I am distressed to say the least, reading and watching the calamity caused by the monster Tsunami. Before i go any further, my heart goes out to people affected by Tsunami. No words can offer soalce, and the poor ones affected are not going to hook up the net and read my condolence, but for what they are worth, here they are. The ones reading this, say a prayer, observe a minute's silence or do what you can to help them out.
I wonder.. Recently earth has been witnessing more unexpected and strange natural destruction than ever before. Last year, we had high summers killing people in Europe. With all the "tsunami", earthquake, et al (and I am not even talking about Bush and Osama as yet- those are artificial destructors anyway), one begins to wonder if there's going to be normal life again?
On Sunday 26th Dec, at about 6.30 am in the morning, whole batches of small children playing cricket on our very own Marina beach and old people jogging harmlessly.... were washed away by tides measuring upto 10 feet. The waves reached the famous beach road and well into Santhome and Triplicane. And this news is nothing when compared to the destruction in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Colombo and Thailand.
Is earth ageing? Is it too old for any more "normal" life? Is it time we looked for life on another planet and scrambled for spaces there? Who knows? Is this the beginning of the end of "this phase" of earth? I continue to wonder, some thousands of years later from now, newly evolved cave men will dig earth and discover Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Petronax towers etc. (like we did on Mohenjadaro and Harappa) and based on where they will strike first and unearth, new religions will be born!
The wise men then who will be able to decipher what they unearth will be the new messiahs or sons of God!
Today's kids are learning general knowledge and vocabulary more practically than we did when we were young. They have literally seen and read about Bofors, AK47, Kalashnikov, rogue-state, prisoner abuse, AIDS, SAARS and now, the latest: TSUNAMI !!
Did we know these words say, some 20 years ago??
Anyways, Here's wishing all of you a tsunami-free, Bush-free, Osama-free.. 2005!
Sod all that, lets raise our glasses to a swell 2005.
December 29, 2004
December 25, 2004
The Larry Darrell in me
Within one paragraph it explains life......
Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon champion was dying of CANCER.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied" The world over -- 5 crore children start playing tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?".
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?" Happiness keeps u Sweet, Trials keep u Strong, Sorrow keeps u Human, Failure Keeps u Humble, Success keeps u glowing, but only God Keeps u going."
Indeed, twas a heart rendering quote from Arthur Ashe(about him being selected
by God for the AIDS infection as well as the Grand Slam trophies he
won).
But thinking a little more along these lines, you start wondering...
Who selected the 3,000+ to die at Pearl Harbour?
Who selected the 3,500+ to perish at the WTC on 9/11?
Who selected the 10,000+(still counting) to suffocate and die at Bhopal when the gas leaked?
Who selected the thousands (couldn't count) who were burnt alive at Hiroshima and Nagasaki when US dropped the Bomb?
Who selects the Iraqi civilians, US Soldiers, Palestinian babies to die every day?
Who selects the Millions of jews to be traumatized ever since and prior to WW2?
Did God intend to punish all these victims? Were all their prayers insufficient to save them?
Most importantly, there may have been some/many survivors in each of those incidents and it is easy to attribute their stories to the good God.
Is there really a god? Its a perfectly safe question to explore, talk pro and con about, but which can never really be answered.
Thats the stupidest thing really you know. Let us, just for arguement sake, say there is no god. Which means, no religion. That eliminates all the fights/war going on in the name of religion from Gujarat to Gaza strip. There wudnt have been a bombing of the towers. America wudnt have got a reason to goto war, so no war in Irag either. That, i say saves half the problems the world is facing with.
Like they say, explore both sides of the coin. Would the starters/instigators of war made peace and drank from each others cups had they not been supplied with a reason not to war? Wouldnt they find some other reason to goto war? Do you think and beleive Hitler wudnta attacked people of Poland had there been just one/no religion, i,e if he dint have the readymade excuse as the flagbearer to eradicate all jews. And then you biol down to people from the same land/religion. What is their basis? If there aint no basis, would the men of the land wager against the women? Thats how stupid it all is.
Science has shown that evolution is a much more credible basis for mankind than creation. So much for the credibility of religion.
Just one of these days, you kinda feel some science freak gets fed up with all this shit and impersonates god by simulating a ray of light to appear divine in fronta religous seers and say " I AM NOT TRUE. AND, SO ARENT THE OTHERS. SO GO THE FARM AND DO A HONEST DAY'S JOB".The seer wud claim " I have seen the light, and its a lie." How funny would that be? And think abt it, some of them seers would be seeing the action in some prison cell and people wud stone his retarded self to death thinking he's gone crazy when he utters sumthing like that, when actually he is making sense for the first time in his life. The fault lies with the masses too. They just cant beleieve and buy the truth, bcos lies are less complicated and change is not easy to accept.
Why shud such thoughts occur on christmas day?
It really is time to say my prayer to god on the gospel...
" This new year, and every new year on, may all wars be closed and bars kept open".
Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon champion was dying of CANCER.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied" The world over -- 5 crore children start playing tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?".
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?" Happiness keeps u Sweet, Trials keep u Strong, Sorrow keeps u Human, Failure Keeps u Humble, Success keeps u glowing, but only God Keeps u going."
Indeed, twas a heart rendering quote from Arthur Ashe(about him being selected
by God for the AIDS infection as well as the Grand Slam trophies he
won).
But thinking a little more along these lines, you start wondering...
Who selected the 3,000+ to die at Pearl Harbour?
Who selected the 3,500+ to perish at the WTC on 9/11?
Who selected the 10,000+(still counting) to suffocate and die at Bhopal when the gas leaked?
Who selected the thousands (couldn't count) who were burnt alive at Hiroshima and Nagasaki when US dropped the Bomb?
Who selects the Iraqi civilians, US Soldiers, Palestinian babies to die every day?
Who selects the Millions of jews to be traumatized ever since and prior to WW2?
Did God intend to punish all these victims? Were all their prayers insufficient to save them?
Most importantly, there may have been some/many survivors in each of those incidents and it is easy to attribute their stories to the good God.
Is there really a god? Its a perfectly safe question to explore, talk pro and con about, but which can never really be answered.
Thats the stupidest thing really you know. Let us, just for arguement sake, say there is no god. Which means, no religion. That eliminates all the fights/war going on in the name of religion from Gujarat to Gaza strip. There wudnt have been a bombing of the towers. America wudnt have got a reason to goto war, so no war in Irag either. That, i say saves half the problems the world is facing with.
Like they say, explore both sides of the coin. Would the starters/instigators of war made peace and drank from each others cups had they not been supplied with a reason not to war? Wouldnt they find some other reason to goto war? Do you think and beleive Hitler wudnta attacked people of Poland had there been just one/no religion, i,e if he dint have the readymade excuse as the flagbearer to eradicate all jews. And then you biol down to people from the same land/religion. What is their basis? If there aint no basis, would the men of the land wager against the women? Thats how stupid it all is.
Science has shown that evolution is a much more credible basis for mankind than creation. So much for the credibility of religion.
Just one of these days, you kinda feel some science freak gets fed up with all this shit and impersonates god by simulating a ray of light to appear divine in fronta religous seers and say " I AM NOT TRUE. AND, SO ARENT THE OTHERS. SO GO THE FARM AND DO A HONEST DAY'S JOB".The seer wud claim " I have seen the light, and its a lie." How funny would that be? And think abt it, some of them seers would be seeing the action in some prison cell and people wud stone his retarded self to death thinking he's gone crazy when he utters sumthing like that, when actually he is making sense for the first time in his life. The fault lies with the masses too. They just cant beleieve and buy the truth, bcos lies are less complicated and change is not easy to accept.
Why shud such thoughts occur on christmas day?
It really is time to say my prayer to god on the gospel...
" This new year, and every new year on, may all wars be closed and bars kept open".
December 15, 2004
Just for the heck of it...
I am reading a collected works of Wodehouse focussed with short stuff on the various female characters that appear in his novels.
Like you say Wodehouse, i say Jeeves, but u say female characters in Wodehouse , and i start scratching my head and whats 'the girl in blue's name..she is supposed to patch up with Jerry, the cartoonist, right?
So, i pick this book hoping it wud refresh me on most of Wodehouse stuff.
As i open the book, the foreword catches my eye and it goes like " Just to show that dangers are relative, and vice versa".
Quite right. Now how could i ever forget Aunt Agatha?
Like you say Wodehouse, i say Jeeves, but u say female characters in Wodehouse , and i start scratching my head and whats 'the girl in blue's name..she is supposed to patch up with Jerry, the cartoonist, right?
So, i pick this book hoping it wud refresh me on most of Wodehouse stuff.
As i open the book, the foreword catches my eye and it goes like " Just to show that dangers are relative, and vice versa".
Quite right. Now how could i ever forget Aunt Agatha?
December 09, 2004
Jay Jay Shiv Shankar #2..
I was talking to my dad yestday and i bring the Shankaracharya arrest episode up, although painfully aware in the back of my mind, its gonna kill my daytime minutes.
My dad goes like " We have to pray that he comes out unscathed with his reputation untarnished". I retort saying " He made a mistake. He has to pay for that".
He goes " Now dont you start acting all American all over. He's a spiritual guru. He prays for the welfare of all the people day in and day out. The govt. is generally oppresive of brahmins, and what better way to haunt/bug them than to reach out for the leader/guru."
I am thinking " This is no India- Aussie cricket series. And the Govt. is no Steve Waugh trying to intimidate the Indian team by trying to get onto Sourav's nerves. The dood is surely connected."
More of dad's " He prays everyday for everybody. No way would he stoop to the levels of an ordinary guy."
I cant take it anymore and say " I am an ordinary guy. And am not gonna plan/conspire to kill another guy some day. He stooped to the level of a criminal to save his skin. Only it backfired, because having been unaccustomed to stuff like this, he dint do a good job of covering his ass."
I ended up alopogizing to dad, for the sake of it and all, but i dint really mean it. I feel he's involved and guilty and deserves his due.
Remember the old saying - No smoke without fire. Exactly.
The Dream on lyrics by Aerosmith readily come to mind...
Every time that I look in the mirror
all these lines on my face getting clearer
the past is gone
it went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
everybody's got their dues in life to pay
yeah, I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
you got to lose to know how to win
Half my life's in books' written pages
ive and learn from fools and from sages
you know it's true
all the things come back to you
Only the sage took a double role as a fool too.
My dad goes like " We have to pray that he comes out unscathed with his reputation untarnished". I retort saying " He made a mistake. He has to pay for that".
He goes " Now dont you start acting all American all over. He's a spiritual guru. He prays for the welfare of all the people day in and day out. The govt. is generally oppresive of brahmins, and what better way to haunt/bug them than to reach out for the leader/guru."
I am thinking " This is no India- Aussie cricket series. And the Govt. is no Steve Waugh trying to intimidate the Indian team by trying to get onto Sourav's nerves. The dood is surely connected."
More of dad's " He prays everyday for everybody. No way would he stoop to the levels of an ordinary guy."
I cant take it anymore and say " I am an ordinary guy. And am not gonna plan/conspire to kill another guy some day. He stooped to the level of a criminal to save his skin. Only it backfired, because having been unaccustomed to stuff like this, he dint do a good job of covering his ass."
I ended up alopogizing to dad, for the sake of it and all, but i dint really mean it. I feel he's involved and guilty and deserves his due.
Remember the old saying - No smoke without fire. Exactly.
The Dream on lyrics by Aerosmith readily come to mind...
Every time that I look in the mirror
all these lines on my face getting clearer
the past is gone
it went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
everybody's got their dues in life to pay
yeah, I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
you got to lose to know how to win
Half my life's in books' written pages
ive and learn from fools and from sages
you know it's true
all the things come back to you
Only the sage took a double role as a fool too.
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