News: The Fast and Spurious

"Ashwani Kumar Gupta, 38, a truck driver died in Chandauli on Monday morning after being brutally assaulted by an official of the regional transport office (RTO)."
(link)

"Anant Lal Gupta (50), a native of Kaushambi district, was allegedly beaten to death at around 5 AM by some members of the RTO staff, Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur, "
"RTO Department took the vehicle for weighing at the weighing centre and found that the truck was not overloaded, but demanded Rs 1,000." 
(link)

Truck driver Anant Kumar Gupta was in his way from Delhi to Bihar with a consignment of medicines when he was stopped by Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials and five UP Police constables at Naubatpur in Chandauli.
s.

His crime: Refusing to pay Rs 5000 as bribe. 

(link)

same views..different news.
Word to "journalists"  reporting: Get your facts first. Its not just important to deliver the news, but to deliver the right news.

9/11 India.

Today, as the world remembers an event that changed the course of history, a thought occurred to me. I'll go that thought later, but did the 9/11 attack on the twin towers in a city in the USA change the course of history? Saying that it changed the course of history would not be an understatement, as it gave the USA all right and reason to launch an attack on any of the Islamic countries  on pretext of "peacekeeping" "protecting democracy ", "war on terror"  and other fancy colourful diplomatic  reasons.

So coming back to the thought that occurred to me was: What would have happened that if a similar thing had happened in India? (not that incidents in similar colour have not occurred ). How would we have reacted? Would the changing governments pursued the military forces and energies to hunt down one person? Would our governments levy higher taxes so that they could find this one person? But then our country does not need such reasons to put the nation's people under more financial trouble.

And by some bleak, unfortunate co-incidence and to utter embarrassment, if Mr. Laden would have managed to be captured at the hands of the Indian Afro-American Ops, (i.e Indian Black Ops), then what? What would our government do? The seeing the 'treatment' given to Mr.Kasab, question is not that difficult to address. Mr.Laden captured from his abode would have been brought to the country under heavy security which would even put the Mrs. Patil's  security arrangement to shame. Then he would be taken to some suitable confinement, like a luxurious room in one of the Arthur Road or Tihar Jail, where Mr. Laden would have been given nothing less that a free of cost (not exactly free, since someone is paying, the tax-payers, being in this case. )  best security, best food and care to cater all his needs. After months of news coverage and miles of  newsprint, the government would put him on trial and he would have been tried for his crimes, and Mr. Jethmalani would have jumped to this opportunity to grab some limelight by offering his services  to defend Mr.Laden.  Another 6-7 years would have gone with the case being postponed, failing witnesses, not enough supporting conclusive evidence, doubts on whether the person captured is Mr.Laden himself, regular sickness and failing health of Mr.Laden making him unavailable to be present in the courts, misleading evidences and hundreds of other reasons, the case would have gone no forward then the first day when the trial would have been started. Finally due to old age and nature taking its toll, Mr.Laden would have been admitted to the ICU of a Kokilaben Hospital amidst highest security where he would live his last days.  

A confused fanatic

i hope that this is not my last post. Recollecting the fates of the people who tried to raise their voice against stupidity and irrational thoughts, the only hope for me is that this little blog is not as popular or as penetrative as the other mediums have been. Anything said against them is not just hushed or sidelined, but it is brutally taken out of the picture, never to raise its voice again.

For a person who started his career as a cartoonist expressing anti-migrant sentiments, and has held that view all his life, supported it, raised voice against it, fought for it, made people fight for it, should be empathising when someone else shows similar sentiments for their home-town. First he raged attacks on the Dravidians, then the Aryans, and mind well they were still his countrymen. It really amuses me and boils my blood at the same time when this same fellow then says that the Australian cricketers should be not allowed to enter the country if one is proud of his country and has an ounce of patriotism left in him.

If he feels the anit-migrant feeling he shows are justified, then what the Australians are doing is no different, maybe the degree of displaying hatred maybe not that 'subtle'. I am not trying to justify Australians attacking indians, what irks me is the hypocrisy of this orange coloured mastiff. While doing no real progressive work, all they stand for is against something. Against Tamils, against non-marthi speaking people, against journalists not favouring them, against Muslims, against chirstians, against the cuddling couples, against liberalisation, against the north indians, and now , taking their hatred regime across the international boundaries to Australia. It is like, they are looking for opportunities and situations where they can say, "we oppose this".

For someone who's notions on patriotism and nation pride are obscured, is in no position to patronize it. What they(he and is army) stand for, is someting i don't understand, and sometimes i feel they themselves are not sure.

one of the best reviews i read..

(this is from urban dictionary )
Cathcer

Catcher in the Rye is about some phony named Holden Caulfield. He goes around talking to kids and trying to give girls the time. That kills me. And he always talks about his dead brother and how great his goddam sister is and all. I think he's some big phony. He's always talking about how annoying everyone else is and how he wants to save kids and run away to live in the goddam woods, but he does the same thing everyone else does. I get quite a bang out of that. He'll probably be the kind of guy who always talks about how many miles he gets in his goddam car. What a phony. He's probably flitty. I mean he can never get really sexy with a girl. You know, really sexy. I can be very sexy sometimes. Women kill me. Anyway, he really drove me crazy while I was reading all about him, but after a while I started to miss him. You know, how when you have to shoot the crap with some phony about how they want to run off and live in the woods, but then you don't see them for a few weeks and you start to think what a nice guy they are. You probably don't understand. You're probably the kind of guy who posts stuff you think is funny on some phony website. Like that Oscar Wilde phony. That kills me. It really does. Reminds me of a phony I once knew, some mac who just came up with fake quotations nobody really give a damn about. It was a sad occurence though, it really was. You know the part that really got me. The part that sometimes he was actually funny. Stuff like that always kills me. ...

(captured the essence and the flavour of the book!)

Happy Blah Blah Day

happy fathers day
happy mothers day
happy friendship day
happy womens day
happy valentines day
happy doctors day
happy wot-not day

Marketing scams!.. big marketing scams.. The only people who make us remember that these days are important days in our lives are the people on T.V , media, people selling pizzas, movies, greeting cards, ice creams, chocolates, and other such accessories which on any other day would seem like a waste of time rather then the need of the hour. All of a sudden, on these days, people have cravings for a coffee, pizzas or feel like watching a movie with or buying gifts for their cherished ones. Well, if u need a calander date to remind you of your cherished ones, you are better off without them.!

The people on the T.V and other broadcast media like radio or newsprint are the ones who seem to be most interested in these seemingly important part of our lives. They make it their moral resposibility to make us realise that "you are so much lost in your useless wretched life, working day in day out like a dog that you have forgotten your cherished ones, your family , your friends, so you need a day to remind them that you do rememeber them. Here,we have created an opporutnity for you and all you have to do is buy the products we are advertising, because this is the only way you can express your heartfelt emotions for them. Buy them a card, share a pizza, watch a movie, buy a new shirt, coz this is the only day in the entire year you can do it, rest of the days are not so good for such activites, for expressing your sentiments (if you have any) or for getting back to your loved ones"

The worst part is, you cannot avoid these bashers however hard you try. Pick up the paper, turn on the t.v, turn on the radio, and lo! there they are , announcing their presence loud and clear. You walk into a mall, a coffee shop, a pizza joint, a restaurant, anywhere and you'll see this big sign boards, hoardings announcing the commencement of these events well couple of weeks ahead. Special offers on these days, discounts, lucky draws and all other alluring tricks in the book. Well, if they are going to "celebrate" these days, i'd like to vote for a few days I'd surely like to "celebrate"
Happy:
-mind your own business day

-don't bug me day

-leave me alone day

-give piece of your mind day

-hug beautiful gals day

-get laid day

-swear day

The way these days should be celebrated are self-explainatory, the name says it all. The only trouble is... how does one come up with marketing stratergies to promote these. hmm.. i wonder

‘Give SC/ST students more shots at JEE’

As the elections are coming closer, the government is coming up with novel ideas to uplift the nation. The only way that this can be achieved it seems is giving the so called unprivileged classes more chance to enter into the highest education institutes in the country, as if that was the first priority of the 'unprivilege' class. Why dosen't the government think of giving them free cable T.V, free internet, or say free train tickets, cheap flight ticktes, discounted rates at Pizza Huts and McDs, discounted Pepsi and other Cola drinks. If getting higher education is so necessary, I guess these things would also count as necessary. Why dont they have discounted rates at 3-star and 5-star hotels too, that way they can afford thngs like that and thus get more acceptability in the society.

I have a better idea. Why don't these buggers come up with different question papers for them.. Lets make the system even more favourable. Say from the class First itself the method of conducting papers should be in this format

Set A : for general class
Set B : for OBC
Set C : for SC/ST

I have even thought of typical questions for Set C

Q1) Can you write your name : Y/N ____

Q2) (optional) Write your name:______

Q3) 2+2: _____ (carries extra marks)

Q4) Which is far, moon/sun :______ (Hint: It is not moon)

ending with a thanks note : The government wants to thank you for taking your precious time and putting efforts to complete the paper. Wish us and the country all the best

Fair enough?

An advertisement on TV shows a girl trying to get a job, but due to are natural complexion, a brown one, she is rejected for the job. She tries some cream, 10 days.. or 14 days (different companies claim different periods), and viola!! she turns like a beauty contest contestant over a fortnight.. and gets the job.!

Beauty magazines and fairness creams have been promoting and glorifying fair skin ever since i have been watching television. Ponds, Lakme, Revelon, Garnier, Nivea are some of the major players who have been instrumental in marketing these so called "fairness " cream. With advertisements depicting people with fair skins are more successful than the not-so-faired one, the marketing strategies have become more and more inexorable. The worst thing is, a "developing" country like ours, proves a more potent market for such products. And we call the American and Brits as racist.?? What are we then.? Having accepted these ads, having accepted that people with fair skin are superior to the one with not-so-fair, how do we call them racist.? Whats worse is that, after the advent of this new species called "metrosexual men", these creams have now started to target the males too.! Ads showing guys with fair skin being able to woo girls, or get the female attraction has been the chief propaganda.! What happened to the "tall dark handsome" fellow?? what happened to the tanned skin toned girls?

I don't understand but why we have this tendency to believe or trust a fair (the skin tone and not the persons intentions) person more easily than the one with say not-so-fair, or brown or dark complexion?? Is is the word "fair" attached to it? Is it since white is related to pureness and black to dark? Is it, since we were ruled by the whites and the sense of superiority has not yet left us? Or even worse.. that they really are superior? i really wonder...