After a long gap, I am back to the web logging world. A showcase of my personal thoughts and views, my reactions to events around me. Thats all I can describe about this at the moment. A bit of creative input and a bit of push has made this possible. Lets see for how long.
The Bully on the Playground
His face stood out in the crowd. Even on a hot day it radiated peace. Silently he stared at the long queue of patients waiting for their turn to meet the doctors, in that huge hospital. Life indeed had taken him places. From a small village in Kerala to a wealthy financial professional in the states, he had been through a tough journey. His face maintained a serene look, when the nurse came back to him.
“He’ll be at the Perinthalmanna hospice,” she said, “we discharged him long ago. Here’s the address.” She handed him a piece of paper. He thanked her and walked out of the hospital. It seemed like his journey was taking him to the place where he wanted it to go. He got back into the taxi, and asked the driver to drop him at the bus stop.
“It has been ages since I travelled on a bus,” he thought to himself as he walked to the enquiry counter. “When is the next bus to Perinthalmanna?” he asked politely to the clerk on the counter. “12:42” replied the clerk, without even lifting his eyes scouring the newspaper. The noon sun was getting intense and the people huddled below the shade wherever they could find it. It was only a 10-minute wait for the bus to Perinthalmanna.
As he got into the bus, he observed that the bus had aged, the rust was showing and so was the dust and dirt accumulated over the years. As it had been during his college days, he sat at the window seat, where he could catch the breeze as the bus sped along the road. It was very hot but the breeze coming through the windows was cool, and soon he was asleep, oblivious of the valiant efforts of the bus tackling the potholes on the road.
Niket was the quietest kid in his class. Although not exceptionally good at studies, he always managed to get a good marksheet at the end of the year. Everyday during the lunch break, he used to have food with his friend Manikandan before running off to the playground for a football match. The school had two big football grounds, though it would mostly be occupied by cricket players.
Niket and Manikandan always played with the small kids, where they both joined opposing teams and enjoyed the match on a silent corner of the ground, till the school bell called for the afternoon lessons. The scores never mattered. The piled-up chappals served as the goalpost and a small rubber ball served as their football. Barefeet on the warm ground, they played with abandon, hating the school bell for sounding the end of the recess period.
It was one of those days that Simon, the school bully, began to interfere in their matches. He usually was accompanied by some of his other bully-friends who would start kicking away their temporary chappal football-posts. Eventually, Niket and Manikandan got irritated and decided to give up playing with the kids altogether. But Simon didn’t want to give up. He followed them everywhere.
One day Niket decided to stand up to Simon. “He might be a bully, but he had no right to pester me.” He told Manikandan defiantly, “and I am going to play with the kids from tomorrow again, if you want you come… there is no point in getting scared.” He didn’t give him a choice, as Mani did not have any other friends. He decided to stick with Niket.
The kids were happy to see both of them back during the afternoon session. The chappal-goal-posts were up again and the match began. Soon enough, the goalposts were disarrayed, the ball being kicked around by Simon and his bully-friends who had turned up from nowhere.
Nevertheless Niket decided to confront him. “Why are you interfering, we are not disturbing you, why don’t you let us play in peace?” His face turning red with the effort. Before Niket could finish with reasoning with him, he felt a painful blow on his face. He could not avoid it, though he raised his arm to block the next blow, and the more that followed.
“Saar, Perinthalmanna hospice is next stop,” the conductor gently roused him from his sleep. The bus was already crowded, and he started making his way to the door. The bus stop was just opposite the hospice. His feet were firm as he walked into the hospice office. His long search might soon be over. The caretaker looked up from his desk with an inquiring face. “Yes, he’s at bed no.13… very terminal stage of cancer…nothing can be done now, even the painkillers don’t have any effect. He’s just waiting for death.”
“You can see him if you want to,” the caretaker added.
He saw the emaciated bald figure lying on the bed. The figure was groaning in pain. He moved closer and looked into the eyes of the figure lying there and could see nothing but pain in them.
He briskly walked out of the hospice. He had a smile on his lips, and his eyes – triumphant.
A message from my garden
Staring at a blank notepad for a long time doesn’t produce a journal entry. Or maybe it just will, if you stare long enough.
“You have to choose between the snails and the tree” I was told. I was in an ethical dilemma over handling a situation in my Garden. Leaves of a medium-sized shrub in our garden were suddenly having big holes in it. A closer inspection led to the discovery of a colony of snails, slowly and steadily munching all the leaves of the shrub. If I leave the snails to finish off the leaves, the shrub will die and then the snail population will migrate to other plants. But is killing of snails ethical?
The principle of non-violence seems to have been embedded somewhere deep in my mind. It always comes up with the question before I can even think of harming a creature. I have killed several mosquitoes, but I have spared even more. Before I raise my hand to kill a mosquito the question pops up again in my mind. Is killing of mosquitoes ethical? Afterall they suck blood for survival. Once the question comes to my mind, I find myself gently prodding the mosquito to fly away, instead of squashing it into a two-dimensional non-living-object.
As a child, I used to watch my grandfather killing rats, after they had been caught in the mousetrap. He used to drown them in a bucket of water, before disposing them off. Somehow it never appealed to me (or my brother). During later periods of our life, whenever we caught a mouse, we used to take it far away from our house and leave the mousetrap open, so that the mouse can escape into wilderness. “What happens to the mouse after that is its fate!”
Back to my Garden. The question was taking its toll on my mind. If I leave the snails without doing anything, all the plants in the garden are at risk, but eliminating them is a huge ethical issue. After consulting with Zubin, who went into greater lengths to explain about symbiosis and lack of it, I finally bought a bottle of snail-killer over the weekend. With a heavy heart, I chopped off the branches of the shrub, and used the snail-killer to eliminate the snails.
I could only find shells of dead snails in the garden today. The non-violent side of my mind was really upset of the whole affair. It got a slight reprive as I saw a small-child-snail crawling up the branch to start it all over again.
Way to Worldcup
The world cup is finally over. Brazil was a class apart and they deserved to win. Though the Germans took the game to the opposition, they lacked the magic that the Brazilians are distinguished for. This world cup saw many countries outside Europe emerge as strong football nations. And it wont be long before an Asian or an African team wins the football world cup.
India too can make it to the big league, taking a leaf from success story of the Korean football team. Though the Koreans didnt win the world cup, they were amazing in the way they played and so was Japan. Indian football needs a shot in the arm. Its not at all unrealistic for India to reach the next Worldcup finals to be held in Germany in 2006.
The governing body of the football worldwide is FIFA(Federation Internationale de Football Association). The world of football is divided into six confederations based on Zones. The six zones consists of Asia, Europe (Russia comes into this zone), North & Central America with Caribbean Islands, South America, Africa and Oceania (countries near Australia).
Asia
The Asian zone comes under Asian Football Confederation.. Teams for the Worldcup are selected after the preliminary matches conducted by this confederation. The AFC holds the qualifying matches and the process of reaching the Worldcup finals is a bit tedious for the Asian teams.
The 40 teams from Asia are divided into 10 groups of four teams each. Each team plays against all the other teams in their group twice. The winners of each group go the second round, the losers go back home. The second round is divided into two groups of five teams each. The winners of these two groups qualify for the World cup., whereas the runners up of the third round play among them two games (home and away) and the winner goes to Euro/Asian playoff. Euro/Asian playoff is where they play similar runners up from UEFA World cup qualifiers. The winner of the Euro/Asian playoff goes to the Worldcup. Just for records, this time it was between Ireland and Iran, and Ireland won the berth to the Worldcup.
Europe
From Europe, the teams are segregated into nine groups, the group winners going directly to Worldcup finals, the nine runners up and one team from the Asian qualifiers play, and the five winners go through to the world cup finals. The governing body dealing with European zone of football is UEFA (Union des Associations Europennes de Football)
South America and Oceania
Qualifying from South America and Oceania section is simple. South America has one league with 10 teams in it, the top four teams qualify for world cup finals, and the fifth team in the table plays with the winner of the Oceania group. Oceania has two groups of 5 teams each, where the group winners play each other to qualify for the play off with South American playoff team. South american football come under the purview of Conbemol(South American football confederation), and the Oceania teams come under OFC(Oceania Football confederation).
Africa
In Africa 50 teams play and the top 25 teams are selected into 5 groups, where the group winners qualify for the world cup. The governing body is CAF(confederation Africaine de football).
North and Central America
Qualifying games in this zone are a bit confusing. The matches are held in two groups. Caribbean Zone and Central American Zone. Caribbean zone has 3 groups and Central America have 2 groups, winners qualify for the semi-final round, and the runners up go for the play offs. One team of the Caribbean runners up play Canada, and the other two play the runners up from the Central America. And the winners go to semi-finals.
There are four automatic qualifiers into semi-final from America., Costa Rica, America, Jamaica and Mexico. These 12 teams play in 3 groups and the top two teams from each group go to the final round. And the top 3 teams from the final round qualify. The governing body is Concacaf(Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).
In addition to these qualifiers, two other forms of qualifications also comes to play. 1. The host nation of the Worldcup finals is automatically qualified (which is being scrapped now) and 2. The winner of the last Worldcup automatically qualifies. The next world cup is just 4 years away and I will be closely watching the Indian football team, who in this Worldcup-qualifying matches lost in the first round itself. But I am sure, given time, training and support, soon India will also be in the Worldcup finals (fingers crossed!).
back to blog
There has been a long period of sanyas from my journal. The excuses are plenty, but I could have smuggled out some time every day just for my journal. But then again I think about different things to write about and in the process ignore the journal.
I have been really busy at work, and at home engaged in paperwork of my house purchase. Though the number of things in my pending list has reduced to single digit, it unfailingly keeps me occupied. Lately, I have been keeping off my journal due to lack of confidence(anything for an excuse). I do expect that I write something really worthwhile on the journal, rather than ramblings or some quick fix things. The way that I write in English has also put me into the same muddle.
I really do adore many journals on the net, mainly because of the style of writing, the way people say their thoughts in simple sentences. I make a huge mess of the same, and unconsciously use complex words to impress myself. But then on the other hand, I am also aware that the style with which I write is also unique to myself. I am also thinking of changing the design of my site, to make it a more simple one. I havent worked on any of the links of my site since I put it live.
I have never run short of topics to write. I want to write my opinions of the Palestenian conflict, How man can colonise Mars, my ideas for solving third world problems, About the new presidential candidate APJ Abdul Kalam, The idea that is India, The rising infertility in civilsed world (yes, I have got a theory for that), rising fundamentalism and the list goes on. But for all these to appear in bytes it takes a bit of effort., and thats what I am going to do in coming days.
In simple terms, I am back.
why do ships float?
“Why does a massive ship made of iron float, where as a nail made of iron sink in water?”. Rashmi looked at me inquisitively as soon as I asked this question.
We were on a boat cruise, taking a short break at Thames River at Windsor. I never miss a chance to showoff. “I never thought about that” she replied. I cleared my throat as I set about explaining it in one sentence.
“you see” I blurted out, “any object in water will float, if the weight of the water displaced by the object is less than the weight of the object itself”. She innocently stared at me. I was feeling like a High priest of Egypt, explaining the mystery of the pyramids to a common man.
“well, in simple terms” I continued, “say you are falling into the river now and your weight is 95 Kilos..” she threw a sharp look as soon as she heard this. “and if the water you displace in the river by falling into it is either 95 Kilos or more than that, you will float”. I continued ignoring her sharp glance. “In case of ship, the weight that ship displaces is much greater than the weight of the ship and thats why the ship floats in the water”, I concluded.
Obviously, million times smarter than me was Archimedes, who found this principle. Archimedes was an ancient scientist, who is famous for the episode of Eureka! He is supposed to have run naked to palace, when he found the principle of buoyancy.
ps: Many might think this as a silly physics thing, a thing which they have learnt in school. I also have learnt the same principle during my school days. But understanding of the principle is miles apart from having learnt the principle. Unfolding of the principles in natural worlds gives your mind a real boost. You begin to appreciate nature in a new way.
Sarvam Khalvidam Brahmam
We all met on the way and walked together…
Patterns, Nothing but Patterns,
The whole world is nothing but patterns of patterns.
The neo-mathematician said.
You, Me, and the thoughts, Earth, Sky and Eternal Time,
Nothing but Pure patterns.
Vibrations, Nothing but vibrations,
The whole world is nothing but vibrations within vibrations.
The neo-physicist said.
You, Me, and the thoughts, Earth, Sky and Eternal Time,
Nothing but Pure vibrations.
Consciousness, Nothing but consciousness,
The whole world is nothing but a divine play of consciousness.
The neo-sanyasin said.
You, Me, and the thoughts, Earth, Sky and Eternal Time,
Nothing but the play of pure consciousness.
Illusion, Nothing but Pure Dream,
The whole world is nothing but a big dream, a great Illusion.
The neo-alchemist said.
You, Me, and the thoughts, Earth, Sky and Eternal Time,
Nothing but a great illusion, a big dream.
I scratched my head and went my way, and they went their ways…
ET – The Extra Terrestrial
ET – The Movie, is on a re-run in UK after twenty long years. I have heard about this movie for the first time from my wife. She was totally surprised that I didn’t know about the Movie ET! Well, I didn’t. Similarly, I have only heard about the classics like Casablanca, Fiddler on the Roof and even not-so-old movies like Pulp-Fiction. I never have been able to see the so-called Classic-Movies made in Hollywood.
When I was a schoolboy, my friends and myself used to pool 1 rupee each, and then go to a video parlour where we paid to watch “Tom and Jerry”. The earliest memory of watching a movie in theatre goes back to my primary school. I remember that our teacher took us all to watch the Malayalam children’s movie – Kummatti. Apart from a few glimpses, I don’t remember anything about that movie. But I remember that all of us – children – were very excited to go for it.
It was years later, that I saw a “Children’s” Movie, which was made in Hollywood. It was “The Kid” one of Charlie Chaplin Classics. Kumar Anna, my cousin, who was elder to me and was in college, took me for that movie. Still I had long years to go, before I got Interested in English Movies. It was not until I moved to Cosmopolitan City of Mumbai, that I got more acquainted with the English movies.
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to watch those so called “English-Classics”. Maybe my dosage of Malayalam and Hindi movies might be one of the reasons for my non-obsession with Hollywood productions. Anyway, as I sat watching the movie ET.., I realised, either I have grown up, or the movie was not that “classic” as it was made out to be.
We Celebrated Vishu…
Last night radhu had told me about the preparations rashmi was making for Vishu. Though it was a huge hint, I was not ready for what followed this morning. I was taken by surprise when I was woken up from sleep. Both my eyes held closed by my wife’s palms, I was led downstairs, where Vishu-Kani awaited me. (thanks, radhu.)
I was touched. Happy memories of childhood came rushing. So did the awareness that I was far-away from the family. Within an hour, the whole family was on the other end of the phone. I indeed celebrated vishu with heart full of joy.
The day ended with a Kerala style sadya at Rashmi’s house.
Hindu Nationalism
In recent days, there have been more written about the Hindu-fundamentalism and the way its tearing apart the so called “secular-fabric” of India. Nearly all the journalists are quick to jump the gun, blaming the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and other organisations for threatening the Secularism of India. The Indian press has been vehement in asking for the banning of these organisations to restore the secular balance and confidence of the minority people of India.
I wonder where the Indian press was, when SIMI was active in India. When the government banned SIMI, some sections of Indian press even were criticising the Government for the move! It was said that the “right wing” BJP government was doing this as a political move! SIMI was an organisation, which wanted India to be an Islamic State, a state that follows the Sharia laws. Ah yes, who said Taliban was not welcome in India!
Indian press seems to be ridiculously biased in its reporting, which reflects itself in the western media also. Killing of Graham Staines and his family, not only came in the headlines, but also a series of articles exalting their work, and how ashamed Hindu’s should be to be after that incident. The constructive work of organisations like RSS, hardly gets any place in the media, lest it be termed “non-secular”. I am sure the media’s bias has been to such an extent that the reader might be wondering if RSS does any constructive work at all! Here is a link to the newspaper report about the Kutch Earthquake [link]
Coming back to Graham Staines, the press was never really interested in finding why he was torched to death. They were after the sensational news, not the reasons why he was torched to death. Missionary proselytising activities have been going on in India for a long time with the support of heavy western funding. There is still a huge missionary network in India, hell bent on converting people to Christianity. These people don’t even hesitate to quote from Bhagavad Gita, to achieve their aims. For them Jesus Christ was the only saviour of mankind. But even then Hindus are fundamentalist and should be guilty as per the Indian Media [link]
On the other hand, Islamic preachers have also been active for centuries. Historically they have caused more damage to the secular fabric of India. The atrocities that were being committed by Islamic marauders centuries ago followed by the Islamic sultanates, and currently followed up by the fanatical breed of jihadi elements are listless. One may say, why go back into history, why dig sleeping graves. Indeed we should not be digging graves, but we need to look into all those facts to go behind the rise of so called Hindu Fundamentalism. Coming back to present, we saw the predicament of the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who said some facts about the unaffiliated Madrassa’s in the State [link]. He had to retract his statement, following the Communist party’s command. Sorry, you are only supposed to make factually politically correct statements.
Any culture that feels threatened will rise to defend itself, and violence becomes an option for that society. If you keep on suppressing a section of society, and in case of India, the majority Hindu community, time will come when they explode, which may cause damage which cannot be contained. The rise of Hindu nationalism is only an effect of this. Sprouting Madrassa’s around the country is fine, but singing Vande Maataram in Schools is wrong and is an indicator of the rising Hindu Fundamentalism!! And I always thought that Vande Maataram was a song sung by the Freedom fighters of India.
I do agree that violence does not provide a solution to any issue, on the contrary it fuels more hatred and violence completing the vicious circle. The rise of suppressed Hindu Nationalism is going to be a major factor in the future of India. Hindu’s are getting more and more active, and more getting aware of the suppression they have been facing for long. History doesn’t help here, India has seen a history, where Hindu’s have been on the receiving end for very long time. Its natural that slowly the people realise that this has to stop. Though it seems like a pessimistic future, 50+ years of Independence and misrule has brought us to this path.