The Melting Pot » Rants

Real Shame

Gagan Kalra — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:16:49 +0000

We are worrying about the commonwealth games and here is the live examples of how things work in India when it comes to sports. Yesterday’s match between India and Sri-lanka, the final of the five match series at Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi had to be abandoned due to poor cricketing conditions. The pitch failed miserably to hold a one complete day’s cricket. Sri-Lankan batsmen were forced to have some serious bruises They just couldn’t understand the way pitch was behaving. Dilshan really had the toughest of the time while facing Zaheer Khan.

Although the managing committee has now been suspended but that doesn’t serve the greater purpose. Next year, we are going to host commonwealth games and over 71 nations will be participating. Doesn’t the recent incident sound ominous?

Yesterday’s story has cited some real doubts on nation’s prestige. More importantly it’s the same venue: DELHI. If they can’t hold Cricket (which is no less than our national sport), then I am seriously dubious about the kind of governance, we would be showing after 10 months. Anyways, I might sound pessimistic if I keep on writing on the subject-matter. It’s just a matter of few months time and everything will come into picture.

Here’s a brief video of what had happened yesterday

watch?v=JebGeUslc7k

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We should save our Taj

Gagan Kalra — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:15:51 +0000

Taj – The symbol of love, an Indian legacy to cherish about, a monument that can enchant your soul. The city that contains not only Taj but three great World Heritage sites – Agra fort, Fatehpur Sikri and Taj, has its roots in our own country friends!!! Cheers!!! Is it???

No!!! In fact, it’s an absolute shame for the country.

Despite getting independence 60 years ago, we are still unable to put the city on the world-map. There is not even an airport in the city. You’ll have to travel by the train, buses or on your own and the excuse is “WE DON’T HAVE NUMBERS”.

Really?

One of the seven wonders in the world and we don’t have numbers. Is it because of Taj or because of the reason that the city is dump? Shabby jhuggies and jhopdis line the unimpressive route to the most recognized ‘Monument of love’. That means, all the VVIPs from Kennedys and Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Princess Diana and Musharrafs would have seen the lethargic attitude of Indian govt and I am sure would be sarcastically grinning all the time. The place deserved to be the best tourist spot of the country but the irony led it somewhere else. Even I don’t know where… . Whom should we attribute it to?

Govt. or ourselves??

Another major problem in the city is the ever-growing population of beggars. Now before you judge me on the subject matter, please read it carefully. I am not saying that they should be completely wiped out from the area. That would be insane!!!

But warning – Gone are the days when they used to beg from a distance. Now they come and bang their fists on the windows of your car and there is no innocence in their eyes. Sheer Dadagiri!!! They won’t go away until you feed them. I have personally seen many tourists running away from them. Beggars were begging for money and the tourists were begging for help .

You might cherish about the fact that now we have proper pollution control in the vicinity of the monument. But that’s only air-pollution. What about the elements that are corroding its inner beauty, leading to less and less number of tourists year after year.

Had it existed elsewhere in the world, the countrymen would have spent billions of rupees (or their currency) to captivate the audience. But oh yes!!!! we all together have spent billions via SMSes in order to get it included in seven wonders (Hope you remember!!). Isn’t it?

Final words: Should we keep aside our assets and move on and at the end of the day, lose it all??

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The Hawk in the Sky

Varun — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:15:36 +0000

In the lands of the Pashtuns, there is an old saying –

The eyes of the dove are lovely but it’s the hawk with it’s talons that rules the sky…

It is quite ironic that this age old Pashtun saying be used to describe their present nemesis – United States of America. But, such are the strange ways of the world. Anyways, the United States of America is entrenched in Afghanistan and no matter what the generals say, it wil be there for some time to come. They are fighting the enemy that simply refuses to vanquish. Infact, the Afghan Govt is largely invisible outside Kabul. In the countryside, the night letters have proved stronger than the writ of Karzai. One can gauge the situation by considering that the Obama administration and the Karzai government have made not-so clandestine attempts to ‘reach out’ to the Taliban recently. Even after the recent surge in operations against the Taliban in Pakistan, the menace doesn’t seem like vanishing in a hurry. The Taliban are doing to the US what they did to the Soviets and the US is doing what the Soviets did. So, I wonder what about the typical American good guys and the Communist bad guys scenario. Was there even ever such a scenario ?

George Bush regularly spoke about an axis of evil . And the world listened as he bombed people across Afghanistan and Iraq on flimsy excuses. This is not the first time the US has committed mass murder. It’s entire history is checkered with inhuman travesties . America is no land of peace, it’s a monster that engulfs everything for it’s own excesses – much like Galactus and ‘democracy’ is it’s silver surfer. What right does the US have of teaching human rights to other nations after Gitmo, after using Agent Orange in Vietnam, after bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. America is worse than Germany under the Nazis. People don’t recognise it’s evil because it’s just got a great PR department. So, what I’m trying to say is that – Might is Right !

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Why do people believe in anything?

Silhouette — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:29:42 +0000

Why do people believe in anything? There can be a lot of reasons for believing. There are a lot of concepts in the world about everything. Even a small issue which must not be having much importance in our lives must be having a lot many philosophies behind its origin. For example, some people believe in God and some don’t – the question is why do people believe in God? No, the question is – Do people believe in God? Some do, some don’t. Those who do, why? And those who don’t, why not? So many questions pouring out of a single question – why do people believe in anything?

Those who believe in God put forward strong reasons. Some feel that the Earth was created by the Almighty, He is the Ultimate and we all are his sons and daughters, who must bow to his commands and worship Him. He is the kindest, the best, the fairest, the One. He created us. He makes the world go around. He listens to our prayers, grants us happiness. Often people who undergo traumatic experiences are advised by doctors to turn to God. Some scientific researches have found that those who pray regularly at generally at peace with themselves, they are not disturbed easily and tend to live a happier life.
Among the believers, there are some who are of the conviction that God can work miracles. He can stop the Earth, if you do bad – God is going to make you repay; or that you’ll go to Hell.

On the other hand, there is a contrary opinion of those who are more often than not known as ‘atheists’. This non-believing section of society feels that there is no ultimate power that rules the mankind known as God. As far as the question of Universe goes, they put forward the theory of Big Bang. The Bing Bang Theory states that the Universe was created out of a tiny ball of highly compressed gas (hydrogen, etc.) that exploded and thus, it led to the creation of water, fish, animals – the simpler first and the complicated followed. They say that God is only a symbol of convenience – a punch-bag that absorbs all the guilt and regret breeding in humans. Some reason this out this way – they say that god was created only to put a fear in the mind of all men – the fear of the Unknown, to maintain order and harmony in the World and to keep a check on the evil forces that breed within us.. to keep us from anarchy.

But you know what, even this way – God is the saviour. Personally speaking, I believe a little of both these theories but I’m slightly bent towards the former school of thought. I believe in the science, and I believe in love too.. So if you have to choose between the two – that we are all safe because there is indeed an old man sitting up there, watching out for us or that the whole earth and the solar system and the planets and the sun are made out of a tiny orb the size of a ping pong ball; which one would you go for?

Because at the end of the day when I close my eyes, I do see an old man sitting up there on a throne of fluffy clouds running his long fingers through his snowy beard, cocking a brow at me asking me to get on with it.. Sometimes he smiles at me, sometimes he laughs at me, glares at me, at times he tests me, but the most important thing, which you can’t ignore is that – He is always there when I look up..

What do you believe?

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5 things I hate about the IPL!

Rahul Sarin — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:46:36 +0000

From the drama that started with auction of the players to the last minute change of the venue for the event, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has shown us a bit of everything! Dubbed as India’s DESI EPL (except for the different game being played here), the IPL brings about tons of things to cheer about. But here are a few things that irritate me.

SOUTH AFRICA :
Seriously. This is supposed to be the “INDIAN” Premier League. They expect us to be all happy and gay when the stadiums in our own cities are empty!
FAKE CROWD STATISTICS :
The commentators really need to stop harping on and on about “how well attended the IPL matches are” and “the stadium is packed to capacity”. Do you think I’m blind? No matter how hard you broadcasters try to pan the cameras only towards the areas where the crowd sits, I can still see those empty stands.
OLD / CLUMSY / RETIRED CRICKETERS :
When the IPL was launched, it was hailed as a revolutionary platform for exploring young, budding talent. The IPL has without a doubt produced some great new talent but I really don’t fancy seeing cricketers who have either retired or are past their prime in this form of the game. I always thought the rebel ICL is supposed to be the messiah of the oldies. Hurray for the “young”, controversial wackos like Harbhajan and Sreesanth!!
UGLY CHEERLEADERS :
I really don’t know why there is so much focus on these cheerleaders. Maybe there’s something wrong with my eyes but I can’t figure out what Ravi Shastri finds so amazing about them.
SUNIL GAVASKAR and MANDIRA BEDI :
Somebody needs to go to South Africa and bring these two back to India. But you know what would be better? If we somehow lost both the idiots in SA itself!!! Gavaskar’s commentary is pathetic and Mandira’s presence there is a mystery considering her lack of knowledge.

No slapping… no drama… no controversies… and on top of that, some ordinary cricket!!! I’m just hoping things get better as the tournament progresses. Now, it’s your turn. Share with me your dislikes about this edition of the Indian Premier League.

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Defeating the block

Rahul Sarin — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:01:41 +0000

I think most of you know about the Indian Govt.’s blog block. Blogspot, Typepad and Geocities have been totally blocked.

Even I have been affected because the original Uthfull is hosted on Geocities. OK… I don’t visit or update that site anymore but still I don’t want it to be blocked because of the Indian Govt.’s foolishness.

I could write a lot about this ban but why should I when everything is already here and here. Alternatively, you can use goo gle to get more information.

List of banned websites
Bypassing the ban

– A nicely written tutorial.

I have a few other tricks for people to browse the web somewhat anonymously and browse banned sites.
You see, most of the internet http proxies use a software called CGIProxy. Now keeping in mind some things typical of that program, we can use google to find hundreds of free http proxies to access the banned sites and the web anonymously.

Here are the direct links to the search results :

Search Results 1
Search Results 2
Search Results 3

Now I used to visit one of the banned sites ( http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/ ) which I think is down. Here’s the Google Cache. If I remember correctly, this site used to show videos of people being beheaded in Iraq by millitants (yup, that’s how I discovered it).

Some sites say the ban will be lifted in another 48 hours but who cares.

If you want to just access your own blog hosted on blogger, use this site.

I was about to setup a http proxy of my own but then I discovered this trick.
Enjoy!!

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hope…….

wonderboy — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 16:49:31 +0000

well what i am gonna write is nothing original but part of very common knowledge. and it is actually the continuation of jaskiran’s post. the following is nothing but the story of pandoras box as i know it….

pandora was the first women created by god. she lived with her husband. they were enjoying their life as no evil thing had touched them. there was actually no evil at that time. all mankind was extremely happy. someone of the many greek gods,who didnt like all this happiness, sent his messenger to pandora ad her husband with a box. now the messenger told them not to open the box and keep it in their safe keeping. but pandora could not controll her curiosity and even after caution from her husband went ahead and opened the box. now the box was filled with all the evil virtues and as soon as it opened all of them escaped. pandora was instantly filled with fear, guilt and grief over her doing. the evil forces had already gripped her. to control further damage she closed the box. but her husband told that something is still left in the box and it will help them. it would rid all their miseries. it was HOPE. the other gods had concealed hope among all these virtues. pandora opened the box again, out came hope and all of pandoras problems started to vanish. so whenever evil tries to take over… the hope inside our hearts keeps us going and foils the atempt.

ha ha …. that was a very very modified and altered version of the actual story. actualy all these mythological stories are like open source softwares. you can modify them and republish them. but i know my software..err story wont have many buyers… but i hope(pun intended) that my msg has been put through.

…..In this life you could lead if you only believe
And in order to achieve what you need
You can never give up
You can never give up

And this hope
That keep me holding on
On and on
And this hope
That makes me carry on
On and on

shaggy’s song…. hope….

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The Bayer Scandal

Rahul Sarin — Tue, 30 May 2006 14:50:15 +0000

I don’t know how old or new this scandal is. I just happened to read about it on Sushubh’s blog.

An American drug company, Bayer, dumped medicine infected with the HIV/AIDS virus in Spain, Japanand Asian countries because they wanted to make a profit after the US govt. directed them to remove the infected drug from the US market. The surprising thing is that the US govt. knew about the dumping thing.

The world is crazy!!

Click here to watch the video of a special report by MSNBC.

More info:

Seems the big companies can easily pay off bad publicity because this news never broke out again.

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Callous Cops

Rahul Sarin — Sat, 13 May 2006 13:33:25 +0000

I’m starting the Reservation debate again.

I see images of the Police lathi charging the doctors and it fills me with anger instantly. What have the students done to deserve a beating? They just sit there quietly shouting slogans or sitting on a dharna.

The same thing happened in Gurgaon last year when the police behaved in a brutal manner with the workers of Honda. They are doing the same again.

These children are educated citizens. They are not indulging in vandalism. Unlike vagabonds, they are peacefully asking for the fulfillment of their demands. But it seems that the police and the government just do what they think is right. Peaceful protesters are greeted with teargas and sticks. The students can’t and don’t even retaliate.

The police is behaving in a very uncivilized manner. I seriously wish Arjun Singh dies.
I’m eighteen, entitled to vote. Rest assured, the Congress aint getting my vote.

More students, not just the medicos, should come forward and join the strike. The government won’t listen until they are given a kick up their rear. Till now, the strikes have been peaceful. But if it continues this way, it won’t take long for the students to take up arms and battle it out with the police. Bloody brutes!!

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TOMMY FUCKING HILFIGER

Niharika — Fri, 05 May 2006 14:55:51 +0000

I’m extremely sorry bout my language in this post but I cannot stand assholic racists who think they are all that!! Tommy Hilfiger is a motherfucking bastard who is so bloody arrogant that he considers himself above god!
Let me start from the beginning. I always thought Tommy Hilfiger was a genius when it came to fashion. Obviously he was extremely over priced but then aren’t all international designer brands… I had genuine love for his clothes. Until a few days ago when I found out that this guy had said in one of his interviews, something like ‘If I had known that blacks and people of colour will be wearing the clothes I make, I wouldn’t have made them’.
He is a fuckwitted maniac! This is so nazi!!! Just like Hitler who considered the pure German blood as the pioneer Aryans and hence ‘chosen by nature’ to rule! Does this bastard think himself above the so called ‘people of colour???’ God I hate racists!! Their fucking country runs because of us Asians! Fucking dumbwitted assholes!!

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