The proposed Women's Code Bill in God's Own Country seeks to punish parents with more than two children and people/institutions promoting such families with a fine or a prison term. The Bill would have made sense in any other state in India but never in Kerala. The state will be facing the problem of declining, ageing population soon.
A good number of American politicians and elected representatives do not agree with the general scientific view on climate change or evolution. This in a country that is (or was?) at the frontier of all scientific and technological development in the past few decades. Sorry to rub it in, but is moronism the new religion in the U.S?
Japan, very famous for its law abiding, orderly population, also has very corrupt politicians.
ISI claims to be fighting terror. (Give me a break!)
Silvio Berlusconi continues to be the PM of Italy which has a predominantly Roman Catholic population. Taking the spirit of forgiveness to new heights!
CBI claims to be an independent agency. (I'd rather believe that sun rises in the west.)
TRAI believes limiting the max. no. of smses a person can send to 100/day will help stop both spamming and terrorist activities. [Yeah! ;)]
Saudi Arabian women can vote and contest in elections, but can't drive.
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Tuesday 27 September 2011
life and laziness
The fan is on. Books lie on my table, on my bed, on my chair, everywhere. It is a long time since I felt serious enough to read those. The exam approches nearer every second, but I don't have the heart to read all those books.
Life seems empty most of the time. It seems to be an eternal wait for some excitement. Yawns succeed yawns, tv shows no longer make me laugh or cry or even smile. I just go on living like dead wood. Is this life?
The things I want to buy never reach the stores. Silly mistakes are made all the time. I live as if I'm some kind of addict when I am not. I wonder how I would be if I were actually addicted to something.
Even depressions add beauty to life. A soft, sad touch or may be evn the harsh, violent tone. Not denying that joy is the most beautiful colour of all. Yet things of beauty are rare in the world.
What do you call a life without emotions? Where you get to know that another week of your precious life has gone by when your mother drags you to the Mass on Sunday mornings? When you fail to distinguish between mornings and afternoons and midnights? When you feel that your life is becoming dry in spite of the fact that you are young and optimistic?
I'd like to go on a tour. Or read a wonderful book. Or take a walk to the beach. To see the golden sunset. The roaring waves. To feel the angry, blowing wind. To live again.
And you still wonder if I'm lazy?
Life seems empty most of the time. It seems to be an eternal wait for some excitement. Yawns succeed yawns, tv shows no longer make me laugh or cry or even smile. I just go on living like dead wood. Is this life?
The things I want to buy never reach the stores. Silly mistakes are made all the time. I live as if I'm some kind of addict when I am not. I wonder how I would be if I were actually addicted to something.
Even depressions add beauty to life. A soft, sad touch or may be evn the harsh, violent tone. Not denying that joy is the most beautiful colour of all. Yet things of beauty are rare in the world.
What do you call a life without emotions? Where you get to know that another week of your precious life has gone by when your mother drags you to the Mass on Sunday mornings? When you fail to distinguish between mornings and afternoons and midnights? When you feel that your life is becoming dry in spite of the fact that you are young and optimistic?
I'd like to go on a tour. Or read a wonderful book. Or take a walk to the beach. To see the golden sunset. The roaring waves. To feel the angry, blowing wind. To live again.
And you still wonder if I'm lazy?
Saturday 3 September 2011
ApologiesApologies
The biggest problems with the government service are the Official Secrets Act and the Civil Service (Conduct) Rules. A civil servant cannot criticise the government and its policies, however rotten they may be. For me, criticism is as natural as breathing. And three months in a highly secretive establishment was enough to make me paranoid about the stuff I write. Hence the long break. Like Holmes said, everything related to my previous job has been completely washed off my brain. So no need to worry now.
We will start by roasting the Republicans in the U.S. because right now, they are the worst idiots in the universe, bar none. (How I wish I could use stronger language!) Their presidential candidates are global-warming-denying, bible-thumping fools who would take the world down with them if any one of them got elected. Not that I am an Obama fan. I'm tired of his showmanship as much as anyone. But at least he sounds like he has got a modicum of grey matter in his head though it is of not much use these days.
I was watching in horror as the Republicans and the Democrats made a cliffhanger of a simple decision of raising the debt limit. Whatever anyone else says, S&P was right in downgrading the U.S. rating. Somebody ought to give them a shock treatment at times.
With the unemployment rate standing still and the announcements of downsizing by the finance sector firms, we are nearing the border of another recession. And our biggest problem is that this world has no one to really look up to.
In U.S., Barry is more concerned about his re-election than saving the world economy, the heads of the Wall Street still believe that the world hasn't moved on from 'Greed is good' days of Gecko, intelligent and sensible Republicans are an extinct breed, Dems are useless and Main Street is helpless.
In EU, the French are mired in controversies, the Germans can never be convinced to spend enough, the Italians and the PIIGS....(don't know how many more countries can a malformed animal name accommodate) countrymen need money to pay their bills thanks to unbelievable levels of spending, dropping efficiency and militant trade unionism.
And the BRICS haven't arrived yet, whatever the economists may say about the Chinese dragon and the Indian back office.
In our own country, we have got a double digit inflation level, a government which seems to be still afraid of reforms in spite of a general support for it on top of a good parliamentary majority and an opposition which has only one panacea for, one opinion on, each and every problem affecting this country: 'We want the PM to resign'.
We had a meaningless, fruitless fast-cum-media-cum-middle-class-campaign in the past few weeks which promised to cure the country of all ills but ended with a defeat-masked-as-unconditional-victory. Right now, we have the C-company taking on the A-company. Hell, if half the people who supported the campaign stopped giving or taking bribes, corruption will be soon buried. Now that the jingoistic farce has ended, I hope people will go back to their old ways. Otherwise, we may lose out on our way to become the most corrupt country in the word.
The Sports bill, a sensible bill that has come out of the sports ministry will never see the Legislature. And nothing will happen to the governments in Delhi, Gujrat, Karnataka or any other state. We always fight for abstract principles and theoretical institutions. We will figh or fast till our death for them. Reforming the existing institutions or even supporting the people trying to do so is so passe. Where is the groundswelling support for Hegde or the Gujrat Lokayukta or even the Sports bill?
This world is doomed.
We will start by roasting the Republicans in the U.S. because right now, they are the worst idiots in the universe, bar none. (How I wish I could use stronger language!) Their presidential candidates are global-warming-denying, bible-thumping fools who would take the world down with them if any one of them got elected. Not that I am an Obama fan. I'm tired of his showmanship as much as anyone. But at least he sounds like he has got a modicum of grey matter in his head though it is of not much use these days.
I was watching in horror as the Republicans and the Democrats made a cliffhanger of a simple decision of raising the debt limit. Whatever anyone else says, S&P was right in downgrading the U.S. rating. Somebody ought to give them a shock treatment at times.
With the unemployment rate standing still and the announcements of downsizing by the finance sector firms, we are nearing the border of another recession. And our biggest problem is that this world has no one to really look up to.
In U.S., Barry is more concerned about his re-election than saving the world economy, the heads of the Wall Street still believe that the world hasn't moved on from 'Greed is good' days of Gecko, intelligent and sensible Republicans are an extinct breed, Dems are useless and Main Street is helpless.
In EU, the French are mired in controversies, the Germans can never be convinced to spend enough, the Italians and the PIIGS....(don't know how many more countries can a malformed animal name accommodate) countrymen need money to pay their bills thanks to unbelievable levels of spending, dropping efficiency and militant trade unionism.
And the BRICS haven't arrived yet, whatever the economists may say about the Chinese dragon and the Indian back office.
In our own country, we have got a double digit inflation level, a government which seems to be still afraid of reforms in spite of a general support for it on top of a good parliamentary majority and an opposition which has only one panacea for, one opinion on, each and every problem affecting this country: 'We want the PM to resign'.
We had a meaningless, fruitless fast-cum-media-cum-middle-class-campaign in the past few weeks which promised to cure the country of all ills but ended with a defeat-masked-as-unconditional-victory. Right now, we have the C-company taking on the A-company. Hell, if half the people who supported the campaign stopped giving or taking bribes, corruption will be soon buried. Now that the jingoistic farce has ended, I hope people will go back to their old ways. Otherwise, we may lose out on our way to become the most corrupt country in the word.
The Sports bill, a sensible bill that has come out of the sports ministry will never see the Legislature. And nothing will happen to the governments in Delhi, Gujrat, Karnataka or any other state. We always fight for abstract principles and theoretical institutions. We will figh or fast till our death for them. Reforming the existing institutions or even supporting the people trying to do so is so passe. Where is the groundswelling support for Hegde or the Gujrat Lokayukta or even the Sports bill?
This world is doomed.
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