I remember that as a kid, I read about Armstrong’s “One small step for man…” little speech on the surface of the moon with awe and a tinge of envy. If truth be told, years later I maliciously enjoyed watching a program alleging that the whole episode was an elaborately planned charade by NASA and the US government working hand in glove with each other.
Whatever the truth, I eagerly waited for the day when India would send its own space shuttle to the moon. Now “Chandrayaan” has taken a baby step towards the moon. As an Indian I am immensely proud. Three cheers for the ISRO guys :-) You are the best!
For a country where the children grow up calling the moon “Chandamama”, where ladies without a brother look out for it on the occassion of the “Bhaiyadooj”, where the day of the Eid is fixed when it is sighted, where married ladies look at it on “Karwa Chauth” and where many love songs have been penned on it, the planet has always been closer to the heart than any other celestial bodies.
The epic Ramayana describes how King Rama, as a child, insisted that he won’t go to bed till he was given the moon. His father’s advisor Sumant gave him a tiny mirror such that the moon’s reflection could be seen in it and King Rama went happily to bed.
Now ISRO has brought the moon closer for over a billion Indians. We never ask for the moon but this time we got it. And we are over the moon – literally and figuratively! :-)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
I am overjoyed that India thrashed the Aussies in the Mohali test by a record margin. But I think it’s a bit premature to term this the end of the Aussie domination. A consistent performance - which is the hallmark of the Aussies - isn’t the Indian team’s claim to fame. Besides, with the cloud of controversy hanging about the retirement plans of its senior players, the Indian team will need some time to set its chemistry in place. It will be better if the players concentrate on achiving a decisive lead in this series instead of paying much attention to the media headlines.
That said, keeping in “spirit” of things that in life every little victory should be celebrated, where’s the champagne? :-)
That said, keeping in “spirit” of things that in life every little victory should be celebrated, where’s the champagne? :-)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Hauntings
One of my favorite shows on the Discovery Channels is “The Hauntings”. Despite my family and friends assuring me countelss times that it doesn’t in any way involve real life events (the show claims that the events are real and interviews the people who have experienced them) I continue to watch, fascinated, as families after unsuspecting families across the US walk in to purchase these “haunted” homes. Some of them spot “an evil presence” right away but majority of them don’t sense anything wrong as they sign the contract and come to live there.
Then the real action begins. Some family members see strangers walking through their living rooms or peeping in through the windows. Children start talking to invisible beings. The furniture moves for no apparent reason – and without any mortal hands touching it. There is a perceptible drop in the temperature – despite global warming. The atmosphere in the house becomes heavy with evil. In a nutshell, things start going bump in the night!
It’s usually the women and children who first notice these goings-on while the reactions of the men range from plain incredulousness to dismissal to anger. Afterall, in the majority of the cases they are footing the bill. So the family tries its best to get on with life by ignoring the SuperNatural – till the crisis comes to a boil.
That means one of the family members gets possessed or comes to a bodily harm or starts becoming irrationally and dangerously aggressive. Then it’s mostly the woman of the house who decides that “she won’t go down without a fight”. So she googles for help and Hey Presto! The friendly neighboorgood ghost-busters are at the doorstep in a jiffy. They walk in with their audio-visual equipment and set up a base in the house. The children are packed away to a friend’s or neighbors’ and the husband-wife duo sits anxiously huddled on a sofa.
The ghost-busters walk about the house noting down “cold spots” and asking if anyone there wants to talk to them. No one generally accepts the invitation so they go back to their headquarters and process the data. The family is then invited to have a dekko at the results where more often than not someone is whispering “help me” – sometimes in Latin or Greek for an exotic twist. The ghost-busters also provide a value-added service by fishing out records of (a) people dying in a car crash near the property, or (b) previous family dying a violent death (c) the property being constructed on an ancient burial ground (d) the property being a part of the battelfield. The family is relieved at this proof that there really is a supernatural presence and that they didn’t go bananas collectively.
Sometimes there is a psychic in the neighborhood who volunteers to chase the spirits away. She tours the place closing eyes and wincing occassionally as the horrible events of the past unfold before her mind’s eye. She flushes out the spirits from their hiding place and asks them to go to the light. Sometimes a priest walks in to perform cleansing with Holy water. Sometimes the family takes it upon themselves to perform the cleansing.
In majority of the cases the spirits decide to leave them alone. But in some instances they are back to their mischief with renewed vigor – angry that the mortals tried to drive them away. Then the occupants pack their belongings and run for their life – hopefully not to another “haunted” house. :-)
These spirits mostly are of human beings who died prematurely or violently but sometimes to spicen things up a bit a demon or two make an appearance with a Latin sounding name and scares hell (!) out of the occupants and their helpers alike. I remember one case in which the devil himself was haunting the place. With so many sinners pouring into hell every day I am sure he felt rather claustrophobic there :-)
Mind you, though I am writing all this in a jocular way I do believe in spirits – good as well as evil. I don’t demand proof of their existence – actually I hope I don’t see any proof in my lifetime! But the way these stories always turn out have a distinct pattern and so I am becoming convinced that at least some of them are contrived.
But with Halloween around the corner, I will give these ghosts and ghouls a break. After all, there are only so many ways that they can spook the living daylights out of us :-)
Then the real action begins. Some family members see strangers walking through their living rooms or peeping in through the windows. Children start talking to invisible beings. The furniture moves for no apparent reason – and without any mortal hands touching it. There is a perceptible drop in the temperature – despite global warming. The atmosphere in the house becomes heavy with evil. In a nutshell, things start going bump in the night!
It’s usually the women and children who first notice these goings-on while the reactions of the men range from plain incredulousness to dismissal to anger. Afterall, in the majority of the cases they are footing the bill. So the family tries its best to get on with life by ignoring the SuperNatural – till the crisis comes to a boil.
That means one of the family members gets possessed or comes to a bodily harm or starts becoming irrationally and dangerously aggressive. Then it’s mostly the woman of the house who decides that “she won’t go down without a fight”. So she googles for help and Hey Presto! The friendly neighboorgood ghost-busters are at the doorstep in a jiffy. They walk in with their audio-visual equipment and set up a base in the house. The children are packed away to a friend’s or neighbors’ and the husband-wife duo sits anxiously huddled on a sofa.
The ghost-busters walk about the house noting down “cold spots” and asking if anyone there wants to talk to them. No one generally accepts the invitation so they go back to their headquarters and process the data. The family is then invited to have a dekko at the results where more often than not someone is whispering “help me” – sometimes in Latin or Greek for an exotic twist. The ghost-busters also provide a value-added service by fishing out records of (a) people dying in a car crash near the property, or (b) previous family dying a violent death (c) the property being constructed on an ancient burial ground (d) the property being a part of the battelfield. The family is relieved at this proof that there really is a supernatural presence and that they didn’t go bananas collectively.
Sometimes there is a psychic in the neighborhood who volunteers to chase the spirits away. She tours the place closing eyes and wincing occassionally as the horrible events of the past unfold before her mind’s eye. She flushes out the spirits from their hiding place and asks them to go to the light. Sometimes a priest walks in to perform cleansing with Holy water. Sometimes the family takes it upon themselves to perform the cleansing.
In majority of the cases the spirits decide to leave them alone. But in some instances they are back to their mischief with renewed vigor – angry that the mortals tried to drive them away. Then the occupants pack their belongings and run for their life – hopefully not to another “haunted” house. :-)
These spirits mostly are of human beings who died prematurely or violently but sometimes to spicen things up a bit a demon or two make an appearance with a Latin sounding name and scares hell (!) out of the occupants and their helpers alike. I remember one case in which the devil himself was haunting the place. With so many sinners pouring into hell every day I am sure he felt rather claustrophobic there :-)
Mind you, though I am writing all this in a jocular way I do believe in spirits – good as well as evil. I don’t demand proof of their existence – actually I hope I don’t see any proof in my lifetime! But the way these stories always turn out have a distinct pattern and so I am becoming convinced that at least some of them are contrived.
But with Halloween around the corner, I will give these ghosts and ghouls a break. After all, there are only so many ways that they can spook the living daylights out of us :-)
Petrol khatm hi nahi honda
The cute little sardar who drove his toy Maruti car all over the house made the Maruti ad my all time favorite. That ad was being aired even this year till Maruti came up with a new one. It looks like the little one is a teenager now and wanting to take his girlfriend out asks his granny for some money. Surprised, his granny wonders why he needs it again especially since she had given him some already. Thereupon, the sardar invents the excuse that he needs it for petrol.
You have to watch the ad to see how the feisty little granny handles the situation with a delightful take on “Petrol khatm hi nahi honda” :-)
You have to watch the ad to see how the feisty little granny handles the situation with a delightful take on “Petrol khatm hi nahi honda” :-)
I must confess that I sometimes find it hard to grasp what this hoopla about abortion really is. Let me make my stand clear first. Of course my opinions are limited only to India where the issues related to abortion are different than in the West and unfortunately, have never been one of the issues that dominate the elections.
I am for strict implementation of laws against abortions conducted at shady clinics, abortions of female foetus and late abortions that might result in the death of or damage to the health of the mother.
Looking at the incidents of newborn babies being dumped in garbage cans where they are an easy prey for rodents, I am convinced that in India unwanted pregrancies should be allowed to be terminated lawfully and safely. It’s better not to bring the child into this world if he/she is going to end up in a garbage can or orphanage eventually. :-(
Finally, if it can be detected that a child has some kind of disease that will prevent his/her leading a normal fruitful life then the pregnancy should be terminated safely, if possible. I can understand that parents are emotionally attached to the yet unborn child. They are willing to shoulder the lifelong responsibility and many times are quite capable of doing so. But life doesn’t come with guarantee cards attached. God forbid, if something happens to the parents there isn’s any social security in this country which will take care of such a child.
I suspect though that the whole debate in the US isn’t about these practicalities but more from the religious angle of being responsible for terminating a life. It’s more like God wanted this child to be born like this and who are we to interfere with His plans. Even the tenets of Hinduism would say that since we can’t give life we don’t have a right to take life away. Then there is the argument about the soul taking birth to live out his/her Karma. Again, who are we to interfere with this plan?
So, like many other questions in life, this one doesn’t have any clear answers.But then life’s questions were never of objective type anyways!
I am for strict implementation of laws against abortions conducted at shady clinics, abortions of female foetus and late abortions that might result in the death of or damage to the health of the mother.
Looking at the incidents of newborn babies being dumped in garbage cans where they are an easy prey for rodents, I am convinced that in India unwanted pregrancies should be allowed to be terminated lawfully and safely. It’s better not to bring the child into this world if he/she is going to end up in a garbage can or orphanage eventually. :-(
Finally, if it can be detected that a child has some kind of disease that will prevent his/her leading a normal fruitful life then the pregnancy should be terminated safely, if possible. I can understand that parents are emotionally attached to the yet unborn child. They are willing to shoulder the lifelong responsibility and many times are quite capable of doing so. But life doesn’t come with guarantee cards attached. God forbid, if something happens to the parents there isn’s any social security in this country which will take care of such a child.
I suspect though that the whole debate in the US isn’t about these practicalities but more from the religious angle of being responsible for terminating a life. It’s more like God wanted this child to be born like this and who are we to interfere with His plans. Even the tenets of Hinduism would say that since we can’t give life we don’t have a right to take life away. Then there is the argument about the soul taking birth to live out his/her Karma. Again, who are we to interfere with this plan?
So, like many other questions in life, this one doesn’t have any clear answers.But then life’s questions were never of objective type anyways!
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