Stupid arguments for reservations-5

Wow.. another fool jumps in the fray (Prafool). First of all, if you read his article, its a pretty long one, unnecessary complicated. Typical of seculo-commie writers. Beating around the bush, using 2 paragraphs to say what can be said in just 2 sentences. Obviously, they bring in ten other problems, cry about them, and somehow make you believe that reservations are the ultimate cure. Of course, those ten other problems have got nothing to do with reservations.

Read this article http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/30bidwai.htm (and in the comments section, tell me frankly if you read the whole article. I wonder how anyone can read such convoluted language).

[Quote]At least three groups of people have played a role in sustaining it: upper caste-dominated professional guilds like the Indian Medical Association; captains of industry and owners of private colleges, who stridently oppose any extension of Dalit-Adivasi (Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes) reservations; and Bhartiya Janata Party politicians.[Unquote]

Haah.. unbelievable. Now we guys are also surprised at BJP's silence and hence implicit support to reservations. Captains of industry.. !? The industry is driven by merit and the motive to earn profit. The industry does not discriminate against anyone - if you are good enough, join us. We dont care about your caste. Many industries do have backward caste members. Now what discrimination are you trying to remove here. Forcing half the employees of a company to belong to particular castes is sure shot disaster. In fact, it will create more resentment and anger, and breakdown of organizational team. Hence they are opposed to quotas. Owners of private colleges? Many are politicians themselves. Private colleges are okay with reservations as long as their costs are being met. Why would they bother with caste. The IMA?? Of course, they would support the doctors, their members, regardless of caste. Remember there are OBCs who are against this whole quota thing.

[Quote]Weighty evidence for this comes both from the participation in the agitation by executives of Information Technology companies[Unquote]

These people are participating for reasons much different from what you presume, Mr Pra-fool Bidwai. We are for equality and merit, we dont care about caste, we dont want deserving candidates to lose. And yes, we are against quotas in private sector. We have no public sector jobs, now we will not be left with any private sector jobs too.

[Quote]Then, two members decided to quit, adding more grist to the anti-affirmative action mill. They couldn't have been unaware that their action would raise the pitch of the crusade against affirmative action in favour of disadvantaged groups per se.[Unquote]

Why is he repeating the words "affirmative action" repeatedly. Prafool may keep yelling about it, but reservations and affirmative action are very much different things. Calling reservations as affirmative action again and again will not change the truth.

[Quote]The bulk of the agitating students are children of the new middle class which burgeoned under the inequality-enhancing, skewed and dualistic economic policies launched in 1991. [Unquote]

Which world is this fool living in? Quality of life has improved after 1991, in general. Before 1990s I had never seen a 21 inch flat color TV in a slum. Did those 45 years of socialism improve anything for anyone, rich, middleclass or poor alike? Prafool seems to be thinking on these lines - I cannot climb the ladder, but I will pull you down if you do. He seems to have a problem with the "new middle class". Hey Mr Prafool, the middle class has worked hard for it, its not given to them on a platter.

[Quote]The 'merit' argument is bogus, in fact disingenuous, especially in a society based on inheritance of private property, and privilege related to birth, which largely determine one's social position.[Unquote]

Well, my parents did not get much in inheritance. What about that. Prafool here assumes that *all* upper caste people receive huge properties in inheritance. What about backwards who are rich ?? What kind of logic is that - Your parents are rich, so you wont get a seat in medicine or engineering, your suitability or merit be damned.
Ok, my parents did make sacrifices to give me a good education. They spent money on their kids education instead of spending it elsewhere. Whats wrong with that. If I was not so well-off, I would not crib about my rich neighbour's kid getting a headstart over me, but try to make the most out of available resources. And not waste it on drinking and gambling. I have seen slums in Mumbai (when I was working there) where people had larger colour TVs, refrigerators and costlier mobile phones than what I had at home ?!? But they will not bother about their kids' education. By handing them reservations, you just will kill the incentive for them to do so.
Of course, they have a right to spend the money whatever way they want to. They have the right to indulge in luxuries of life. Definitely. Nobody will stop them. But then, I dont accept the blame for their mismanagement, their non-planning for their kids education. Did we go and tell them to waste money on drinking desi daru and gambling? Dont blame us or our middle-class parents for giving more priority to studies and career.

[Quote]Merit makes sense only when it measures the distance between the starting point and the end point.[Unquote]

Ok, then how do you measure it. On the basis of caste ?? What if tomorrow, my community is included in the backward caste list. Will that change the truth, that I basically dont need reservation. Is the difference in the starting points so much that a merit student at 90% stands equivalent to 60% quota student. No, I dont think so.
By the way, I recall that in Gujarat during the 90s, if you are from the backwards, you get +5% added to your 12th standard score (used for medical and engineering admissions). Say you scored 72% and in the rankings, you are given 77% and brought into a single general list. Anyway, what about merit in other fields like media, entertainment, sports, etc. Why just engineering and medical are being targetted.

[Quote]Many of them don't see the unprecedented prosperity and rising incomes of a small minority -- namely, themselves -- as the result of certain larger economic processes and forces, such as higher rates of savings, the Indian state's elitist macroeconomic and taxation policies, or globalisation, which has given rise to new technologies and divisions of labour, thus creating new opportunities in IT and related services.[Unquote]

Now frankly, I had to read this twice to make sure I understand what this twisted fool is trying to say. Do you mean to say that the doctors protesting against quota (or their parents) did not have to work hard. The reason for their success is economic policies, not their own merits or talents. They got it easy, is it?
Ok Commie Pra-fool, whats your problem with rising incomes. We are earning it with hard work and slogging away for it. Not stealing it from you or your corrupt party.

[Quote]Rather, they attribute it to their own 'talent', 'merit' and individual initiative.[Unquote]
Yes, Mr Pra-fool, it is their talent and merit. Its just that you dont see it with your jaundiced eyes. You will not be able to understand what it takes. And this is regardless of caste. If a cricketer scores a century, and may or may not be an OBC, it is his talent and merit. (Or is it the government policy of making easier pitches hehehe) . If a student (regardless of caste) clears engineering/medical exams, it is his talent, hardwork and merit. (Or is it govt policy of making simple and easy exam papers, he he).

[Quote]A single 'objective test' is a disputable measure. One's score in it often depends upon familiarity with the type of questions asked, time management and speed, rather than comprehension.[Unquote]
But that is for everyone, isnt it. Do the test papers have questions that backwards cannot answer. Is anyone stopping a backward from getting familiar with the test pattern and previous papers. What a tard, this Prafool.

[Quote]The fundamental point is that a person born in a highly educated savarna family will have a totally different universe of knowledge, social contacts and elite acceptability[Unquote]
So?? Whats wrong with this. If the backwards start taking education and hardwork more seriously, it would be the same for them. I, for one, do share information with anyone, regardless of caste. If an OBC/SC/ST wanted some info from me, I would do so. Should I be cribbing if I fail to get into IIT, because I did not prepare for it or none of my cousins cleared it, and so they could not give me tips. Haah.. childish arguments from Prafool. I hope he retires soon.

Dumb aamir khan is a minority

See this link. Now aamir khan starts playing the minority card.
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/may/26fanaa1.htm

Also, its in the TOI (Toiletpaper of India) today. Dumb aamir khan saying - "I don’t think of myself as a Hindu or a Muslim, a Sikh or a Christian. I’m an Indian. And it is for the people of India to decide what is right or wrong." Link here - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1569404.cms

Ok, I respect his sentiment to support the Narmada dam oustees. But why play the minority card. What is with the minorities. Are they above the law?? How easy for criminals like Salman, Azhar and now Aamir khan to say "Hey you are doing this because I am a minority" .. ha ha ha. It feels like its a crime to be a general category majority community member in India.

First of all, I have written about the advantages of the dam earlier. All the four states stand to gain from it. Now aamir khan is a person who himself lives at a place in Mumbai, which was cleared of thousands of poor fisherfolk and reclaimed from the sea. Has he ever heard that people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others :-).

Rehab does not take place overnight. Think before you speak, dumbo aamir. You say you are not against increasing the dam height. But why then did you talk about rehab with Medha patkar and arundhati roy (both of them are against increasing dam height). You should have made that statement somewhere else, not in their company. Both medha and arundhati are irritating; and compulsive protestors. Medha is also anti-slum demolition(doesnt matter they block roads and rails, spread crime, usurp someone elses land). Arundhati,... forget it, she is anti-India. Its your fault, aamir, and now you blame others for misunderstanding you .. ha ha ha. LOL.

Typical dumb Bollywood actor, arent you , aamir khan. Now understand this, its not about minorities, its about the dam. No one is opposing you because you are a muslim (Did anyone ever stop your movies from being screened earlier. Earlier, you were still a muslim, werent you). Its because you are talking crap, and publicly humiliating the people of Gujarat. Dekho aap logon ne kisko vote diya hai, didnt you say that on TV. Did *all* people of Gujarat vote for Modi. I didnt. By the way, aamir khan, do you vote ?!! I dont think so. Even if you do, it does not give you the right to abuse people on their opinions, just like you dont like it.

Well aamir khan, you just redefined dumbness. This joke will now go this way.
Q: What is the height of dumbness.
A: aamir khan

I guess he should now stop making stupid statements and stop crying minority, if he thinks he is sensible and (unlike salman, azhar, etc) wants to be taken seriously.

Update -

The cinema owners themselves dont want to screen the movie, ban or no ban. Now has the greatest torchbearer of democracy, aamir khan, heard about freedom. Also, on the same link, even the Congress is opposed to the screening of the dumb actors movies. I suppose now even Congress is communal, is it.

Stupid arguments for reservations - 4

This is one funny site that I have found on reservations nautanki - http://barbarindians.blogspot.com. While youth for equality (http://youthforequality.blogspot.com) use their blog for public announcements, this one makes good fun of the usual reservation goondas.

There is one thing which needs to be noted. There are many quota students who themselves admit that quotas should be scrapped. Of course, the ones who dont might probably be insecure.
Now its funny to see how the self-styled liberals put forward their arguments on reservation.

Flawed Argument - The forward castes have persecuted the backward castes for a long time. So to make up for the discrimination, we should have reservations.

By the same logic, we (all of us, whether backward or forward) have been persecuted by Muslims. They have destroyed 3000 temples all over India, while they still are obsessed with a mosque built after demolishing our holiest shrine. Should not we be doing the same then?

There are many upper caste people, who just live an ordinary life. I have a Thakur sw engr friend from UP. Now contrary to the image in your mind, he does NOT have any palatial bungalow, a few lathi-wielding (or 303 rifle) beefcakes, a few cars and servants milling all over his home. He is pretty much a middle class guy, with a small home, whose family still has a scooter and recently he bought a bike on a loan.

Now, its taken that *all* upper castes have persecuted the backwards, going around with "chaabuk" in their hands and lashing the backwards. What about people whose communities have no history of caste-based discrimination (like mine). Though we come under forwards, we were primarily a trading and farming community, and have no history of backward caste oppression. Why should we suffer for somebody elses actions. So much for liberalism and justice.
Why should the ones who dont think that caste matters and dont go around torturing lower castes, suffer for this.

My POINT - Why do we have to suffer for the sins of *somebody* else’s ancestors.
Does the Indian law punish the son of a thief instead of the thief himself?

Ok. I agree that lower castes need to be uplifted, and that social equality is still to be achieved. But reservations are not the way. Period.

Flawed Argument - Merit is a Farce. Its a test of memorizing skills.

Yeah, if I tell you to add 454356 and 978535 , do you use your memory to do so. Or I show you 4 pictures and ask you to point the odd one out, I am testing your memory skills.. is it??

I dont find the JEE or CAT to be a test of memorizing skills. And I think having a good memory is important to be a doctor or engineer. What if you forget about which chemicals work in what condition. Or how to calculate load when designing a road or bridge. Or how to synchronize data access or ensure data integrity when writing a program.

Ok, I agree for a while, merit is not the real test. Then what is ?? There is always a method to judge a candidate, and thats how merit comes into being. If I apply for engineering, my merit lies in math and science skills. If I apply for joining the boxing team, my merit is strong biceps and shoulders, not my math and physics skills (or my caste). Even here merit applies. If someone wants to join movie industry, good directorial skills, or good acting and looks are important, not intelligence (Pretty evident in Hindi film industry). Here merit applies too. If you want to join the cricket team, you need to be a good keeper/fielder, batsman or bowler, you dont need great looks for that. Thats merit here.

Ok, if merit is not the real thing, then how do you decide admissions.. Lucky draw ?? All in all, while it has some flaws, merit is the best option we have for now. Ok, I make a comparison with US here. (There should be something equivalent to Godwins laws here). They decide admissions on merit, not reservations. What are GRE and GMAT otherwise. (yeah ok ok, i hear you, but affirmative action is a lot different from quota raj).

Flawed Argument - IIT is not a bigshot institution.

Ok, I wonder if I should argue on this. Forget it.. its too trivial and childish an argument to even further think upon.

Flawed Argument - See matrimonial advertizements, how caste decides arranged marriages.

Its an arranged marriage. Ok, there is no love involved here to start with. So what does a person normally look for in an arranged marriage. Better compatibility is one thing. You would prefer that your spouse adjusts better with you. While some castes might be rigid about it, I would just prefer that for my wellbeing.

What is wrong if I prefer to marry someone from my community (without hating any other caste or community), and one who speaks my language. If I do like someone from any community other than mine, then those differences dont matter. My parents are ok with the idea of me marrying someone outside our caste/community/language. But if arranged marriage is the way for me, why would I not prefer someone who speaks my language and adjusts easier to my way of living. Ok ok…. failed marriages (love or arranged) are another debate.

By the way, a wonderful article, bang on target -http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/17guest.htm

More splitting arguments coming your way.. (Stupid arguments for reservations - 3)

More splitting arguments coming your way.. These come like those PJ mails where you are asked to scroll to the end of the page to find a "Hathoda".

See this, the author beating round the bush - http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/22guest1.htm

"After all, for the crores of rupees spent on educating these bright men and women, the tax-payer can reasonably expect to ask what the nation receives in return"

Yeah, you get doctors who treat you, and perform bypass surgeries. You get engineers who build bridges and roads (ok, bad roads.. yeah the reasons are altogether different, and not their caste, if you think about it). You get engineers who make the bikes and cars you drive. You get engineers who deliver software and promote industrial growth, and of course, pay taxes (does this ring a bell).

Which taxpayers are you talking about, dear columnist. Dont the same doctors and engineers pay taxes (in fact, they are generally middle class and bear the most of the brunt of our taxes).

"In my civil engineering classes at Kanpur, we never discussed issues of displacement that accompanies big dams", says xyzxyzxyz(edited). "There is a severe disconnect between the class work and what are the real issues around infrastructure projects. It took me many years to develop a holistic view of my work."

Yeah, so IITs are bad. So there should be reservations to improve the quality. Tell me how, how on earth, will implementing reservations there solve the above problem.

"There actually is. Seats in Parliament and legislative assemblies are reserved for scheduled castes and tribes all over India."

Is it 50% (or as in ridiculous cases like TN, 70%)

Funnier and funnier...

Reminds me of the lines from Alice in Wonderland. Something to this effect - Alice asks which road to take. The MadHatter asks "Where do you want to go". Alice says "Anywhere" (or "I dont know"). Then MadHatter says "Then it doesnt matter which road you take".

Stupid arguments for reservations - 2

Take a look at this one.. Amazing.. Keeps getting funnier everyday.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/23sheela.htm

Oh wow.. we are already short of places for ourselves, now these cheap Paki jehadis want reservations for themselves in India. Well, I think Indian army should not have any reservations about killing them, trying to infiltrate into India. And given the way our sick-ular Madmohan and Sonia are working, they might even grant them reservations !!

Amazingly, there is a guy in my office, who says he is from backward class. These days it is a pride to wear it on the sleeve. Saying that you are a backward class is a warning to everyone. Back off, dont oppose me, treat me better than everyone else, however moronic I may be (doesnt matter that you hardly bother about caste. Me, being a non-local, dont even know what castes stay here, how to identify them or who amongst them are FC or BC.. heck). Or else, I will accuse you of being a fascist, racist b**tard. So fine. Ok, let me get back.

That guy is quite well off (yeah, thats why I said amazingly earlier). Ok, he has knowledge and he does his work well. (Thats why he is here. The people who are good enough get success, regardless of their caste). He is a hardcore reservations supporter. I once asked him why. He said that he is a backward , thats why. The forwards have troubled us for so long, now its our time to set things right. LOL.. hahahaha.. ROFLing stuff.

Soon we are going to have the backwards asking for reservations in Harvard, MIT and Stanford too.

Do you think I am a racist or a casteist.. No. But Hell yes, now I sure feel like I should be one.

Stupid arguments for reservations

Take a look here, interview of Udit Raj, the leader of SC/ST federation.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/16inter2.htm

Question: If quotas are introduced now, eventually there will be reverse discrimination. How will it bring about social harmony?
Answer: For long, in many places 70 per cent to 80 per cent seats were open in the general category. The upper castes were using it. Right? Now they have been given 50 per cent of the total seats whereas the upper caste population is just 15 per cent. I think that is good enough. What more do the upper castes want?

Hello, is something wrong with him. It is not at all about population percentages, you dumbwit Udit, its about deserving candidates getting admissions and jobs, regardless of caste or community. I myself lost out on a seat in an REC in computer engineering, due to reservations. The admissions for backward castes closed at much lower marks than what I had scored. And of course, even forward castes in many states are included in OBC, for votebank politics.

And hey, where did he get this idea of deserving backward caste candidates being denied admissions to institutes of higher learning, on the basis of their caste. As far as my perception goes, the backward castes are discriminated against in rural illiterate areas, not in AIMMS or IITs or IIMs. So why accuse these institutes of crimes they never committed and hand out the punishment even before the trial.

I am all for social equality, but not at the cost of development and missed opportunities to deserving candidates.

Ulhasnagar is no Narmada

Just could not stop comparing the Ulhasnagar and Delhi demolitions with the Narmada case. What surprises me the most is that there is nobody in support of the people being displaced in Ulhasnagar and Delhi.

Medha Patkar probably is blind or hungry for grants from the West in the name of upliftment of poor, and other such things that are too tiring to repeat. Madam Medha went on strikes, fasts and morchas for the slum dwellers of Mumbai, but no such thing for the residents of Ulhasnagar.

"Kyon Jholawale saab aur madam log, Ulhasnagar vaasiyon ne kuch paap kiya hai kya, please unke rights ke liye bhi kuch karo. Bichare log kahan jayenge jab sarkari bulldozer unki buildings tod denge. "

I guess, since *some* people in Ulhasnagar make and sell duplicate goods, it paints all of them bad, right? And so the often misused logic - "A few XYZ are bad does not mean all XYZ are bad" does not apply to us.

Methinks somebody from Ulhasnagar or Delhi did a good job of selling duplicate scotch and marlboro lights to the jholawala brigade and hence in retaliation, they are not going to be bothered.

BTW, isnt it ironical, that jholawalas try to deny the aam janata like us, the benefits of scotch and marlboro that they clamour for, citing leftist communist propaganda. So most of them, mostly arts grads, know whats good for the janata. Arent these jholawala brigade guys very similar to the extreme right wing moral police like the Shiv Sena. Oh yeah, and if its good for the minorities or so called lower castes, it is good for everyone, else its bad for everyone.

I wonder where are our aamir khans and medha patkars when thousands are losing their homes in Ulhasnagar and many are losing their livelihood in Delhi. In a way, Ulhasnagar demolitions are very similar to the Narmada dam case. People are being uprooted and have to leave their homes. Similar to the Narmada dam case, the people have been living there for quite some time legally. They pay their taxes and the electricity and water charges.

Where is Medha Patkar now. Medha Patkar, Shabana, Priya Dutt and some Dilip D'Souza, etc (the usual self proclaimed liberal intelligentsia jholawala brigade) cry themselves hoarse for the plight of the poor slum dwellers who illegally occupy land and have been living there for much less time than the Ulhasnagar and Delhi residents. Doesnt it smack of double standards and hypocrisy. If slum dwellers are allowed to stay on their land, and there is a case for Narmada dam villagers to live where they are living, whats wrong with legal residents of a city??

Is it that those Ulhasnagar and Delhi residents are rich and therefore liable to be uprooted. It seems that the fact that people make money, pay ridiculous amounts taxes and their utilities bills, means they have less rights than downright encroachers who also contribute to crime in the cities. It is this gross injustice , the use of different measures for different sets of citizens that nobody seems to notice or protest about.

My point is that the same yardstick should be used to judge similar cases, and not on the basis that the affected are of good means or not. If you support the case of people displaced by the Narmada dam, then the same rules should apply to the Ulhasnagar and Delhi residents. Unlike slumdwellers, in general, atleast they are following the laws better.

In a way, I sincerely hope something good is going to come out of it. The displaced people will not be dependent on these fickle jholawalas. They will fight on their own, work hard again and rise again. But the trauma will never be forgotten. In fact , maybe they will actually start making and selling duplicate goods themselves.

Oh, by the way, did I say that the Constitution of our country guarantees equality of all citizens ?

Update - I had a long (and just a leetle acrimonious) discussion with a blogger who likes to call himself/herself/itself confused (felt as if talking to a s_p_a_m bot). I must say that while illegal buildings must be demolished, slums must also be demolished. And I find it hypocritical, that five year old slums, illegally built by illegal squatters, are allowed to stay, while a city with a municipal corporation, elected representatives and taxpaying citizens is suddenly found illegal after over 50 years, and demolished. But then, its all politics. Slums will come up on the very same cleared land, and they will be allowed to stay.

Hit me, baby, one more time

Welcome to the parlour, said the spider to the fly. I am getting hits to my little space in the great World Wide Web, from my group of friends only. If I tell more friends about this blog, I will have to be careful about what I put in here, which is not what I intended this to be. (Crazy world - I might be willing to let total strangers read my blog rather than many of my friends).

Now how to get total strangers to visit here. Hmm, blog on more topics so that google blogsearch returns you in the search results. Ok, one - wider range of topics. Constraints here would be my limited interests. I am not much interested in why Jayalalitha lost in TN or why Laloo lost in Bihar. Nor am I interested in paintings and secular-liberal modern writings. I dont read much either, I am selective here.

Ok, write about Pamela Anderson or Britney Spears or our very own desi Aishwarya Rai. Sure to get lot of hits.

Or , should I make my blog resemble this - http://thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com.

Written by an anonymous journo from Delhi. I wonder if gals like this actually exist. I did read a few of her archives. It reads like a non-stop page 3 party. (Yeah, the author of that blog is tired of being told that, as she says). I wonder if all that is fiction, and the author of the blog is practicing her skills at writing a chick-lit novel. It makes an interesting read. To be frank, it gave me a different view on many things. And of course, what drinks to try out :-). And also, forget what the girlie mags say, girls look for handsome guys with muscles, not the "understanding, sense of humour, intelligent" types.

But why is it hard to believe her. I am yet to meet a girl who is attracted to guys because of their deos or colognes. (I would have had tens of girlfriends by now, in that case). Its difficult to believe that a girl can so easily be taken in by guys promises, again and again (Or that she knows, but wants to enjoy). Still at the same time, she seems to have loads of expectations from her men. Wishing her good luck.

Warning to guys: Dont, yeah, dont use what she writes to understand girls better. You would be in for a bad time.

Desi Godwin's Laws

Click here for Godwin's Laws :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

In an online discussion, once a comparison is made with Hitler or Nazis, the discussion dies away. The person accused of being a Nazi most often loses the argument. The accused party (accused of being a Nazi) tries to defend himself/herself from the accusation for the rest of the thread, and the accuser continues trying to prove otherwise.

In Indian blogosphere, I have seen the equivalent very often (of course, Nazis also feature). It can be called the "Desi Godwin's Law".

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Narendra Modi approaches one".

The outcome of the argument remains the same as original Godwins Laws.

The comparison between Modi and Hitler/Nazis is not at all valid or reasonable though, but still the law works in desi blogosphere. The typical seculo-commie-liberal tactic of making a mountain out of a molehill. Modi isnt entirely innocent, I must say. I suppose, the Jews did not attack the Germans first. Nazis' reason for the holocaust was racial superiority, blah blah, which was not the case in Gujarat. Here, number of people who died in Gujarat (700 odd) is a tiny fraction of the numbers (millions, AFAIK) when Nazis attacked the Jewish people. And in Gujarat, both sides lost lives, which was not the case in Nazi Germany.

Shayan not the only guilty person

Jessica Lall case has got quite a lot of limelight (thanks to NDTV, Aajtak, etc), and lot of public attention, a whole lot of SMS votes (including mine - Yes in favour of petition to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for retrial of the case. I wonder if Manu sharma and his band of Yo! friends were busy sending away SMSes that made up the single digit percentage of votes for No).

I am digressing. This is about Shayan Munshi. Take a look here - http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67625

Poor chap. I dont really blame him. First of all, he paid too high an amount in fees to Mr. Ponytail (Shayan is an IIPM Delhi passout). You might have seen him on TV pleading to leave him alone. But then, consider the situation. A murder that was witnessed by over a hundred people, incl big names from page 3. No one comes forward except Shayan. He agrees to be a witness.

Maar diya pairon pe kulhadi , kyon Shayan beta. Ab bhugto iska fal.

Now that guy cannot leave the country. He cannot go abroad for international contracts, unlike many other models. He has to appear in court in Delhi anytime the case comes up for hearing, and fly from wherever he is to Delhi. And for years. His international career suffers (whether he is good enough or not for that is another matter), now even his career in India suffers. He is asked to repeat the same thing over and over again in court, about an event that took place about 6 years ago (my estimate. It might be longer but I am too lazy to check). Ok, now frankly speaking, I cannot "EXACTLY" recall events that took place two years ago, forget about 6 years. The stress involved takes its toll.

Now, he has parents. Shayan, his girlfriend and his parents might have been under lot of pressure. Still he carried on in the case for quite some time, and ultimately buckled under pressure. Give the guy some credit. He alone is not entirely to blame. I hate sarkaari types, and maybe I would have also given up after banging my head with them for so long.

Shayan may be guilty in some measure, but not entirely. There are others, eg. the police officer who replaced the cartridges. Arent the forums and blogosphere being too harsh on him.

More seculo-liberal terrorism

I was browsing through Rediff news page when I found this link to a blog of a Rediff writer. Seems like a regular in the jholawala parties.

http://saisureshsivaswamy.rediffblogs.com/
Search on the page for "RIP, Hindu democracy"

The author talks about the situation and then bashes Hinduism, as it is so fashionable. I wonder what does Hindu religion got to do with the King turning tyrant and dismissing democracy. How is the Hindu religion at fault here. What about King Birendra who supported democracy. Conviniently forgotten.

Some people have got this tendency to blame everything wrong on Hinduism. Well, they forget that its because of it that they are able to bash it. Try that on Islam.

Rupert Murdoch has competition

TV news channels can be really funny for a change, though inadvertently (that they are dumb is not a secret or surprise anymore.. read this). While channel surfing, a channel (cannot recall which) was showing a story on a dowry case. The girl reported the groom and his family to the police station. The TV cameras and journalists also reached the scene. While the groom was being taken away, the camera showed his Tshirt message - I am not paid enough to be nice to you.

maar khaate bach gaye

Listening - Gangster_bheegi bheegi (hamari adhoori kahani)

Well, last weekend was great fun. A cousin of my friend was in the city and we decided to have some beer. We hit a pub. After we were drunk, we thought we should go up to this gal with a hot figure and ask her to join us. We did that. I dont recall what we said. (We were drunk yaar. )
She did not respond. As expected. Who would like to join these drunk guys. Dont know from where, but suddenly that gal wasnt alone as we thought. A few wannabe punk guys came in. And came straight to us. I thought, "aaj to pitne wale hain beta. Bahut keeda tha, haan" . But we sorted it out. Things did not come to blows. The good part is that none of us said - "sorry bhaiya, galti ho gayee", otherwise we would have been definitely pasted. (Strange world, if you apologize, you are further pinned down, if you dont, you dont get pinned). The guys left.

We left after an hour or so after that, laughing off the incident.

The cousin had brought his car and we had quite a few bottles in his car, driving out of the city on the highway. And waited for the hangover next day.

Bloggers Block

Is there anything like a bloggers block. Like there is something called programmers block.

Programmers block - http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/00/07/25/0329226.shtml

You have got the programmers block when you are stuck somewhere in code and dont know what to do. You may in fact be knowing what to do, and how to do it, but you are never sure of it. Sometimes, you dont get new ideas to write code.

Or mostly, you have ideas, but you do not know if it is the correct thing to do here. The reasons may be lack of concentration, fear of the unknown, or even the thought that if you wait, you might figure out something better. It seems to you that you have run out of innovation.

You always wonder - what I am doing is right or not. What if it bombs. Should I proceed in this way. I hope it doesnt create trouble later.

So bloggers block would be like - nothing to write about, no event to comment on, running out of ideas or words. Something like that. I sometimes feel that way. When something strikes me and I feel I should post about it here, I try to remember it but I forget eventually. Sometimes I just write out it out roughly on notepad and save the text file. And forget where I kept the text file.

Oh by the way, I feel that I am crushed by both blocks now.