Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here - Karima Bennoune
Saturday, January 17, 2015
House, M.D.
'House' is coming to an end. You might say 'but that happened about one and a half year back'. Yes, in the US. But in India, the final season will get over sometime next week.
To be very honest, I stopped watching this show a long time back - despite having a crush on Dr. Chase - because I couldn't stand House any longer. His habit of treating others like a piece of garbage, his insistence on being emotionally detached from everybody and everything, his abnormal behavior that often bordered on being childish, the callous way in which he treated Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Wilson - everything seemed to get on my nerves. The episodes dealt with so many unknown (at least to me!) diseases - thus underscoring the fact that there are so many ways to fall sick, most often all of a sudden - that it started to get scary. We don't like to be reminded of our mortality, do we? It didn't help that most of the times House's team struggled to come up with a proper diagnosis, often subjecting the patient to a battery of tests (Spinal tap and MRI being the common ones!) and an array of treatments.
But I have decided to watch the remaining episodes as the series draws to a close - just to see how the story ends. Thank God at least some things in life have a closure! :-)
To be very honest, I stopped watching this show a long time back - despite having a crush on Dr. Chase - because I couldn't stand House any longer. His habit of treating others like a piece of garbage, his insistence on being emotionally detached from everybody and everything, his abnormal behavior that often bordered on being childish, the callous way in which he treated Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Wilson - everything seemed to get on my nerves. The episodes dealt with so many unknown (at least to me!) diseases - thus underscoring the fact that there are so many ways to fall sick, most often all of a sudden - that it started to get scary. We don't like to be reminded of our mortality, do we? It didn't help that most of the times House's team struggled to come up with a proper diagnosis, often subjecting the patient to a battery of tests (Spinal tap and MRI being the common ones!) and an array of treatments.
But I have decided to watch the remaining episodes as the series draws to a close - just to see how the story ends. Thank God at least some things in life have a closure! :-)
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Spanish - Class XXI
If I glance at my notes from the class, it looks as if we didn't do much - considering the fact that we have just 2 more classes to go. And yet we were occupied for the entire duration of 2 hours.
The first part of the class was of course spent in going through the homework as always. After that we learnt about Los Adjetivos Posesivos - mine (mi), your (su) etc. in their masculine/feminine as well as singular/plural forms. A couple of exercises involving their usage followed. Then the 3rd group of irregular verbs was covered - ER. I get 'tense'd thinking about how I will remember verb forms for the main 3 tenses - Past, Present and Future - for regular + 3 groups of irregular verbs (with their o -> ue, e -> i and e -> ie variations). I dare not think about the rest of the tenses. :-(
The last part of the class was reserved for listening exercises. We listened to 2 audios containing conversations carried out in restaurants. Even when I had the transcripts of the dialogues in front
of me it was difficult to pick out what was being said.
I am very worried about the listening comprehension and Viva part of the exam. :-(
Despite that, I must say that it gives me immense joy when I come across a Spanish word that I recognize. A couple of days back, I found a Spanish poem in one article. Just for fun, I tried to understand it. Of course, I didn't understand it fully but when I checked the translation I found that I had got the gist of it. Not bad after doing the basic course, not bad at all!
And the credit for it goes to the teacher - Gracias Maestra!
The first part of the class was of course spent in going through the homework as always. After that we learnt about Los Adjetivos Posesivos - mine (mi), your (su) etc. in their masculine/feminine as well as singular/plural forms. A couple of exercises involving their usage followed. Then the 3rd group of irregular verbs was covered - ER. I get 'tense'd thinking about how I will remember verb forms for the main 3 tenses - Past, Present and Future - for regular + 3 groups of irregular verbs (with their o -> ue, e -> i and e -> ie variations). I dare not think about the rest of the tenses. :-(
The last part of the class was reserved for listening exercises. We listened to 2 audios containing conversations carried out in restaurants. Even when I had the transcripts of the dialogues in front
of me it was difficult to pick out what was being said.
I am very worried about the listening comprehension and Viva part of the exam. :-(
Despite that, I must say that it gives me immense joy when I come across a Spanish word that I recognize. A couple of days back, I found a Spanish poem in one article. Just for fun, I tried to understand it. Of course, I didn't understand it fully but when I checked the translation I found that I had got the gist of it. Not bad after doing the basic course, not bad at all!
And the credit for it goes to the teacher - Gracias Maestra!
I am surprised at the people who are surprised that Pakistan isn't mending its ways even after what happened at the Peshawar school. It's sad and ominous at the same time. I mean, people who don't value the lives of their own citizens, children at that, cannot be reasoned with. If they want to create mayhem in India at any cost, then God help them and us both!
There is a famous quote about 'opinion' which I cannot repeat here. So, suffice it to say that it does allow room for people like you and me not to have an opinion about the goings-on in the world, however momentous they maybe. Of course, there is no denying that murdering has to be condemned and that every person in this world needs to have 'la libertad de exprecion' i.e. the freedom of expression. But it is difficult to take a definitive stand beyond that. Well, at least it is for me.
And that's because I believe that there are peaceful, and yet effective ways of registering your protest and that it is wrong to make fun of any religion - not because it might anger the fundamentalists of that religion but because it might hurt many who practice that religion daily and have nothing whatsoever to do with bullets and bombs. If you are mocking their faith, then it does not matter whether you are mocking the fundamentalistic aspect of it or otherwise. For people who don't have time or energy to study or debate the finer points or the true teachings of their religion (and most of the people following any religion will fall into this category), the symbols become as important as the religion itself. And though the majority of them won't reach out to the friendly neighborhood guy who has been recruiting for some terrorist organization or other, such mockery will create an 'us vs. them' kind of feeling that the world can really do without. It doesn't matter that you haven't been singling out any specific religion to make fun of and targeting almost all of them. The question is you should wonder what effect your action is going to have on the world. And considering that, is it really worth it? Just because you can do something, should you do it? And while we can do precious little to stem the growth of religious fanaticism, should we go out of our way to stoke it?
So as I look at the world leaders who marched arm-in-arm on the streets of Paris, I wonder why none of them spared a moment for the victims of the Boko Haram massacre. :-(
And that's because I believe that there are peaceful, and yet effective ways of registering your protest and that it is wrong to make fun of any religion - not because it might anger the fundamentalists of that religion but because it might hurt many who practice that religion daily and have nothing whatsoever to do with bullets and bombs. If you are mocking their faith, then it does not matter whether you are mocking the fundamentalistic aspect of it or otherwise. For people who don't have time or energy to study or debate the finer points or the true teachings of their religion (and most of the people following any religion will fall into this category), the symbols become as important as the religion itself. And though the majority of them won't reach out to the friendly neighborhood guy who has been recruiting for some terrorist organization or other, such mockery will create an 'us vs. them' kind of feeling that the world can really do without. It doesn't matter that you haven't been singling out any specific religion to make fun of and targeting almost all of them. The question is you should wonder what effect your action is going to have on the world. And considering that, is it really worth it? Just because you can do something, should you do it? And while we can do precious little to stem the growth of religious fanaticism, should we go out of our way to stoke it?
So as I look at the world leaders who marched arm-in-arm on the streets of Paris, I wonder why none of them spared a moment for the victims of the Boko Haram massacre. :-(
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