An year passes by,
the indefatigable monkey continues to type relentlessly and my struggle against the Second Law of Thermodynamics continues...
Yours truly,
Mars
Monday, April 30, 2007
Right Wingers of India
I'm tired of making fun of you but you don't seem to be tired of making a fool of yourselves.
War of Gab
Since I moved into the new place, conversations and debates on the ethnic conflict in the island-nation spring up at the slightest provocation.
Once, it started with something as trivial as Raj asking me how I liked 300, which I had happened to watch the previous day. When I replied, "Yeah, a good enough movie... nice time pass", he was dumbfounded. He went on to explain that I feel so indifferent about a terrific war movie like that one because I have not known war from a close proximity. Then followed strategic and ideological comparisons between the Battle of Thermopylae and the struggle led by the Eelam Tigers(basking in the success of the new found Air Wing)!
Then came the usual awkward moment- Rajiv Gandhi... who invariably comes up in the discussions especially when I am around ("Hey! I'm not the Indian Ambassador to Canada!"). Vimal described how his father's shop in Jaffna was burnt by the Indian Army and how they later suffered at the hands of the Tigers as well. And at the end, he made a peculiar comment:
"As long as I was in Jaffna, I could see the war in its naked reality but not the politics involved. Now after I came to Canada, I see and hear the politics of Eelam but not the war therein"
I remember reading in some website not so long ago that
"War is a necessary evil. But politics needn't be".
Sometimes I feel, in reality its just the other way round.
Once, it started with something as trivial as Raj asking me how I liked 300, which I had happened to watch the previous day. When I replied, "Yeah, a good enough movie... nice time pass", he was dumbfounded. He went on to explain that I feel so indifferent about a terrific war movie like that one because I have not known war from a close proximity. Then followed strategic and ideological comparisons between the Battle of Thermopylae and the struggle led by the Eelam Tigers(basking in the success of the new found Air Wing)!
Then came the usual awkward moment- Rajiv Gandhi... who invariably comes up in the discussions especially when I am around ("Hey! I'm not the Indian Ambassador to Canada!"). Vimal described how his father's shop in Jaffna was burnt by the Indian Army and how they later suffered at the hands of the Tigers as well. And at the end, he made a peculiar comment:
"As long as I was in Jaffna, I could see the war in its naked reality but not the politics involved. Now after I came to Canada, I see and hear the politics of Eelam but not the war therein"
I remember reading in some website not so long ago that
"War is a necessary evil. But politics needn't be".
Sometimes I feel, in reality its just the other way round.
Monday, April 02, 2007
And God said, "Thou shall not have sex"
For once, the representatives of all the religions in India have joined hands- against the devil called sex.
The latest India 360 chapter in CNN IBN discusses the growing calls for the abolition of sex education (brought in by the new CBSE curriculum) in various states, predominantly from (no prizes for guessing) the Sangh Parivar.
While the Right wingers in India never cease to entertain me, this time around the lime light was stolen by an unexpected candidate- Dr. U. R. Rao, former director of the ISRO. He demonstrates in this news item how bright and logically sound our scientists are. His argument- the illustrations in the text books are too explicit.
Of course, when we are studying female reproductive anatomy, what best suits the purpose is the picture of a woman dressed in five layers of arctic winter clothing and not a naked one, isn't it Mr. Rao?
--
PS:
Percentage of adult population afflicted by AIDS:
Germany- 0.1
India - 0.9
Level of sex education in schools:
Germany - condoms distributed to Grade 8 students
India - "Sex undermines our culture"
Vande Mataram, O soldiers of Hindutva, Vande Mataram!
The latest India 360 chapter in CNN IBN discusses the growing calls for the abolition of sex education (brought in by the new CBSE curriculum) in various states, predominantly from (no prizes for guessing) the Sangh Parivar.
While the Right wingers in India never cease to entertain me, this time around the lime light was stolen by an unexpected candidate- Dr. U. R. Rao, former director of the ISRO. He demonstrates in this news item how bright and logically sound our scientists are. His argument- the illustrations in the text books are too explicit.
Of course, when we are studying female reproductive anatomy, what best suits the purpose is the picture of a woman dressed in five layers of arctic winter clothing and not a naked one, isn't it Mr. Rao?
--
PS:
Percentage of adult population afflicted by AIDS:
Germany- 0.1
India - 0.9
Level of sex education in schools:
Germany - condoms distributed to Grade 8 students
India - "Sex undermines our culture"
Vande Mataram, O soldiers of Hindutva, Vande Mataram!
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