साथ किसी ने ना दिया
खवाबों का काफिला है, पर अकेला हू
फिर भी
चल पड़ा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में

सोचा था कोई साथ होगा जिसे अपना कह सकूं
मगर इस भीढ़ में सब अनजाने निखले
सब अपने ही दुन में है, बहुतों से पुछा पर किसी ने जवाब नही दिया
फिर भी
चल पड़ा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में

अब तो बस चलते ही जाना है
कोई साथ हो या ना हो,
रात हो या दिन हो,
सूरज की गर्मी हो या चांदनी की मिठास
मंजिल दूर है
फिर भी
चल पड़ा हूँ यारों उसकी याद में

lazy saturday

Another saturday ... time is flying.I just dont remember last 1 week it started and ended so soon. It a lazy saturday. feeling like writing a poem after a lot of days. somebody singing for me. Heart beating little different today.. the beats of passion :)

Work was little heavy this week. My astro says that my time is going to change to soon. lets see how true it is.

Love you always ...

Even if i searched the whole world
The best place to be would still be...
in your arms.

Rape:The national crime of India and other countries

Congratulation guys!!! You have done it by sheer hard work. Rape has become the national crime of India (well I would say almost all countries). Almost every 30 minutes one women is raped in India (for those statisticians, one every 2 minutes in United States).Majority of the cases go unreported. There nothing to be proud of. We should be ashamed of ourselves. This is not a problem of one country. This is universal problem irrespective of the geography, religion language or education.

Quoting Justice Arjit Pasayat - “While a murderer destroys the physical frame of the victim, a rapist degrades and defiles the soul of a helpless female."

Not even a single day passes without any such incident in media. The ever news hungry media sensationalize these issue for publicity and makes the rapists a national hero. Seldom have they thought of the trauma and tragedy the victim and her family has to undergo. The only thing they are bothered about is their ratings and viewership. Why should we blame media? We should start protest against this uncontrolled yellow journalism. We all how the Indian media handled the recent case of teenage girls murder in Delhi. They molested even her character and soul.

Yesterday there was news about how the blue chip company employee was molested by 10 people. What a team effort!!! We can’t produce enough Olympics medals in team games (or any event) but here we will be among the best!!! Is this the same country where the women is considered as Shakthi and worshipped? Why this conflict? Has the human race degraded so badly that they have no sense and become animals? How could I compare these demons to poor animals? It will be biggest cruelty from my part.

When you read this you might not know the seriousness of the situation.

Law should be amended so that death punishment could be given to these criminals. They are not fit to considered humans. They should be stoned to death or hanged or whatever may be punishment but they should be eliminated. My sisters and mothers don’t think that all are like these demons. There are humans also in the male gender. I feel so helpless when I hear these tragic stories which the creator of life of earth, the most wonderful creation of God has to undergo everyday.

Women must find the courage to report the rape. They must find support from their families and friends to deal with the stress, anger, and fear they experience. Most of all, women must never feel guilty or blame themselves. For there is no need to accept shame or blame for a crime committed by another. Not all men are bad but there are few bad apples. Lets educate and treat these bad apples.

Facts
Rape is the fastest growing crime in the country, according to data for 2006 released by the home ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently. A rape is being reported every 30 minutes, an alarming increase of nearly 700% since 1971 when the NCRB started recording them.

These figures are revealed even as reports of sexual crimes, including those against foreign tourists, come in from different parts of the country.

Every hour, 18 women become victims of crime directed specifically at them -- rape, kidnapping and abduction, dowry-related crimes, molestation, sexual harassment, eve-teasing, etc. Rape has grown from seven cases a day in 1971 to 53 in 2006. In comparison, all other crimes have grown by 300% since 1953 when the NCRB started keeping records.

What is alarming is that the offenders were known to their victims in 75.1% of rape cases (14,536 out of 19,348). Parents/close family members were involved in 3% of cases (431 out of 14,536), neighbours in 36.8% of cases (5,351 out of 14,536) and relatives in 7.6% of cases (1,106 out of 14,536).

According to the NCRB data, among 35 cities with a population of over 1 million, Delhi topped the list of crimes against women, with 4,134 cases (nearly one-fifth of the total number of crimes against women). One-third of all rapes and a fifth of molestation cases took place in the city. Hyderabad was the second most dangerous city for women, with 1,755 cases.

Among the states, Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest number of crimes against women -- 21,484 cases, or 13% of the total number of cases in 2006. Uttar Pradesh was a close second, with 9.9% of such crimes. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of rape cases, at 2,900, and also molestation cases.

Records reveal that 7,618 women were killed for dowry in 2006, an increase of 12.2% over 2005. Uttar Pradesh, with 1,798 cases, had the highest number of such deaths, followed by Bihar with 1,188 cases.

And these are just the cases that have been reported; the number of unreported cases may be much higher.

Links
http://www.endesastres.org/files/ENGLISH_Rape_Prevention__CONCID_.pdf

The dark story of war - mass rape

I was proud of India army with its discipline and moral behaviors. But recently there were allegations against them in Congo. (The United Nations has accused the Indian Army troops of sexual exploitation, including child abuse, while on peacekeeping duty in Congo. http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/14/stories/2008081459661200.htm) Then I heard about the some more dark side of the war which I have heard many times but didn’t notice much. The dark story was always in dark waiting for the world to accept the brutality of war and its consequences.

The world is at war everyday. The number games of dead, wounded or seriously injured is familiar to us. In this epic story of hide and seek, victory and defeat, life and death there are many hidden plots and tactics which never surfaces. The most successful and brutal of these is mass rape, the mass humiliation of human race. No body notices these state (not only state all the parties in a war) sponsored terror. If we look at the history of all the aggression we can find many such untold grime stories of death and shame.

The biggest mass attack on the women’s dignity which I knew was that of Pakistan’s army in 1971. When they raped around 2,00,000 Bangladeshi (East Pakistan at that time) women. But then it still repeated in Congo, Sudan, Bosnia and all those known and unknown places in much larger scale.

Gita Sahgal, of Amnesty International - "Rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for attackers to perpetuate their social control and redraw ethnic boundaries""Women are seen as the reproducers and carers of the community," she said. "Therefore if one group wants to control another they often do it by impregnating women of the other community because they see it as a way of destroying the opposing community."

The same tactic was used in a "very strategic attack" by state-backed Pakistani troops during the fight for Bangladesh's independence in 1971, Ms Sahgal said.

"They were saying 'we will make you breed Punjabi children'," she said, with the aim of weakening the integrity of the opposing ethnic group.

History

The Hebrew Scriptures describes the rape of the women of conquered tribes as a routine act. Foreign woman were often kidnapped as spoils of war, and forced to marry their captors/rapists. This was probably typical behavior in the Middle East during that era. In ancient times, rape was considered to be a crime against the victim's father or spouse -- whoever owned her. "The ancient Greeks and Romans would rape and enslave women after they had conquered a city."

In Nanjing, China, during 1937 & 1938, Japanese soldiers were responsible for massive levels of rape among the local Chinese population. There were "over 20,000 rape victims...when the soldiers themselves were not raping the Chinese women, they took great pleasure in forcing fathers to rape their daughters and sons to rape their mothers."

Millions of women victims raped by Russian soldiers during the last months of World War II. Anthony Beevor's book "Berlin -- The Downfall 1945" documents rape by Russian soldiers. "Beevor's conclusions are that in response to the vast scale of casualties inflicted on them by the Germans the Soviets responded in kind, and that included rape on a vast scale. It started as soon as the Red Army entered East Prussia and Silesia in 1944, and in many towns and villages every female aged from 10 to 80 was raped."

Random rape by soldiers during wartime has been a common phenomenon, particularly when there has been a lack of army discipline. "From [recent] conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Peru to Rwanda, girls and women have been singled out for rape, imprisonment, torture and execution. Rape, identified by psychologists as the most intrusive of traumatic events, has been documented in many armed conflicts including those in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cyprus, Haiti, Liberia, Somalia and Uganda."

Author Maria B. Olujic - "Rape was a weapon of terror as the German Hun marched through Belgium in World War I; gang rape was part of the orchestrated riots of Kristallnacht which marked the beginning of Nazi campaigns against the Jews. It was a weapon of revenge as the Russian Army marched to Berlin in World War II, it was used when the Japanese raped Chinese women in the city of Nanking, when the Pakistani Army battled Bangladesh, and when the American G.I.s made rape in Vietnam a 'standard operating procedure aimed at terrorizing the population into submission'."

I can’t write much more about these. This is a real horror much bigger than the holocaust or anything heard of till now. This is the worst punishment. And this is happening almost everyday. We the “cultured” human society are not doing anything to prevent this? Animals are far better than us.

Hey warlords, please spare our sisters and mothers. Fight with dignity like real men.

LINKS:

1. The Greatest Mass Rape in History: http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:oRzuO9ARMccJ:library.flawlesslogic.com/massrape.htm&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in&client=firefox-a
2. U.N.: Brutality against women in Congo 'beyond rape': http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/07/30/congo.rape.reut/index.html
3. Japan's Mass Rape and Sexual Enslavement of Women and Girls: http://www.cmht.com/cases_cwcomfort2.php
4. “Not Women Anymore…” The Congo’s rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2005/congo.asp
5. The silent story of Bosnia: http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape/rape.html
6. Democratic Republic of Congo: Mass rape - time for remedies: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR62/018/2004/en/dom-AFR620182004en.html
7. Human Rights Watch/Africa : SHATTERED LIVES:Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Rwanda.htm
8. "News from Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc.," at: http://witness.peacenet.or.kr/e_comfort/newsletter/wccw.htm
9. Heather A. Blackburn and Stacey M. Thomas, "Rape Warfare," 1998-FEB-25, at: http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/
10. "Sexual violence as a weapon of war," UNICEF, at: http://www.unicef.org/sowc96pk/sexviol.htm
11. Maria B. Olujic, "Women, Rape, and War: The Continued Trauma of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Croatia," Anthropology of East Europe Review, Volume 13, No. 1 Spring, 1995; Special Issue: Refugee Women of the Balkans
12. Colleen Hsia, "Nanjing Massacre: A Retrospective," at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccba/
13. John Baird, "Rape of Nanking: Remembering the horrors of World War II," at: http://www.wpi.edu/News/TechNews/article.php?id=210
14. Peter Almond, "Feature: Book on WW II rapes upsets Russia," at: http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/6043-11.cfm
15. Anthony Beevor, "Berlin -- The Downfall 1945," Viking, 2002.
16. Dahlia Gilboa, "Mass Rape: War on Women," at: http://www.scrippscol.edu/~home/
17. Valerie Oosterveld, "When women are the spoils of war," UNESCO, at: http://www.unesco.org/courier/1998_08/uk/ethique/txt1.htm
18. "International Law Relating to Rape in Armed Conflict," http://www.alliancesforafrica.org/
19. "Rape in Times of Conflict and War: A resolution from the General Board of Global Ministries approved by the 1996 General Conference of The United Methodist Church," at: http://gbgm-umc.org/mission/resolutions/rapewar.html
20. From: Stefan Blaschke, "History of Rape: A Bibliography," at: http://www.geocities.com/history_guide/horb/horb-t08.html

North Pole could be ice free in 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S6oyTdkOWc

Mission accomplished: Year 2013 no ice cap on North Pole

The meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up and as a result the North Pole could be ice-free by 2013 instead of in 60 years' time as earlier predicted, scientists have warned. Their apprehensions are based on computer studies of satellite images that reveal that ice at North Pole melted at an unprecedented rate last week -- the disappearance is said to have exceeded the record loss of more than a million square kilometers in 2007 as global warming tightened its grip.

Scientist Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University: "When we did the first climate change computer models, we thought the Arctic's summer ice cover would last until around 2070.”It is now clear we did not understand how thin the ice cap had already become -- for Arctic ice cover has since been disappearing at ever increasing rates. Every few years we have to revise our estimates downwards. "Now the most detailed computer models suggest the Arctic's summer ice is going to last for only a few more years -- and given what we have seen happen last week, I think they are probably correct."

You will think that in another 5 years some how we will do something.
Now the most shocking part. The ice cover may disappear temporarily this year itself according to scientists. Shrinking ice cap in the Arctic Ocean even produced a new sea route from the Bering Strait to Oslo last summer. Maritime enterprises in some industrial nations such as the United States and Britain have started mulling on how to use it to cut cost over the past six months!!! Still they haven’t learned. Their greed will kill us all. The rich developed nation will somehow protect them but what about those poor people in the developing & under developed countries. They will be massacred with no fault of them or their ancestors.

Imagine the tragedy when this happens. Floods, droughts and even war for fresh water.
Millions of people could be forced from their homes and suffer increasing disease, cyclones and floods caused by global warming. Chronic food and water insecurity and epidemic disease may impede economic development. And all this because of the greed of human race. And still they are not learning. Now everybody got china and India to blame. The biggest polluter United States is hiding behind them and blaming them. They say they will reduce their emission only if china & India also share the responsibility. China and India says that they don’t have to reduce any emissions since their per capita emissions are far less than United States!!! What a vicious cycle? But this never ending blame game will turn our green planet into a water world with even Everest under water. That would be a great achievement indeed. Shame on the world leaders. There won’t be anything left to fight for. It the time for action rather than blaming each other. Let put pressure on our peers, our government and the entire human race to protect our green plant not for our children grandchildren but for us.
Don’t wait for The Day After Tomorrow (movie by Roland Emmerich). Act now….

A night for exploring the meaning of Love

It’s another boring and dead weekend. I could understand the real meaning of shaans song.
tanha dil, tanha safar
dhunde tujhe phir kyun nazar
aankhon mein sapne liye
ghar se hum chal toh diye
jaane yeh raahe abb le jaayengi kahaan
mitti ki khushbu aaye
palkon pe aansu laaye
palkon pe reh jaayega yaadon ka jahaan
manjil nayi hain
anjaana hai kaarava
chalna akele hai yahaan

Shirlz adviced me spend some time with sis. Unfortunately she also not here. Shirlz really another original masterpiece (or malfunctioning). She keeps on giving me all those advice. Poor girl she got stuck with her java certifications.

But thanks to Kush I got something to think about other than the codes this weekend. Well I saw a walk to remember. Saw it on Saturday morning 12:30 am. Next two hours I was in a dream world. I felt I was a character in the film. I don’t know how & why I liked this film so much. May be I was watching one after so long or may be I was watching, understanding the tender bond of love with the protagonists. I would recommend it to anybody. Sandy also wanted the CD. If I am not late tomorrow I will give her.

I can’t explain the voyage, I took for that two hours. I would describe that as a voyage of high emotions. The pure love touched my heart. I asked myself whether I would be able to do something similar. Hmmmmmm I should be able to do that if required. Living for one love and dying for one love wow so great. So romantic, so sweet but too strong. We need the mental courage and strong willpower to do so. Nobody can decide on this it has to happen automatically. We need a pure heart to appreciate that. Why society is against this most of times I don’t know. I simply can’t understand. Maybe they are trying to guard against all the new generation one minute love. Now days you find the use and throw system of love. You break with one and the next moment you are with another or may be it’s already in shifts. Most of them are pure fantasies. The pure love is becoming a rare breed almost on extinction. Love should be feeling like the warm air around us giving us life. We can feel it but cannot touch it. Love never demands anything just empowers us to bring the best in us. I believe it should happen only once in a lifetime. Quoting Landon from A walk to remember “Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful.”

The full version from Bible I Corinthians 13:4-7, TLB.
“Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end.”

A Walk to Remember ...the miracle of love

As usual it was an ordinary day. I wanted a break from the daily schedule. I made plans to do a jungle safari. Not to Africa somewhere in forests of Wayanad or idukki. Was excited about the trip but nobody volunteered to come with me

I can’t say nobody Kush said he will join me wherever I go at last I am not alone at least one person :) there for me.
I should have said a lot of things to few people but then the clouds of indecision still hanging over my head.

But that was not the highlight. Went to kushy's place. We had Ghee roast dosa together. Talked about our future. He was ready to kill me. He complains that I am not a human with normal feelings. In fact I don’t have any feelings!!! Well certainly not

He suggested that I watch "A Walk to Remember”. He even transferred few soundtracks from his mobile.

The review of the movie left me in tears. Can this happen in real life or is this only in reel life. Don’t know. Can anyone love like this? May be this still happens in this world. A love which uplifts you, envelopes you with the happiness and empowers you even when you know that it’s going to end soon. Well that what i say To love when it can be lost....

Plot (from wikipedia)

When a prank on a fellow high-school student goes wrong, popular but rebellious Landon Carter (Shane West) is threatened with expulsion. His punishment is mandatory participation in various after-school activities, such as tutoring disadvantaged children and performing in the drama club's spring musical. At these functions he is forced to interact with quiet, bookish Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore), a girl he has known for many years but with whom he has rarely ever spoken. Their differing social statures leave them worlds apart, despite their close physical proximity.

When Landon has trouble learning his lines, he asks Jamie for help. She agrees to help him if he promises not to fall in love with her. Landon laughs off the strange remark, believing Jamie to be the last person with whom he would ever fall in love. After all, Landon has access to the prettiest and most popular girls in town; and between her shy demeanor and old-fashioned wardrobe, Jamie doesn't exactly fall into that category.

Landon and Jamie begin practicing together at her house after school. The two form a tentative friendship, and Landon learns that Jamie has a wish list of all the things she hopes to do in her life, such as getting a tattoo and being in two places at once. One day, Jamie approaches Landon at his locker, where he is hanging out with some of his friends. When Jamie asks Landon if they are still on for practice that afternoon he smirks "In your dreams". His friends laugh and Landon's smirk falters as Jamie's face fills with betrayal and embarrassment. That afternoon Landon arrives at Jamie's house, hoping that Jamie will still agree to help him. But she refuses to open the door. When she eventually does, she sarcastically remarks that they can be "secret friends". She slams the door in his face when he agrees. Landon eventually learns the script by himself.

During the play, Jamie astounds Landon and the entire audience with her beauty and voice. Landon kisses Jamie during the play, which was not in the script, and Landon tries to get close to Jamie, but she repeatedly rejects him. It is only after a mean joke played on Jamie by Landon's friends that Jamie agrees to get to know Landon, and the two pursue a relationship. He takes her out to dinner and dances with her, something he never did for anyone else. When he discovers that Jamie has a wish list, he sets out to help her accomplish them. One memorable date had Landon taking Jamie to the state line. He excitedly positions her on the line in just the right way, and when Jamie asks him what he's doing he tells her "You're in two places at once". Her face lights up with joy, as she realizes that Landon set out to make her impossible dreams come true.

Jamie finally tells Landon that she has terminal leukemia and has stopped responding to treatments. As Jamie is hospitalized, Landon fulfills various wishes on Jamie's list, such as building her a telescope so she can see a comet. Through this process, Landon and Jamie learn more about the nature of love. The movie ends with Jamie's death, but only after the couple are married in the same chapel as was Jamie's deceased mother, the event that topped Jamie's wish list. Landon himself becomes a better person through Jamie's memory, achieving the goals that he set out to do, like she did.

Four years later, Landon visits Jamie's father. It is obvious that Jamie helped him to focus and become a better person. For example, he reveals he has finished college and been accepted to medical school; prior to meeting her he had no plans for life after high school. He tells Jamie's father that he is sorry he could not grant Jamie's wish to witness "a miracle" before she died. Her father says "She did. It was you".

Starvation, inflation , power crises and us

Reading Indian newspapers last few days was like reading the script of new bond movie with news about bombs exploding everywhere and our policemen unearthing bombs one after another. The terrorists issuing more threats to famous personalities. It had all the masala of a classic hit film.
But another article caught my attention and made me think a lot. This was about the food crises in Haiti a Caribbean nation where the entire families are pushed towards hunger. (http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/30/stories/2008073055201100.htm).

(src : The Hindu)
Their staple diet was mud! I can’t express my feelings when I read about how the families baked the mud and gave it to their children. And even it is not free some less fortunate people have to buy even these cakes!!!

We complain about the food in our cafeteria, about AC not working, about the yearly appraisal. Our list is very big. What about these poor souls, any body complaining?

In the last one year the global food prices have shot up. We are facing a crisis which the world has seen in the late 1950’s. But then the green revolution in many countries saved millions. But the situation now is entirely different. We don’t have enough land to cultivate to feed the millions.

Would you help them if given a chance? But how?
I will give a simple mantra – turn green, eat less. Consume less energy, save the energy, eat vegetarian food. Why veg? To produce I kg of meat on an average 8 kg of cereals is used. See the equation. We can pay for 1 kg of meat but it will surely affect the supply of 8 kg of cereals somewhere in the world. How this will help? This is pure economics. The demand –supply fight. (Pardon me those who can’t grasp this idea, I will explain more about this in next article). The less you demand the pressure on the supply will decrease & this might bring down the prices for those poor souls.

By doing this you might not be able to give a meal to the mothers of Haiti tomorrow but surely to few others in our own country. Many of you wont know that there are many communities in India (an even in the place where I live in the most educated state of India Kerala) many people live on mud cakes!!!

Celebration of womanhood - My salute

It’s a celebration for what even I don’t know...but the world is celebrating. Millions are spent on parties, cards, ads but does this help in improving the living conditions of all those millions of sisters. They are not even aware of such day. They are not even aware that they are alive. A daily struggle for existence!!! What we have done to improve their lives? Yes we are busy but can’t we find few moments to spend with them, to do something to improve their life?

My angels …you are a wonderful creation of nature nurturing life, the foundation of all the civilization, knowledge and life. Through centuries you have silently suffered sacrificing all the joys. I salute you for all the things you have done.

You gave me life, you nourished me, you taught me to walk, talk & play, you taught me the alphabets, to read, you taught me the meaning of life, you protected me from illness and from all the other evil things, with your small sweet hands you removed my sorrows, walked and played with me when I was alone, shared the treasures of childhood with me. You helped me understand myself and the world around me. You helped me in understanding people, you taught me to solve problems by facing it. (Barriers break when people talk – Airtel add, I just like it  ) You helped me build my dreams, gave me courage and direction when I started moving away. You taught me the meaning of courage and sacrifice.

What I am today is because of you. I have just started but you have shown me the destination. You have given me the motivation, knowledge, strength and reason for my existence and for my journey towards my destination.

I might have been harsh sometimes. I might have been away when you needed me. I might have hurt you, a big sorry for all those wrong doings.

I cannot repay you but only can thank the almighty for this wonderful creation of yours. Thanks mom, sis & my dear friends for all the things you have done, for making me a better human being

I salute you once again