another excess on the internet

i am posting after a long time.
not that there are no controversies around.
in fact there were too many . and too hot.
like the police action in the movie upload case.
police have registered case against fifteen 
persons for uploading a recently released
malayalam movie on the net. so far so good. 
they had no right to steal ( i mean it ) the movie.

but see the second part. case is  also registered
against a thousand more persons. for viewing the
movie on the net.

this is  something like going to jail for looking
at a daring poster on the road. or a baring
ad in your daily newspaper. internet too is 
public space.

if you think i am exaggerating recall the
incident a few months back. a student was
arrested and put behind bars for watching
porno. true  he was underaged. but see what
we have done to the kid.
and where he can go now. back to school
and friends ? or to the underworld or  
take the exit route ?

crux of the matter is that it is high time we
reviewed our rules. these rules did serve a
purpose when they were framed but may
not apply in the present context. they
need to be reviewed however sacrosanct
they appear.

and in the meantime let us go slow on their
implementaion. let us not unplug thousands
of young lives. let us not nip bright blossoms
in the bud. all on the strength of provisions in
the statute book.

overenthusiasm is as bad as or worse than
 lethargy. especially when it comes from law
 enforcing agencies.

 

oxygen .. the great enemy within ?

read the article by my young friend in high school
and debate if your brain is adequately oxygenated
and if u r ready to run the risk of getting oxidated

     http://oxygenpoison.blogspot.in

population control or redistribution ?

i have a small garden on the roof.

ladys fingers, tomatoes and some chillies.
if u think i get vegetables from the garden
u r mistaken. i get only a strange satisfaction.
when i see the sprouts and the leaves and the
occasional flowers. and the rare rare fruits.
and the squirrels who feed on them.

there are a few love birds too in my garden.
i started with a pair in one cage . now there
are ten in two cages. eight in the old cage
and two in the new one. they chirp thru out
the night . they do it louder in the mornings
when i walk up to them for a closer look.


i told my colleagues about the birds. to boost
my image. as a bird watcher too. but
there were experts in the group. with long
experience. they told me that the cage is
overcrowded. eight is too many to live in
a small cage.


they lectured to me about the strain on the
resources. they asked me to take population
control measures at the earliest .


they asked me to enforce production discipline.
no more than one offspring per pair. they suggested
disincentives for the indiscipined . keep them
away from govt jobs. run awareness programs.
make it unfashionable to have more kids.
and many more.


but i did nothing of the sort. i just transferred
a pair of my beloved birds to the new cage. and
i still wonder why we think only about control of
population and not about relocating them .


more of it u like the idea and grade it debatable.

forget and forgive

forget and forgive is the advice we hear very often. it is the panacea for ending all disputes , stopping all quarrels and removing all illwill. but how do we do that ?  do we have the ability to forget ? i am not aware of any one who has the ability to forget voluntarily. the more one tries to forget something the more it is remembered. the very efforts aimed at forgetting brings it to the fore and in fact reinforces its memory. so forget the desire to forget. instead remember to forgive which should still work

railways and social service

strange are the ways our railways react. if  an employee
torments a lady passenger he gets reinstated in two days .
ultimately casting aspersions on the lady who dared to
complain.

on the other extreme the railways have now decided to
perfect its customer service by keeping  anyone with  a bad
breath  away from its trains. passengers and their colleagues
 will have to pass a breath analyser test if they are to board
a train or enter the platform. if any trace of  alcohol is
detected he will be  fined and jailed.

an attempt to offer social service by freeing our  society
of  the alcohol evil .

railways can go a step further and think of  stipulating a good
conduct certificate as a pre requisite for buying a ticket. which
would be hailed as another social service initiative . close on  the
heels of the drive against liqour.

international waters dispute

italian navy men shoot and kill indian while fishing.
govt for a change took prompt action. the marines
are in our custody and the judicial process is on
 so far so good .

italians are trying their best to save their men. quite natural.
they are bringing in more confusions like their ship was in
international waters when the firing took place , the fishermen
looked like pirates etc. most recent one being  it is not their
 firing that killed the indians.

we are bound to stand firm on our turf and seek justice.
naturally.

but are we swinging away ?. into international waters?
unnecessarily.

even if we accept the international waters arguments what is
it boiling down to ?. can they fire from international waters
and kill someone on the indian shore ?. forget about the shore.
if it is the man sitting in his seaside office who is killed can
the international water argument save the killers ?

or if we stand firm on our land and fire at a ship sailing in the
international waters and kill the sailors are we above the law
indian or international ?

please close that door

please call that door is the call that we hear so often these days.
that is ,  if you are travelling in a kerala state transport bus in a city.
these city buses have a peculiar facility. doors . which need to be
closed by  passengers .

please close that door is the call  from the poor conductor
requesting the passengers to close the door to help the
driver start the bus. but for gods sake, why should the
passenger do that extra bit ?

as a social service ? okay  let us try but what is at stake ?
you should ensure that you are the last man while getting out.
and while getting in you should ensure that no one is behind
you.

what is the benefit ? none.

is there a way out ? yes. let the authorities keep the doors open
while plying thru the city. or avoid the doors altogether. all those
private buses plying in the city do without doors. why not ksrtc ?

corruption and the interruption

anna hazare did stir up  a hornets' nest . quite a few wasps are
out in the street  buzzing  past the corrupt and the wannabes.

but it appears to be interruption time now. the show should go on.
hazare efforts should not go waste. corruption should be
fought and defeated. it is an idea whose time has come.

it is probably the law of nature too. every thing which includes
corruption should decline and fall. with a push we can probably
accelerate the exit.

a kick may not be as effective. putting them all behind bars
may even be counter productive. framing more and more laws
either in the parliament or outside in anna courts is definitely
not the panacea.

better option is  be to change the mind set . of the common man
if not of the corrupt. very difficult task indeed

but vinoba bahve tried it . mahatma gandhi succeeded in it.

let us try it. boycott  the corrupt. stay away from their social
functions . decline marriage invitations and family functions.
avoid the clubs which the corrupt patronize.

after all corruption is for  earning  wealth . what is the use of
 wealth  if no one envies it . if wealth does not ensure a higher
social status who will take all the risk, except the really sick
for whom corruption is an incurable infection.

so the thrust  is to show that  wealth leads to loss of status.
in the society, among friends. and eventually in the family.

it is definitely a softer option , and therefore less risky,
 to surround  the corrupt with empty social space than
 confine them within iron bars.

 let us try social boycott with the same zeal with which we
 pitched for lokpal.   it stands a good chance if anna gives
his blessings.

waste disposal

there is a  pretty deep well in the mind of every one.
this is where we dump our waste. waste thoughts,
spent emotions, hurt feelings et al.

normally these wastes get evaporated regularly.
we call this oblivion. and the dump keeps enough
space for refills.

yet the process halts occasionally. it is  when the mind
gets into doubt. whether the material is waste or of use.

the best thing to do in such occasions is to pour out the
contents of our waste dumps and  reconfirm the waste
status of the contents. the cleaning process will usually
restart .

but if there really are non waste materials in our mind
dumps the issue becomes difficult. we may have to
sort and tag them again. we can usually do this
on our own. we can say to ourselves that
 these  are really trivial things and we want
to forget them. and it works.

but occasionally a few issues refuse to subside.
we will have to treat them  further. that is where
counselling comes in.

counselling helps maintain  sanity. let us overcome
the fear and submit to counselling . occasionally to
start with.

sorry i did not deal with real waste or its disposal.
next time is good time.