Seeing Things

I like animals. They have a certain element of vulnerability and honesty that draws me to them. In fact , I always talk to cats and dogs when i happen to come across one. And i am positive, they listen and respond. Even though it makes my husband think I'm nuts. (There are a lot many reasons that make him think that anyway! :) ) I love squirrels and birds too but I never talked to them. I just don't get the feeling that they will get what I am saying. So, i just watch them helplessly unable to say hello. A few days back, however, a crow came and spoke to me! It sat on my balcony railing and went on cawing. It took me some time to realize that he was talking to me and not calling out to a fellow crow. He said to me, "I am really hungry. Would you have something to feed me?" I got him and answered, "sure will a slice of bread do?..wait a minute" The crow gratefully watched me while i opened a loaf of bread and took out a slice. It did not stir when I walked ri...

The Mumbai attacks is going to prove costly to the government. The irony is that this would have happened irrespective of whichever party formed the government. In this case, the ruling party was lackadaisical. In other cases, they would have been busy pitting one Indian against another based on religion/caste/state etc. Making it easier for terrorists to brainwash Indians to join/help them. The irony is that there was no discrimination made regarding who suffered - those dead include the rich & famous, the poor & impoverished, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Parsis, malyalees, haryanwis , maharashtrians, punjabis, non-indians, .... I look forward to a time when people choose their leaders for focusing on relevant things - such as democracy and security. When people choose like that, politicians will alter their agendas. But for that people need a better education. I wonder if certain politicians really want Indians to be educated. It will be harder for them to manipulate u...

Hope our nation stays wise in the aftermath of this disaster. I hope we stay united. I hope the politicians too see their benefit in keeping us united. I hope the terrorists and the extremists don't succeed in their motives. I hope. I hope. I hope Here are two first hand accounts: How a wedding reception turned into a life lesson A night out in Mumbai

Some people think Narendra Modi should be India's PM. Here’s why I disagree. Whatever arguments, one may have in favour of him, we need to face it - certain truths about him can not be brushed under the carpet. Let us clearly understand that those who support Modi are in fact in favour of everything he stands for. 1) Modi belongs to the tribe that subscribes to the belief system that works with a vision, towards a "hindu rashtra". Where Muslims and Christians and whoever else need to understand and accept their proper place in the system. (for “good” reason of course based on a few actual and a few doctored historic facts) 2) He is capable of stooping to inhuman levels for this. And he is capable of not feeling any remorse for the tragedy. He claims it to be a "natural reaction". 3) Modi is capable of and does in fact see qualities that are worth admiring in Hitler. Gujrat will flourish even without Modi. The nation too, is and will continue to progress even wit...

The Bajrang Dal and the VHP are an ugly BLOT on the Hindu community and Hinduisim. Worse, they are a massive threat to the Indian Democracy. And so is anyone who supports them Read this NYT report: Hindu threat to christians: convert or flee PS: this is why i dislike the world's preoccupation with religion

Copy: Life is easier if you don't speak up. Sign-off: Debate It did offend me, at first. Well, it was a mix of an offended feeling and of not seeing any sense in the ad. As I saw it, the line "life is easier if you don't speak up" does not go with their tag line of "debate". I wondered how was one to have a debate without speaking up? I found it plain rude and insensitive to ridicule the lives of these great men. Until Mr. Amit Verma , through whose blog I came across this ad, pointed out to me that the ad was not making fun of but was glorifying them. And then I saw it. Through inverse portrayal, the ad actually emphasizes on the sacrifices these great men made. They could have lived the life portrayed but chose not to. About the meat and beer, I doubt the Dutch team that made this ad were aware of the taboo associated with those. I think they simply wanted to portray these people enjoying a "good" life. Suddenly, the ad became interesting and ...

Fascinating stuff. A mini, scaled down version of the BIG BANG is being staged today by scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research ( CERN ), Switzerland. The team hopes that recreating the explosion that created the world will show how the galaxy formed and how stars and planets came together. They also hope to unlock many puzzles in particle physics such as as dark matter and dark energy etc and to help us learn more about how the universe began. Some scientists fear that this experiment might create black holes which could swallow up the earth. However, a safety review by scientists at CERN and in the United States and Russia, issued at the weekend, rejected the prospect of such outcomes. Lets see. :) CERN is credited with the creation of the world wide web in 1989 - the origins of this blog The Big Bang is most probably the origin of you and me!