Downside Of Freedom Of Speech

In one of the most weird news in recent times, a dead soldier's father must pay the organizer who staged an anti-gay protest at his son's funeral.

Waving signs that read "Matt is in Hell" and "America is damned," among others, they protested with the funeral under way. Based in Kansas, Phelps often organizes anti-gay protests outside military funerals saying that the person's death was due to the fact that the United States accepts homosexuality.

United States Of America is supposed to be one of the most developed nations but the constitution provides all sorts of defense for freedom of speech. It is extremely absurd to have staged such an obscene protest completely insensitive to the feelings of the family who lost their son. Fred Phelps then had the audacity to appeal against the ruling of the court and the court took up the case and asked Snyder to pay the protesters.

So much for humanity and justice ...

Open Letter To Susan Candiotti of CNN

Dear Susan,

I just saw you on Television reporting from Haiti about rescuing a quake victim from under a collapsed five-story building and read the story on cnn.com as well. I think it has been great work by CNN selling the whole story to the World. Especially, I was touched by this part:

Verpre lay on his right side, and by Thursday morning, the men had managed to free him enough that he move his left leg.
He also could talk, with enough English to speak with CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti.
He remained jammed, and his father and brother remained determined.

.... the part where, you/your crew, with great pain pushed a microphone through the rubble to get to the victim who was under terrible pain still trying to find a way out and other rescuers desperately trying to get him out, just to ask "What's going on in your mind?". I thought your next question would to ask him who he loves most in Hollywood.

I hope you will continue the good work and in an case where an accident victim is lying on the road needing immediate medical attention, I hope you will not forget to ask "How do you feel?" or "Walk us through what you are going on" before getting him medical aid.

Thanks,
KK

Think Of The Chances

Just read a bizarre news:

... bullet from a gun that was accidentally dropped injured a Tampa woman sitting in a bathroom stall. Police said the bullet hit 53-year-old Janifer Bliss in the lower left leg. She was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Just think of the chances.

In India, people do "potty" in public places giving a feast to the eyes (especially the passengers of Indian Railways). No casualties reported till date even in the case of communal riots or gang wars.

India - "order amongst the chaos ..."

What Will Change After Delhi HC Ruling On Sec 377?

Today, Delhi HC legalized gay sex between consenting adults.

In a breakthrough judgment, the Delhi High Court on Thursday legalised gay sex among consenting adults holding that the law making it a criminal offence violates fundamental rights

Note that, law that worked against gay sex has been "changed" to decriminalize such acts. #repeal377 was trending on Twitter, but the fact is that It has not been repealed and the law still hold non-consensual and non-vaginal sex as illegal.

How does the ruling change things?

My point of writing this post is different. Hundreds of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders took part in the Queer Pride 2009. The intention was to protest against discrimination and violence against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders and also to repeal Section 377 of IPC. While Delhi HC ruling is going to come as a relief from a legal perspective, I am not sure if things will change in the society. 

There are millions of homosexuals who have suppressed themselves and gone into a shell fearing the society. With the way things work in Indian society, HC rule will hardly have any effect on people's mindset. Yes, people who participated in the Queer Pride march were forthcoming and will feel certain level of relief, but the people who have suppressed themselves, I am afraid, will remain in the shell. 

A woman wearing some "bold" clothes anywhere in India or a woman stepping out of the house alone after 8.00 pm in Kerala stand a huge chance of inviting some harsh comments from own relatives or neighbors and even worse, get attention of the horny Indian men and resulting in eve-teasing or sexual harassment. Some of these reactions are unlawful and some are not. Much to the disliking of the "subject", typical reaction is - "don't wear "bold" clothes" or "don't step out of the house late in the evenings". Now that's society for you. Things are not going to be any different for homosexuals. 

Changes to the law is great, but the mindset of the society needs to change. Till then, their fight against discrimination and violence will continue ...

Dogs Are Taking Over

In a recent story, a dog ate a teenager's passport:

 

A Wisconsin teenager using a classic excuse for evading schoolwork missed a class trip to Peru despite his tale being true: The dog ate his passport. 

And in another one, a dog ate a 50 yr old ladies personal checks:

"Her dog got into her purse and ate all her personal checks." The 50-year-old woman reportedly told police she had no choice but to take money from her former husband's account.

 

In the UK, Dangerous Dog Act is getting updated with law to protect postmen from dog attacks.

The bill aims to extend the law to offer protection to workers such as postmen and women from being attacked by dogs on private property.

It does not stop here. After the beauty pageants for dogs (Barking Beauty Pageant), the baddies of the "Dog World" had a competition for themselves, where Pabst, a 4 year old boxer mix was crowned World's Ugliest Dog. 

They are demanding attention!

Things are getting even worse and this time in the search engine land. If I search for "search engine" on Google, "Dogpile Web Search"* gets listed above even Google on the first page!

Is this an indication that dogs are taking over the world? 

This post does not intend to harm the sentiments of dogs or dog lovers. No hate mails please.

*Dogpile Web Search has nothing to do with dogs and is just a mashup of search engines.

Traffic And Premature Birth

Very smart scientists, after research, have found that traffic is causing premature births.

As famous for its traffic jams as it is for Hollywood star power, the Los Angeles, Calif. area has another dirty little secret: Air pollution is sickening pregnant women who live near roadways, more than doubling their risk of a premature birth, according to a new study.

I just wonder that if this is the case, then 90% of the births in India would be premature. Forget about the air pollution levels - Unborn babies will push themselves out of the womb, flip the bird and walk away because of the abnormal noise levels from all the honking, gutters and foul smell from the overflowing drainage.

Mayawati Case: Show Us The Power Of Judiciary ...

After a PIL was filed against Mayawati asking for a probe on crores of public money spent on statues of herself and Kanshi Ram, Ms. Mayawati came out with a statement that:

Memorials, parks and statues dedicated to eminent persons served as “lighthouse,” which provided inspiration to society for centuries

My eyes are still stuck at the word "eminent". This is way beyond narcissism. After reading this quote, my wife said - "Yeah! Inspiration to throw chappals".

I followed the story a bit and then I ran into a statement that she made in April:

"In his will, Kanshiramji stated that as 'Mayawati is my true follower, her statues shall also be installed', ...

Following Kanshiramji's will, my statues have been installed next to those of him at Bahujan Prerna Kendra in Lucknow and New Delhi, where his ashes are kept," ...

Quoting Kanshiram, Mayawati said memorials and statues of a person should be installed while he or she is alive. "That's why my statues have been installed in Lucknow and New Delhi,"

The concept of setting up a memorial for a person who is alive beats me ... that too by a person who was a teacher by profession before getting into active politics.

Now that SC has asked for explanation on the use of public money for statues, I really want to know what judiciary is going to do about this.

If it is about taking the statues down, just don't bother because the money is gone.
If it is about recovering the money that was spent on "inspirational" activities, then show us how.

Are Indian Men Just Too Horny?

Rape of a 18 year old British girl in Himachal Pradesh by two cabbies (source). Gang rape of a college girl by two brothers (source) and friends. Another gang rape of a minor, but the 3 accused were lynched in Surat (source). As I write this post, Kashmir is burning over alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women.

All these in just last 2 weeks. I wrote about the shameful side of India in one of my previous posts also. This boils down to one question.

Before we even get to rape cases, I think there are some men who can strip women down just by the intensity at which they stare at women.

Are Indian men just too horny?

While speedy trial is being considered on a case by case basis, this does not assure justice to all the victims. Again, the slow paced judicial system is never going to instill any kind of fear in the minds of these horny men.

It gives out a feeling that the moral police think that all of this form part of Indian culture, else, being custodians of much treasured Indian culture, they would be taking care of this issue. Right?

I still think corporal punishment is the way to go.

God save us!

Convenient Way To Get Free Lunch

(Source)

A jobless Taiwan man released from prison stole a box of cotton swabs just to get arrested again because he "could not forget the police department boxed lunches," officers and local media said Tuesday.

This guy was smart.

But if jobless people in India were to resort to this method, we will need to have a central prison of the size of two states to accommodate all of them.

Ajmal Kasab's Tears

The weeping incident took place after the prosecution produced the 'first' images of Kasab and his slain accomplice, Abu Ismail, in action at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), shot by the photo editor of a city tabloid, Sebastian D'Souza.

The news reported that Ajmal broke down in court after seeing the 26/11 photos.

Wasn't he bound to break down considering his friends were all killed in the attack? Or did he cry because he could have given posed better for the photos that are going to live on in the minds of all Indians?

Please let him meet John Abraham so that he gets some relief.

Find Out Why You Are Putting On Weight

If you are puzzled as to why you are putting on weight, then you may want to cross check if you are married.

Yet another weird research just reveals that getting married or moving in with a partner will make you fat.

They were more likely to watch television together instead of going to the gym or playing a sport. Her research found that couples who lived together for more than two years – especially those who were married – were most likely to display similar obesity patterns and physical behaviours

Now, you probably know the reason. I am going to get a weighing machine and start monitoring my weight. 

And all husbands beware!!! Your wife may just hold the marriage responsible!!!

As for "live-in" guys, if you are looking for a reason for break-up, here it is!!!

:)

(via telegraph)

Should We Implement Corporal Punishment?

Read a disturbing news about a techie raping 15 yr old girl for two months.

A software professional from Mangalore was arrested on Thursday for confining and raping a minor girl for the past two months. The girl left her house following a petty quarrel with her parents and landed in the clutches of the software professional at Tirupati.

If we are to try this person in court, it will take minimum of 2 yrs to prosecute him. With people like Ajmal Kasab who went on a rampage on the streets of Mumbai (shown live on television), getting a fair trial, people are losing trust in the law and order system. In a judicial system like India, criminal case hearings run really long before the accused is convicted. Well, judiciary is also reportedly corrupt.

The only way I can think of to manage crime is to inflict fear in criminal's minds by imposing corporal punishment. An extreme measure typically used in Saudi Arabia, but very effective in controlling crime.  

Thoughts?

Getting Married In Zero G

We might have heard of weddings happening underwater and quite a few weird places. While couples are struggling to find a wedding hall in Kerala during wedding season, a couple in the US is planning their wedding in Zero Gravity.

When we started talking about marriage, Noah joked that we should have our wedding "in space".  Although most girls would take this to mean Noah didn't want to get married, Erin knew he was sincere, and that this was a serious request.  We decided marrying on the zero gravity plane would be a good compromise.

Their wedding rings will made of iron from meteorites.

The cost of this wedding is around $5,400 per person and there are 12 seats on the plane called Vomit Comet. We are talking about recession, layoffs, bailouts, crisis etc. and here we have money being spent on Zero gravity!!

There are 2 seats to up for sale and the couple is ready to sponsor half the cost per seat. 

Anyone interested? ...

(via discovery)

Is This Right?

Supreme Court declined legal protection (from TOI) to 19 year old Ajith D for creating a community on Orkut where offensive comments were put in by anonymous users.

SC says:

"We cannot quash criminal proceedings. You are a computer student and you know how many people access internet portals. Hence, if someone files a criminal action on the basis of the content, then you will have to face the case. You have to go before the court and explain your conduct."

There is huge uproar against the ruling citing that this is against Freedom of Expression. I was of the same opinion to an extent till Sanjukta took a dig at me and convinced that online media is no different from print media.

While completely understand that libel, slander and defamation is not the way to go about it, I am not sure if verdict comes out as a very positive thing for the common man let alone the bloggers. There are political party leaders out there making inflammatory speech, instigating feelings that can disrupt communal harmony and case filed against them does not go anywhere but under the huge stack of case files that would be dug out in another 10 years. They roam around scot-free after getting bail within minutes of case being filed (and in quite a few cases, even before case is filed).

I quote what Sanjukta wrote on her post:

"This nation has more important issues to handle than to curb a handful of Bloggers freedom"

The context of this statement was different, but I want to put it other way round.

Yes there are bigger issues to be handled ...

There are cases of heinous crimes still lying out there not being touched. High profile corruption cases are still being heard. Discussions are still on to see how and when the terrorist who went ballistic on the streets of Mumbai on 26/11, should be tried and prosecuted. Court cases running for 13 years and then the accused is sentenced for 3 years jail.

There is frustration ... Huge amounts of it ...

It comes out as if law is applicable only to common man who cannot get diplomatic or legal defense easily. Displeasure and frustration sky rocketing because the real issues are not being addressed at the grass root level instead of wasting time on Ajith's case. Anti social and anti secular elements are roaming free.

Am I surprised by the reaction from Indian Blogosphere? - NO !!!

Am I hurting "public sentiment" right now? 

I DO NOT KNOW !

Disclaimer: I strongly oppose creation of hate communities and usage of abusive language on any media. For the same reason, I do not support what Ajith did.

Slumdog Glory and Indian Cinema

Aaah ... finally, it's over. Slumdog Millionaire has won 8 Oscars out of the 10 nominations.

For me, the proud moment for Indians was Resul Pookutty, Gulzar and AR Rahman winning the Oscars. Rahman for Original Music Score and along with Gulzar for Original Song. Resul for Sound Mixing.

Now that the Oscar is over, I am waiting to see when the Indian media will stop the whole hype about Slumdog Millionaire. When will Rajeev Masand stop dissecting the movie to death?

GreatBong writes in his post:

... Surely a movie/documentary made by non-Indians with India as the subject winning equates to India conquering the Oscars. Just like if the “March of the Penguins” would have swept the Academy Awards, it would have been a glorious achievement of Antarctica and a proud day for all penguins. ...

The media is out to tap whatever is possible to increase their TRP, and we have Congress party claiming the credit and talking about "good governance".

The movie was a win for Danny Boyle and a few Indians who were part of the movie. It is definitely not a win for Indian Cinema yet. Indian Cinema has a long way to go. We were able to demonstrate to an extent that we are technically capable and there is a lot of work that can be done in India at a lower price. (Outsourcing here too???) But, the driving force behind most of the movies in India is financial benefit more than creativity. This has resulted in a very slow evolution of movies from a technical and content point of view when compared to Hollywood.

I remember watching "Jumanji", "Independence Day" and "Twister" way back in 1996-1997, but I doubt if the Indian movie industry has the muscle to make a movie of that scale and technical excellence even now.

Feel proud of what Rahman, Resul and Gulzar achieved. Be happy that Mumbai (and India) is in the spotlight. But, grow up and innovate. Break out of the traditional shell and move forward, else there is no way, at any point, that we will match the caliber of Hollywood. Not just Hollywood, but British, French, Japanese or German Cinema.

Whats Wrong With People?

There is a big uproar against the Hug Karo and Pub Bharo Andolan stating that it is against Indian culture (see comments in the post) and follows Western Culture.

I do not understand the point of saying that going to Pubs is western culture. How come going to liquor joints/bars and toddy shops is completely fine and going to Pubs is not? How is it that Pubs form western culture and liquor joints do not?

A large part of Indian population consumes alcohol and quite a large part go back home and create a nuisance for their family and neighbours. No one has a problem with that.

As for the "Hug Karo", I think it is a very creative. Most people who are of the opinion that this is not a "dignified" way to protest have to check the Free Hugs Campaign. The campaign in itself was a controversy, but may be, the video here will give you some information ...



"Jadoo Ki Chappi" in Munnabhai took India by storm, but in real life, it is so difficult for people to digest. It was already done in Mumbai and was well received.

When it comes to ideas, ways and motivation to protest, majority of the population just have opinions and criticisms. For a person who coughs up the courage and takes a step towards a harmless way of protesting, encouragement is the last thing that you can expect in this society.

I hope everyone understands the difference between sitting among the audience and criticizing the batsman and actually going out and playing the game of cricket (facing a ball that is comes towards you at 100 miles/hr is real).

The Pink Condoms campaign is another one out to prove that the Pink Chaddi campaign is BS.

Why???

"Because the campaign tried to unnecessarily implicate an assertive Hindu and RSS (they showed pictures of RSS members in a derogatory way) for Managolore pub attack incident. RSS and Hindus didn’t approve of Mangalore incident, still they were demonized, which was result of a mentality which is full of hatred towards Hinduism."

Pink Underwear(for a better word) was about opposing what Sri Ram Sene did in Mangalore and is not against Hindus. These guys do not even know what they are reacting to.

It is all about reacting without knowing what the underlying issue is.

Muslim radicals out to kill Hindus ...
Hindu radicals out to wipe Muslims off ...
Hindu radicals hate Christians ...
Political parties enjoying mudslinging ...
Corrupt politicians and administration ...
Talk about Kamasutra as part of Indian heritage and just wanting to be invisible when someone talks about sex ...

Legislative assembly members creating a ruckus in the assembly ...
Self proclaimed radicals out to make a common man's life miserable ...
People do not care for each other ...

We boast of "Unity in diversity".
I am still wondering how this country is still in one piece ...

Yes We Can

Obama mania continues ...



This hoarding was spotted yesterday ...

Chiranjeevi thinks he can pull it off in Hyderabad where there is a large population of IT employees just by blatantly copying what Obama tried in the US?

How would Chiru look without hair? ...

(Note: Prajarajyam is a party launched by megastar of Telugu film industry in Andhra Pradesh)

Dalai Lama Goes Social

Dalai Lama goes social ...

He was there on Facebook and MySpace and now he is on to Twitter as well.

Check out OHHDL for updates ...
The site is being administered by The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (OHHDL).

What better way to keep in touch with youth and technologically advancing audience ...

Trouble Getting Married?

(Via email from Ramu)

Sri Ram Sena leader Mr. Mutalik says that they will not spare dating couples on Valentine’s Day.

All married couples, especially young ones, please carry your marriage certificate with you all the time. You would not know if you will be asked to marry again otherwise ...

Cows With Names Make More Milk

Spotted on Discovery News ...

"... new research suggests a gentle way to get more milk out of anxious mama-cow: Stroke her, ask about her day, and call her Elsa, Rose, or Lady Moo. Cows with names produce up to five percent more milk, according to a study published in January in the journal Anthrozoos ...

... Rather, a cow with a name is likely to be more relaxed than if she were treated as just another number ..."

Just wondering if chicken (or may be it's egg) would taste better if we call it by a name?