Seeing Things

Mankind has a lot to thank Mahatama Gandhi but I have my own, special reason to thank him for. In 2000, I won a couple of beauty pageant titles. Miss Chennai being the grandest of them all. Would you believe it if I told you that Mahatma Gandhi had a role to play in my first ever win of a beauty contest? Well, those were the days when the notorious bandit Veerappan was still alive and causing havoc in the areas in and around the forests of Tamilnadu , Kerala and Karnataka . 2000 was the year he had kidnapped Kannada actor, Dr. Rajkumar . When the local beauty pageant, Miss Adayar was being held in Chennai, the actor was still being held hostage somewhere in the dense forests where Veerapan had established his lair. The question posed to me was ,"f you were sent, by the government, as a mercenary to Veerapan's camp in an attempt to free RajKumar , how would you go about it?" A little heavy for a mere beauty pageant contestant, don't you think? But luckily for me...

Few days ago, I woke from an afternoon siesta. I yawned and stretched and thought to myself, "that was a nice nap". It was thanks to the sound of the falling rain that had lulled me to sleep. I stepped out into the balcony to get a glimpse of the rain-washed outside. I wanted to see the glossy roads, the dripping tiled roofs, the clean trees, a clear sky, perhaps with a few puffs of clouds hear and there. But i was in for a delightful surprise! For this is what I saw.

A misunderstanding has been reported from certain quarters about my views on terrorism. I "seem" to justify Islamic terrorism in India, but also condemn LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka. This post is for those who may be interested in understanding my views better. When I acknowledge the possible causes of terrorist activity, it does not mean that I justify it. I condemn violence. I do not approve of it no matter what the causes. To avoid spurring terrorism it is necessary to have a clear understanding of why terrorists resort to terrorism. Only then can we avoid making mistakes whilst tackling it. I disapprove of the majority community in a nation demanding or actively working towards establishing superiority because this makes minority groups insecure and possibly react in a rash manner. Meanwhile, I also disapprove of terrorists resorting to violence to get their way. I believe that violence can never lead to anything constructive. So, whose side am I on. you ask? Well, I am n...

Situated on the right is a poll that I am conducting, purely out of personal curiosity. Please be honest. In any case, I won't know who selected what. I will only know the percentage of people that select the various options. Thanks for helping. After voting, you can find more such cat-related idioms and find their meanings here. Enjoy!

Forty years have passed since that historic event. Made me think of this song by R.E.M. Had never really paid attention to the rest of the lyrics. All that got registered was this line: "if you believe, they put a man on the moon" I had only heard the song at pubs and discos. The radio perhaps. So today I decided to listen to it properly on Youtube. I found this video which aptly has clips of man first setting foot on the moon. I also read up the lyrics but honestly failed to understand it. I just get this line and think it's a lovely line. However, I read about the song on wikipedia and chanced upon some interesting facts about what the song really means. You too can read about it here. Meanwhile, enjoy the song!

It's alarming, how ABVP, the student wing of the BJP go on carrying out criminal offenses and then get let off, free of charge. I wanted to specifically read about the latest case in which 6 ABVP students were "let off" free of charge, 3 years after they were caught on camera, beating up this old man. i was surprised to come across a whole page of news items in which ABVP activists were "later let off". The nation saw what happened on TV with regard to the murder of this Professor. But like Varun Gandhi's recent hate speech, that video too might have been doctored. However these expert video-doctors were not able to 'doctor' some evidence to be able to have these students punished. Sure they were let off. But that does not change the truth. The truth is well known to the judge who said "the prosecution failed miserably". The truth is not hidden from the general public worldwide. I hope the BJP soon realises that 'divisive politics'...

Is the fall of the LTTE leader a triumph of Sinhalas over Tamils? Or is it the triumph of a nation over terrorism? I know that the world over and in many parts of Sri Lanka, it is viewed as the former. However, I personally like to see it as the latter. As I see it there was one issue: Issue number 1 - subjugation of Tamils in Sri Lanka 26 years ago, Prabhakaran stepped up and offered to sort out the issue but only ended up creating an additional issue making things worse. Issue number 2 - terrorism converting the Serendib into an island of horror to foreigners So now, we had 2 issues. It was like giving cancer to a man complaining of a toothache, believing that the cancer would eventually cure the toothache. Today, the government has after 26 years sorted out the second issue. Now, it's up to the government and people of Sri Lanka, Tamils included, to rebuild on a foundation of equality and holistic patriotism rather than a Sinhala patriotism or a Tamil patriotism. Hopefully, ...