Remembering 9/11

Originally posted by me here

9/11 has to be part of the Oxford Dictionary for sure. I mean, Google made it and the last few years have seen the literary geniuses who edit and monitor the “Bible” of word meanings add words that range from ‘sexting’ to ‘OMG’ and ‘LOL’. (read  more here). I say simply that simply because I assume that the rational our pundits applied was the “high impact or increased usage” of the word. 9/11 did more than that. It had an aftershock which would change the very fabric of the world system.

For the Martians in the crowd, 9/11 refers to twin plane crashes into the World Trade Center buildings on September 11,2001 (9/11 see?). It was the brainchild of our now dead (or  alive) psychotic Islamist pseudo-God, Osama Bin Laden. That is all for you guys. Now back to the rest of the poor homo sapiens who are all too familiar with this weird smirking guy we all have seen on TV for almost a decade now.

So what was the first reaction? For me, the first thing I remember sitting at home in India was the newspaper headline, “America Attacked!”(Creative eh?). For 9 year olds like me, the whole kill people to prove a point theory the above mentioned psychopath propagated was a bit beyond what my brain could process. In the coming years though I would see first hand examples of how twisted people can actually get in the form of communal riots, strikes and political wars. But that is common in some form or the other in most parts of the world today.

On a global scale,2 different types of changes spread. The first was the more obvious and required change; security measures around the world. Airports  have been at the receiving end of many who think their new measures invade privacy. A few cases here and there have been a bit twisted but its better to be manhandled than be blown  up in an aircraft right? I mean, that is the best we can come up with in these situations. I mean people must realize that not everyone is either travelling for pleasure or business. We now have to keep in mind that there are those with simpler motives which include either taking hostages, recording videos wearing black masks and AK-47′s or even crashing an entire plane right through a building. The reason? A bunch of repetitive religious gibberish.

Security cameras deserve a special mention. Structures from embassies to high schools adopted these “monitoring” devices so as to ensure everything was under control. For some I would agree these were required but in schools, this simply encouraged any hormonally charged rebellious teen to find the camera’s blind spot and then grin maniacally at his/her achievement.

The second and more disheartening change I observed was the rekindling of the War over Religion. In India, most people built it up as a Muslim vs Hindu fight while the rest of us Christians, Sikhs, Jains and other minorities got involved once in a while. We didn’t need 9/11! We Indians have been happily hacking against each other for so long now! Everybody swore revenge at everyone while everyone else died. A vicious loop of insanity, murder, insanity, blood, insanity and insanity ensued. No, insanity did not paste itself on its on the other words. I guess I’m among those naive people who don’t understand the whole revenge theory and its various benefits. The sad part though was that it religion that once again was the main “motivator” for the violence. A quote for the uninitiated:

“Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.” -Bhagavad Gita

The blood of the innocent have no reasoning.

In America and other parts of the world , an Islamic hate wave spread. Korans being burnt and anti-Muslim protests spread like crazy. Extremely intelligent folks started branding all Muslims “terrorists”. Sikhs in some parts were attacked cause they looked like “fuckin’ Arabs! ” Ignorance and intolerance that was primarily born out of fear spread to many places across the world. Even some Christians, most recently the maniac in Oslo , considered this to be a war on Christianity of some kind. People of an entire religion were blamed for a crime done by fanatics who are more ungodly than anything else that has ever stepped onto the face of this earth.

In the issue of Islam, I have talked to only a few Muslims in my life but through them realize that they too hate these diabolic nuts like hell. The damage caused to their faith is huge but they realize that people react because they too are deluded by certain sections of the mainstream media. But the truth is, people are not as intolerant as we think. During my stay here, I’ve met a certain section of Americans who seem to understand that terrorism has no faith or alliance of any kind. The perception of all Americans being fat-bellied rednecks who spit out racial slurs at the speed of light is just another stereotype that all races face. Ignorance born out of fear.(While talking about stereotypes, check out this hilarious  song by YouTube’s highest subscribed channel)

So what did 9/11 teach us? That man nobody is safe as long as we stay curled up pretty inside our own comfort zones and keep wishing that everything just goes away on its own. The world can no longer function under the perimeters of individual nations. It begins on an individual basis when people start with the simple yet so uncommon “respect” situation. You might not necessarily like somebody’s opinion or their outlook but that does not give you the right to discriminate. Intolerance lays the seed for discontent and snowballs into something worse. Till the point that you think the other person is right inside their own confines and it does not interfere with the well being of other humans, we must learn to love and respect them. That however does not mean we empathize with those who in the name of falsified doctrines turn to slaughtering people. I guess as  a Christian I am supposed to say that forgiveness is the way forward. But I personally believe that those who intentionally take another’s life for no fault of the victim’s, then they lose the right for their own.

We can’t always stare and wait for time to mend things, can we? If injustice has to be wiped out, we must first try and change things in our daily lives. Not by a raising arms, but by initiating dialogue. Discrimination of any kind, be it race, origin or religion, must be destroyed. We are only strong as a community because individuals can be wiped off easily but a force made of peace loving humans is too hard to diminish.

“All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.”- Former IBM President Thomas Watson

There are some who say 9/11 cannot be compared to the atrocities that have been rampant in so many countries for so long or that the actions taken by the American government after the war were simply outrageous. There is truth in those statements and that is disputed. But what has to be remembered is that it is only after 9/11 that people started viewing these matters as  a global problem instead of local happenings. 9/11 opened our eyes to the bloodshed  that has been existed for so long now. It was our awakening to the cries of those who died while we slept oblivious to their pain.

People are still dying. The most recent being the blasts in Delhi on the 7th of this month. With each attack, our desperation and frustration reaches a new level. How can we unite under one banner if more of us keep getting blasted apart like mannequins at a shooting range!

So remember 9/11. Remember the fact that for so long the world has always been on the road to destruction simply because people were just too scared to join hands together as one. Never before has the need for a united spirit among us humans been so high. The Arab Revolutions of 2011 have been the first indicator of people trying to rid themselves of the old order. Change will come but only when those who seek start changing themselves.

Our freedom can only be won together.

Alan Jackson’s beautiful song in memory of 9/11
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/gPHnadJ-0hE?rel=0

How about not caring?

Funny. Real funny. 18 years on this weird planet and man, I feel so enlightened. Everyday i see people my age talk with the supposed knowledge of war veterans. A complicated and sophisticated aura surrounds most wise men of this age. Every seems to have figured out life and seem smug about their achievement.

We are all so full of shit.

Just because you can google just about everything doesn’t mean you actually know/feel what it actually is.

Facebook of all places reveals such epic attitude. All you need is an ignorant/abusive/philosophical touch to it and the wise men from across the Facebook world descend upon the status message with more urgency than a g8 summit! Then we have smart words, more ignorant crap until we ensure just about everyone is appreciative about our intellect and abnormally high level of thinking. How do I know this? Cause im exactly like one of the aforementioned idiots.

We are young! What On earth are trying to figure out? The Meaning of life and other related shit?

I can only judge myself(very smart eh). For long I used to think I had this whole globe figured out. I could understand emotions and actions of others. Or atleast I thought I could. I was running in a circle of self deceiving crap.

The one thing I found is that the only way to realize and answer all our secret questions is by not caring . The incredible feel of not worrying about the consequence is so beautiful . The only thing being that you must be true to yourself.

I have started trying it. Its epic.

So that’s about it. The rest of life has a lot of time to be figured out. And even if there isn’t , then man I’m not going to stop and think and kill my brain.

I won’t get that moment again.

Inside the head

I’m not sure since when but I guess 8-9th would be a good guess. Yup. That has to be time when I started getting addicted to music. I remember my first Sony MP3 player and how I would plug myself in and jump around the house like a drunk monkey to mom’s fury and to everyone else s  general disgust. My fascination began with Punjabi R&B and Linkin Park. So you could see me crooning this or head banging to this at just about the same time. I had this weird habit(and still do) to ask people for their music and then sorta compare notes. At that point, any new music was treasured.

Like most teenage guys, I was drawn towards rock/metal initially. LP was an obvious influence but I soon got to know about Creed, Nickelback  and Metallica. Names like Iron Maiden ,Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd remained domains I wasn’t bothered to touch. Also, it was at this time that I developed my everlasting respect for Eminem. I know people love to diss rap as not being music and I have no intention whatsoever to take part in that discussion. He just makes sense to me and that should be enough.

Boy bands were the thing as well and I won’t lie about never stepping enjoying their tracks. Blue are still a personal favorite. Try this.

But I guess it is in Class 12 that my tastes finally evolved and a more mature sense appeared. I have always been an advocate of how important lyrics are. The tune might be great but if the words don’t match,then the song’s ruined. Till now I would listen to recommended music or stuff from my sisters collection. But now i decided to go on a music hunt. Discover stuff of my own and build my own collection. And even though that quest continues, I find it relieving to have finally unearthed stuff that had been sitting in front of me all along.

It started with Dave Mathews Band. Satellite had been a personal favorite long ago but I soon discovered how soulful the rest of their stuff was as well. Another personal favorite here . Then my favorite band, Poets of the Fall. Everyone had heard Carnival of Rust but stuff like Sleep went unnoticed. Plus, their Twilight Theater is the greatest album I’ve ever heard purely on basis of the perfect sync between the music and the lyrics. The Script and Coldplay are bands I love and respect as well. Iron Maiden’s Final Frontier was also great btw. Opera is something I never touched on before and things haven’t changed much. Over the course of the year, I developed a new found love for both the piano and the violin.

Like most things in my life,I picked up a lot of stuff from Chubba. Like Aerosmith , Billy Joel , Celine Dion , Michael Jackson and tons of others whom I frankly can’t think of now. She played a major role as well in diversifying my playlist.

So do I ignore Bollywood altogether? Nope. Though I would say it does get a bit too mushy for me sometimes.

So now I’m like a wayward soul drifting around looking for new stuff. The iTunes store has been helpful too,though cut a hole in wallet.

A few favorites then?

Flobots-Handlebars

Nickelback- Far Away

Free Bird (Amazing guitar solo)

John Butler Trio-Ocean

Johnny Cash- There Aint No Grave (Check out Hurt as well)

Plus a weird Chem Lab video

Leaving the Waste Behind

My Mid-Term assignment this week was to present a Research Paper on a topic that has an impact on my local community. It wasn’t that tough for me to choose a topic as Garbage Disposal came to my mind instantly. Much of the stuff I got came from inside my first page of Google search. It was kind of sad to look at the statistics. I hope things change…

Another Youth Ki Awaaz article!

 

LEAVING THE WASTE BEHIND

AMRIT GEORGE

 

Delhi. All across the developing world, people recognize this city as sign of change. It is an indication that upcoming countries now have the financial and technological muscle to survive among their more fortunate cousins. In the developing world, the capital of the largest democracy in the world is an example of how the past and the future can be blended in a perfect mix so as to provide the best result for the present. In its existence as India’s capital for 63 years, Delhi has become the perfect example for how India wants itself to be viewed by the world-rooted in its culture and heritage while still moving forward to discover the unknown. What has now formed in the mind is the picture of something extremely similar to paradise. Facts however blur the image.

Forbes Magazine rates Delhi to be 24th most dirty city on the planet. We have Mumbai for company at number 7 and neighboring Dhaka at number 2. Based on the annual quality of life survey 2002 conducted by William M Mercer , the world’s largest human resource consultancy firm, Delhi is one of the worst cities to live in among all cities that were surveyed. All other Metropolitan cities were higher rated than us.

 

This paradise is defiled by its own inhabitants at an alarming yet pathetic pace. Speaking plainly, I talk about waste. Visit any major city road and you will find rotting garbage around every major street corner, stray dogs sniffing through the piles in search of scraps of food and pedestrians and motorists seemingly oblivious to these appalling sights. Meanwhile urban residents, regardless of social class, think nothing of tossing to the ground food wrappers, leftovers and fruit rinds in any number of public places from markets to parks. Few such areas have garbage cans handy and this only encourages this careless behavior.

Some more statistics about the cities condition came out before the Commonwealth Games. Here is an extract from The Australian,” An analysis of the city’s air quality in May 2010 was done by India’s Centre for Science and Environment.  The study found fine-particulate pollution exceeded acceptable standards on 92 per cent of days this year and were up to four times higher than levels recommended by the World Health Organization. Since 2006, average nitrogen oxide levels have met standards on only 30 per cent of days. India’s national cancer research institute says one in three Delhi residents has respiratory problems and more than 40 per cent suffer reduced lung function. This is likely to increase around the time that more than 8000 athletes converged on Delhi.” The health hazards presented in this article shocked me. With each passing day we put ourselves at more risk than we can possibly take.

As someone who has been in the city for 17 years, I know of what I speak. This is not to say that all the streets are full of dirt.  Streets around important government offices are usually pretty well maintained though at times people manage to litter them as well. The city presented an astonishing beautiful display during the Commonwealth Games 2010. Streets were maintained and garbage bins appeared out of thin air. This obviously shows that our streets can be pretty clean if people start taking initiative. What must also be noted though, is the role of the government. The moment the government starts enforcing laws and starts increasing awareness regarding waste and garbage disposal,things can improve drastically.

In the past decade, the city has introduced new vehicle emission standards, and laws that forced buses, taxis and auto rickshaws to switch from diesel to cleaner compressed natural gas. About 1300 polluting industries have been shifted out of the city and a new metro system is now in place. A giant outdoor air filter has even been installed in busy Connaught Place, Delhi’s shopping hub where regular air quality tests will not only read real-time pollution levels but predict those levels 24 hours ahead.

Another incident that caught my eye was an event regarding nuclear waste. While the White House was engaged in hosting a Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C., a major nuclear incident occurred in Delhi that escaped the attention of the international press. Five people suffering from serious radiological burns were hospitalized in West New Delhi on April 15, 2010 from contact with nuclear material in a Delhi scrap market. The substance was identified as Cobalt-60, a highly radioactive substance.  Nuclear Scientists were called to the spot to identify the source. Such a dangerous substance was left unattended in a scrap market. This could have led to thousands of people getting infected. Thankfully, such an event was avoided.

So how do we solve this problem?

For household waste, the responsibility lies in the hand of the owner. Whatever emanates from your house is your responsibility. Each apartment block or complexes already have some sort of garbage collection service. A disturbing practice that I have noticed many times is waste being burned. The noxious gases being let into the air are not only aiding Air Pollution but also enhancing the rate at our Ozone is depleted i.e. Global Warming. People must make sure that their garbage is properly segregated and make sure that it is not dumped on some open road or empty park. If we won’t keep our city clean, then we must then get used living in the dirt. Turning a blind eye to this and shrugging of responsibility can no longer be considered alternatives. Blaming the government also at all times won’t work. People must apply necessary amount of pressure on their locally elected public representatives and make sure they do their job in keeping the place clean.

Next I look at the Government. While looking at past actions of the Government when it comes to waste management, I came across and interesting article in The Hindu’s archives which details the Governments actions to about 6 years ago. It said, “Article 243W read with the twelfth schedule of the Constitution fastens the responsibility of solid waste management (SWM) on the municipalities. SWM is a mandatory function of the municipality, yet this aspect of civic administration has not received its due attention. A public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court in 1998 to direct the local bodies as well as the Government of India and the State Governments to improve the SWM practices. The Supreme Court thereafter appointed a committee to look into all aspects of solid waste management and submit a report to it. The report known as the Barman Committee report, after the Chairman, was submitted in March 1999. The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 (the “Rules”) was issued by the Central Government pursuant to this report, in exercise of its powers under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (the “EPA“). The Rules have substantially incorporated the recommendations of the committee and made an attempt to delineate responsibilities and cast duties on the citizens as well as the municipalities for SWM.”

The article goes on to mention that responsibility to maintain a proper waste management system lies squarely in the hands of the Local Government offices like the Panchayat and the Municipal Corporations. In Delhi then, the baton falls into the hands of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It is their responsibility as per law to maintain cleanliness. 8 statutes that were mentioned were-

(i) Prohibit littering on the street.

(ii) Organize house to house waste collection and notify the public about the schedule and the methodology of collection.

(iii) Conduct awareness programs to disseminate information to the public and hold regular meetings with the resident welfare groups and NGOs.

(iv)  Devise ways to collect waste from unsanitary and difficult areas such as slums, hotels, restaurants, office complexes and commercial areas.

(v) Build adequate storage facilities taking into account the population density so as to prevent overflowing of trash cans.

(vi) Color-code waste bins so as to promote segregation of waste at source — green for biodegradable, white for recyclable wastes and black for other wastes.

(vii) The wastes are to be transported only in closed vans to avoid spilling of wastes.

(viii) Dispose of the collected wastes by adopting any of the prescribed methods such as vermin-composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, etc. Landfill is to be adopted for inert waste.

So you see, we have had the law by our side all along. So what can we do as citizens? We must join forces with our government. Each day, if we take minimal steps to dispose our waste properly,then together the city we love can and surely become the paradise it is meant to be.

 

The American Diary-Part 1

I guess all of us must do something to remain sane in this chaotic world full of unavoidable circumstances and tough decisions.I guess this is my retreat.My self defense mechanism.Anyways..

I’m here. Yay!(Duh) It is actually really beautiful. I landed like 25 days ago and it already seems like it’s been ages since I’ve  been home.I hope I return soon(Stop crying kid!). The first 2 weeks were fun.I landed in Atlanta and man-it wasn’t anything like I had expected. I knew America had better streets than ours(understatement) but man was I blown away. The way these guys follow a particular system is absolutely crazy. Makes me wonder if India was actually so clean-wouldn’t that be awesome? I guess we like most of our streets sprayed with paan and excreta. People here are mostly independent. They do know how to survive on their own. An art apparently I suck at. I guess we are pampered jerks. Atlanta had a warm climate and it is there that I got my first dose of freedom. You know that feeling that comes when you wait for something you’re entire life and when you actually get it-you’re not too sure you wanted it in the first place. I could do just about anything I wanted for 2 whole weeks and I ran around like a drug injected orangutan. Anyways,after the initial euphoria wore off-I started settling into the American way of things.The language was the first barrier.Back home I think I can pretty much handle anyone. Here however,you can get very easily twisted inside the accent and stare blankly for hours wondering what exactly happened. My initial problem came in places where we went out to eat.I used to get a major heartache whenever it was time to order cause I was paranoid because I thought they wouldn’t get a word of what I was saying.Sample this conversation that ocurred at iHop.

Waitress-Would you like something for starters?(Imagine with weirdest nasal accent possible)

Me-Eh?(Wtf?)

Sis-She’s asking if you want anything now..

Me-Waderrhhh..(with a decrease in volume with each letter)

Waitress-What did he say?

Me-Please somebody save me.

Sis(snorting uncontrollably with laughter)-He’s saying he’l have water.

Waitress-Oh..ok.

Me-(When the fuck is the next flight to India???)

I can say however that I have improved drastically since that forgettable experience.(You never know kiddo..)

Finally-Purdue! Exactly as I had imagined.I had one hell of an orientation and one hell of a team leader.(You’re awesome Tyler!)Speakers like Josh Shipp and Michael Sterner gave us pretty cool messages.I mean it was like they were saying the very things I wanted to hear.Shipp “Don’t be average” thing was awesome while Michael own real life experience was heat-wrenchingly spooky(What does that even mean?).You must YouTube them.(Whoever you are).

Dorm life is odd.It’s damn hot here but in like  a few months they anticipate heavy snow. The fact that I didn’t make any sort of close Indian friends in the Indian group while I was whiling away time back home is having it’s effects but I guess things might get better/or even worse. Most people in my hallway are party animals spare a few asians. Yup-life’s weird-but doesn’t that make it fun?(Grim smile which shows the person writing this doesn’t know what grim exactly means but likes the way it sounds.)

It’s a choice right? You choose how things go.Make a decision.College start 2 days from now.Let’s see how it goes. Rough times ahead.As Josh would say-I’m positive bad things will happen to you.

Oh yeah-this instrumental is brilliant.

And I did some weird shit as well.

The Facebook Movie?

I was browsing through Twitter when I landed on a link promoted by Sony. The tagline read-”You don’t make 500 million enemies without making a few enemies”. Curiosity got the better of me and I was soon redirected to the website of a movie titled The Social Network. The movie is apparently based on a book titled “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Merzich. The trailer however is the one which interests me. It basically tells you that Facebook wasn’t Mark Zuckerberg’s idea after all. That the man supposedly with a fortune of around 2.4 Billion $ was just at the right spot at the right time. At least that’s what I inferred from the trailor.

This s one movie I just don’t wanna miss!

The following links might help in your judgment-

http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=267qRypQZu4&feature=player_embedded

Farewell Note

This article was originally intended for the school magazine but I have a feeling it might not end up there.Let us hope for the best!

14 years is no small time. As clichéd as this might sound, this is the first thing that comes to mind when you look back at school. School is one part of life that plays a very decisive role in what a person turns out to be.  SFS has been a roller coaster ride for me. Not always pretty but that’s what life is. I mean there are things in school that you wish you could change. But then one of the greatest lessons SFS taught me was adaptability. To fight for things you really want and to never give up regardless of what others say.

Apart from this, school was fun! Frequent tiffs with the administration, Peter Mermier heartbreaks, doodling around the canteen, staring blankly at cameras wishing they didn’t exist, assignments destined never to be finished, newspaper fights-the list is endless! One thing school gives you is friends. And for this you can’t thank them enough. Then you have some brilliant teachers –right from the primary wing to the seniors-who discipline our wayward souls and lead us to the right path.

On a personal note,I can never thank the school enough for initiating me into Quizzing. For this I must thank Ponammal Mam and Veda Man for honing my skills.

Have fun!

Adios

Gmail Screw Up

Well basically-I got this email from Google Alert saying something about Google doing a cleanup. My email account had been chosen automatically (weird eh?) and they wanted me to send them my username and password. I replied and alas!-none of my accounts are working. Bullshit! Even my other Gmail account isn’t accessible. I tried the change password thing but even that’s not working. Bloody hell I wish this sorts out soon. I got important college emails on my other account and I got shitloads of stuff on my other Gmail account. I wish I could contact them in some way…

Movie Review- Kick Ass

Rating-4/5

Just finished watching Kickass and felt compelled to write a review. I really liked the movie. I mean it’s like those feel-good type of movies that you enjoy. They might not necessarily make sense all the time but you do get your money’s worth.(In my case for free!) I first heard about the movie here(couldn’t find the exact link;guess he deleted it.)

The story is pretty simple. It’s plot is centred around a comic enthusiast who wants to be a superhero in real life.The guys name is also pretty unconventional.(As in there is no MAN attached to his name.Like Spiderman,Batman,Iron Man,Hanuman-you get the point).

Anyways,our Superhero Kickass is an average joe living life under his cloak of invisibility while fantasizing secretly about his English teacher! He can’t seem to understand why to date noone has been dumb enough to actually become a superhero. So you must obviously get the point that he now becomes the superhero in question. He gets stabbed in his first attempt. Becomes a Youtube celebrity in the second. Ends up forced to act gay cause that’s the only way he can get close to the chick he likes(I never knew gay guys had so many privileges,apart from the obvious that is).

Enter Nicholas Cage and his cute little daughter who are obsessed wit killing people. There is a whole history behind it but I’d say you watch the movie to know more. Heavy doses of the drug cartel as well. Damn! Must say the fighting scenes were pretty good. I mean it’s not everyday that you see a 1o year old girl beating the hell out of some 20-30 odd armed men,do you?

All in all. Great movie.

Dull Times

I must say I never thought life could be this boring. For 17(or a little less than that) years I wished and prayed to God to give me freedom. As in I didn’t want any burden at all. No responsibilities. The kind of life despised at my place. But the kind of life I thought I would cherish.  After the Boards,I’m proud to say I haven’t kept a single resolution I had made at that time. Today being May 7th marks a month. No entrances at all.(Official reason being I’m not interested in such stuff. In reality,I didn’t know anything! But that’s not a crime is it?).  I’ve watched like 50-60 movies and I am glad to say most of them sucked. Can any unfortunate being who has landed on this page by  mistake suggest a few more good flicks before making their escape? Today might also be a pivotal day in my whole “Angrezi Land” thingy. Hopefully everything works out well.  I’m trying to read books that hopefully will inspire me. But I think I’ve finally realised-You can’t inspire a lazy fatass! <monkey giggle>

Time!