60th year of independence and Hall of shame

On the eve of 60th year of Indian independence, it is the Parliament House that stands tall as the Hall of Shame for the country. And it is the shame for the country because of the people it houses ( indian lawmakers)

When I was in my primary school, we used to make a lot of noise in the class when our teacher was not around. She would then come back and say, "Stop this noise! This is not a fish-market". Probably "Parliament" suits better as of today!

Mob and the terror

A thief snatches a jewel from a lady's neck and tries to escape, but is caught by the people. Soon a mob gathers and gives instant justice - hammers the thief black and blue. While the prevailing judicial system in India is too slow and inefficient, its quite natural that the citizens take it upon themselves to give the fastest justice possible. And therefore, this, in my opinion is not at all reprehensible. However, one does has to acknowledge the fact the mobocracy can sometimes be "crazy" and can be dangerous. One never knows how a mob can chage opinions and might indulge in meting out "injustice" what it otherwise believes to be just. The solution to get rid of mobocracy is to improve the police and the judicial system, thereby earning the trust of the citizens.

A lot has been written and debated about the Hyderabad bomb blasts. Very soon the life in the old city is going to be normal ( "How brave they are ! They have defeated the terrorists' motives" ) and all is forgotten until the next couple of bombs explode. It is in no way an indication of bravery - rather, a sad pointer to our indifferent attitude - not to care about people. The terrorists are very often not caught at all.(Worse, not even traced !). Many administrators have been asking for an explicit Anti-Terror Law to fight these maggots whose only intention is to take the country to 6th century. And the erstwhile NDA Govt, did introduce POTA(after joint session) which was widely criticised as "Draconion". The problem was never in the POTA itself - it was with the administrators who were invoking it on mob violence. The requirement is to have the law (Dismissing it as "Draconion" ( I dont know who was Draco ) only gives fillip to grubs) and change our attitude. Once again it comes back to have a better police , better political and judicial system.

Hoo ( or Ooo?) eat ease ?

I was listening to the Morning "Breakfast" show in the FM channel "Radio City" yesterday. Radio City have a new RJ( that's relatively new, possibly a few months) named A-ViVahh ( As she pronunces it). Unfortunatlely, to spoil the morning, she was substituting for Vasanthi(who likes to shout "Goood Morning Bangalore - this is Vasantheeee with you" with her pleasant voice).This Aviva girl is possibly the crappiest RJ around in Bangalore. There are more than 6 FM channels now and it sucks to hear to this A-ViVahh. Her voice sounds more like sheep ( aaahhh- aaah) and to add to that fakes accent. And a competition going in the morning show "Who it is" is rather cried out by her as "Hoo( may be Ooo) eat ease". I actually began wondering if I have forgotten English when I heard it.

flag and the hypocrite

In India, we are too much ill-fashioned about our national flag, making one wonder at times, as to what is the flag meant to be after all ?? True, we had to make great sacrifices just to get the right to hoist our flag. But does that mean we cannot hoist it wherever one feels like ? Taking it to sport stadiums is showing disrespect to it ? And wearing a flag-shirt is the pinnacleo of anti-nationalism!

Indians only seem to love their flag( which is only but a symbol) and not the country that the flag symbolises.

Streets of our major cities are too polluted. If one is go around the city, his/her clothes are sure to turn black due to the soot/carbon. If it rains, its sure to stink and the cloth becomes weak/crumble in a few days due to the exposure to acid rain.

And therefore I won't be too surprised if these flag-hypocrites cry against hoisting of the tri-colour atop the buildings located in city-centres. The flag might lose its sheen or get soaked in acid after all !!

Hi again, blog

Actually I am logging in to the blogger after quite a long time. Will blog periodically from now on.

Indian lawmakers

Indian lawmakers - the so called "honourable" Member of Parliament and Member of Legislative Assemblies and Councils - are they really honourable ? Some of them are convicts, convicted for criminal offences like murder, kidnapping and rape. Some others, are invovled in cases no less serious cases like human trafficking. And some others for "inciting fundamental religious hatred" among the people.

How to get rid of criminal elements from entering the legislature ? We are asked to believe in the constitution and the law made by the law makers of the land, and stand in elections and fight the candidates of calibre mentioned above, follow the laws made by these law-makers and then change the law for the good!! What a top-class solution !

Neutral umpires in international cricket

The concept of "neutral umpires" is something that the ICC has been following religiously since a few years. Ofcourse, the need for such "neutral umpires" who didnot belong to any of the 2 nations whose teams were playing cricket, was seen as a necessity some years ago when the touring teams kept re-iterating that the "home umpires" are partial towards their respective home teams while taking the decisions. Such a need was particularly felt by most cricketing teams which visited Pakistan. And consistent call for better umpiring for cricket matches played in Pakistan led the then Pakistani cricket captain, the legendary Imran Khan to suggest this wonderful idea of "neutral umpires" somewhere in the 1980s ( if I were to remember properly)which was welcomed by the cricketing faternity and the supporters. It ensured that cricket matches were played fairly and with right "cricketing spirits", even though one cannot ever rule out the human errors which can come even with the neutral umpires.
However, with the recent bungling that followed by the umpires in the just concluded ICC cricket worldcup 2007 has led to some players to asking for the best umpires to stand in the cricket matches rather than having the neutral umpires. Today the technology has improved by leaps and bounds than it was in 1980s and the umpires also face the pressure of performing - not just the players ! Therefore, such a call in my opinion needs to be given some thought by the ICC - and should be experimented with - but not completely giving up its presently held policy of neutral umpires which evolved out of necessities.