I never thought I would agree with the anti-feminists to this day. I just came across some news articles about wimbledon pay scales and now I wonder how relevant feminists are today and whether they do more harm than good at the end of the day.

I fail to see how paying the sharapovas and henins 4% more on an already staggering prize money of 625,000 can be beneficiary to the "women's movement". Uneducated girls remain uneducated, the rapes continue unchecked and the women that face the atrocities day in and day out have no means to escape it.

Wimbledon bows to women's call for pay equality

By Jonathan Brown
Published: 23 February 2007

Former Wimbledon champions queued up yesterday to pay tribute to the decision to offer equal prize money to both male and female winners of the Grand Slam tournament. Amélie Mauresmo, whose £625,000 prize cheque was £30,000 less than Roger Federer's last year, declared it a "victory for women in general". Maria Sharapova, who lifted the silver salver in 2004, said she was "thrilled". Three-times champion Venus Williams said the event would now be "even greater".

Day to Day, February 22, 2007 · The Wimbledon tennis tournament has announced
that it will begin paying female and male players the same amount for winning.
Wimbledon resisted making the pay equal for years, citing rules that require
more tennis play for men in order for them to win. Source: www.npr.org

All things not equal at Wimbledon Today's announcement of equal prize money for men and women at SW19 smacks of political correctness for political correctness' sake.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/02/22/all_things_not_equal_at_wimble.html

In all Fairness!

I have always believed Indians are racist. We accuse the west of racism, apartheid and similar racial and colour discriminations. But isn’t that true of Indians as well? Fair is beautiful? Fair and lovely? Even the tall dark and handsome notion implies tall, tan and handsome.

It’s a shallow world and we Indians are the best at it. We keep pointing fingers at everyone else; while our cosmetic companies tell us we are useless if we are not fair and lovely/handsome. Even our beauty product ads show that out in the open and our public is numb to its repulsiveness. The ad I am talking about is the one where the fair and the lovely lawyer sues some company and she gives some shit funda about how they are corrupting society with this tactic. Talk about hypocrisy.

In a recent news article I read that Fair and Lovely India is sponsoring a Nepalese Taekwondo sportswoman, Sangina Vaidya. The article itself is not recent, but it is just me that has read it in such a long time. What stopped them from sponsoring Karnam Malleshwari, Kunjarani Devi, Anju Bobby George, Anjali Bhagwat, Mamta Kharab…? You get the point! Well, none of them are gorgeous looking. They are all just extremely hard-working and dedicated to their sports and professions but those aren’t qualities Indians like to associate with.

We prefer being known for our gorgeous women, Ash’s and Sen’s and our doctored beauties than for our hardworking athletes. That is why talentless bitches like sania mirza whose claim to fame is losing in the third round of a grand slam, rake in the big bucks and those who prove themselves constantly walk around with a “begging bowl”. India is a land that celebrates mediocrity and we pat ourselves on the back for our lack of achievements.

A beauty pageant contestant may owe her success to a fairness cream, but
can the same be said of an Olympic athlete? That’s what will happen if Sangina
Vaidya, the first Nepalese athlete to participate in the Olympics officially,
wins a medal in Athens next month.

Fair and Lovely, Indian corporate house Hindustan Lever’s fairness cream, is promoting Nepalese taekwondo diva Sangina, a two-time gold medallist at the South Asian Federation Games.

Along with five more corporate houses, Nepal Lever, the group’s joint venture in Nepal, is co-sponsoring the 29-year-old.

Together, the six corporate houses are providing 85 percent of Sangina’s expenses like visa fees, airfares, medical treatments, sports gear, a daily allowance and an endowment fund.

This is the first time that private companies in Nepal have chipped in to sponsor any
contestant in an international sporting event.

But then Sangina is one of the best brand ambassadors in the country by virtue of being the first Nepalese to formally qualify for the Olympics.

Till now, Nepal’s participation in the prestigious games was confined to events like swimming, shooting and athletics, which allow wildcard participants.

Sangina, who grew up watching Bruce Lee movies and played football as well, began to concentrate on taekwondo when she realised there wasn’t enough time for both.

Four years ago, she had set her heart on participating in the 2000 Olympics.

The corporate support she received this time enabled her to head for Korea to train for a month. She leaves for Athens August 15.

No News is good News

It has been at least, 2 years since I have opened up a news papers or hit the enter button on our very own Indian news sites. Two years and nothing has changed. Indian “NEWS” (even today analogous to tabloids and poor quality playboy versions) is as sensation driven as it was 2 years ago and is yet to mature. If I may say so, it seems to be getting worse. The Indian public is still being brain-washed with bad news, sensational events, and Idol Worship, even in a country graced by great thinkers like Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

My return to the Indian news reading population ended up being temporary. I have been driven away again from those over-crowded mind numbing web sites that post the Indian news in digital format.

Articles like the ones I am going to pin-point are the ones that make me want to hurl my chicken dinner and any person that takes himself seriously should have the same feeling everytime he visits rediff.com, indiatimes.com or picks up a print edition of The Times of India.

Yana Gupta: Behind the hourglass figure!

This one is from indiatimes.com. I too, from time to time, enjoy being titillated by semi-naked or even naked women flaunting those medical marvels, those countless plastic surgeries, lakhs of rupees spent at dental clinics etc. But that being said, newspapers should be separate from Playboy pretends.

No reply from Sachin, Yuvraj yet: BCCI

This one should be re-titled “Indian cricketers at their Best”. Bitching after yet another dismal performance, playing the blame game like their politician mentors at BCCI. The coach getting blamed because of the players’ lack of ability in a country they know hero-worships them.

Emraan’s latest on screen lip-lock!

And they say Indians are getting more broadminded everyday. I doubt it. When every “on screen lip-lock” is being hailed like the 10th avatar of Vishnu, you know we are far from being broad minded and are looking to sensationalise our movies as well as our newspapers.

Quoting from the article:
“Talking of her debut kiss on-screen, she says, “I was very nervous during the first kissing scene, but the director made it look so easy that it didn’t take much effort.” Is she trying to say Emraan’s an amazing kisser? Say it gal…you aren’t the first one to feel that way…”

This is obviously a great piece of journalism from someone that will find himself amidst the ranks of John Hersey or the more famous duo of Woodward and Bernstein very soon. Not that I want to comment about his style of writing, but more so on his IQ and his standing at a major newspaper, even if it is in the tabloid sections. The “gal” says the DIRECTOR made the kiss look easy, not Emraan, who is the actor (I suppose, or has the casting couch become public now, like reality television). Anyway, that aside, can’t the director-duo (two brains are better than one?) come up with more than a one-word movie title that their 2nd standard going children came up with?

Arun Nayar in hiding?

This one takes the cake. Arun Nayar, the name sounds familiar. Oh yeah! He is the rich guy whose claim to fame was that he banged Liz Hurley. And he is still in the news ‘cause he doesn’t want to talk to daddy dearest? Leave the man alone. I think all this negative press coverage is giving him a hard time getting it hard.

Trump tops 'Unsexiest men' list

While he makes it onto these unsexiest men lists, he is reading a real newspaper that makes him richer by the second, which in turn lands him some hot punani falling at his feet for a chance to clean his waterworks. At the same time, the people that came up with this list, and he who covered it for India Times, are stuck in a dingy office smaller than Trumps golf cart.

In more News: at TOI and rediff.com

I did it in heat of the moment: Tendulkar
Indian team jersey sells at half price
It hurts when coach questions our attitude: Sachin

Heat of the moment my ass. It wasn’t like it there was a debate between mr ten-run-kar and chappell. He had the time to think things over and I do not think an apology is sufficient.

Indian team jerseys are still selling? I thought the public would be stoning anyone wearing that artifact. On a slightly different note, the pakis called the Indian dressing room to thank them profusely over india’s departure from the WC. They now know that they will not be stoned to death as Pakistani fans are doubling with laughter after Indian press and fans did the same, although prematurely.

As for Mr ten-run-kar’s attitude, I think chappell got it wrong there. He has too much of it and all the wrong kinds. But then, in a country that will support him no matter what, even if he rapes and kills half our population, it is hard to find fault with his feeling of being indispensable.

Ambedkar memorial sparks controversy

Again? Must this happen every year? Waiting for a time machine to go blow this guys brains out for destroying almost single handedly, what could have been a great nation.



Abhi-Ash wedding: Guest list
Photo: Is this Ash-Abhishek's new home?
Sanju: I wish Ash-Abhi make me a chacha soon

Fuck. What is this country coming to? Note to self: In the event that above said time machine does get built, take out the BIG B and his oh-so-annoying wife, mother-in-law exclaiming with her pasted smile, of a manufactured wedding, about her alleged love for ash even before the announced nuptial.

You might say I have only targeted the bad news in the newspaper. I might have, but even then, this is alarmingly huge amount of news from two newspapers and obviously, over-lapping articles haven’t been pasted twice. This however is the only news that should be on that site. And I doubt THAT is the only news in a country of far over 1 billion people. Cricket, movies and celeb weddings can’t be the end of the world.


Polling peaceful, 46 percent turnout

It was also heartening to read about a calm election. Someone seems to be working hard to maintain peace, and keep the vote bandits at bay.

Woman slices hubby's nose

Where are the female activists? Sarcasm aside, I don’t think what this woman did is punishable. In fact I can justify it without feeling even a bit hypocritical about the whole thing. While the murder should be tried, the fact that she was driven to it by an abusive husband must hold some water right? And isn’t it a wake up call for the moronic public to stop listening to bullshit activists and begin using their brains and make sure that the real women that need upliftment get it? But in a country with a reservation mentality, I am looking forward (rubbing hands gleefully) to many more homicidal acts of revenge. Perhaps someday Rabri will do it to pyaare Lalooji and that will act like our 9/11.

One cornea gives vision to three patients
Probably the most important news article of the day. I wonder if it was even covered by any of the news channels or print media. If it hasn’t it is a disgrace and there is no wonder as to why the brain drain still occurs.

Case registered against Narayana Murthy for remarks

This article was just personally gratifying. I wonder what the punishment for the offence is and I hope it is most severe. I also hope, that in addition, they staple potty mouth.

Creator Failure / Conquering the Eastern Frontiers

This is a very famous quote, and probably everyone already knows of it, but in the event that someone does not, or has missed out, it is a great quote for many reasons, which I shall highlight a little later.

Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world.
The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected.

If God created the world, where was he before creation?
If you say he was transcendent then, and need no support, where is he now?

No single being had the skill to make this world --
For how can an immaterial god create that which is material?

How could God have made the world without any raw material?
If you say he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression.

If you declare that this raw material arose naturally you fall into another fallacy,
For the whole universe might thus have been its own creator, and have arisen equally naturally.

If God created the world by an act of his own will, without any raw material,
Then it is just his will and nothing else -- and who will believe this silly stuff?
If he is ever perfect and complete, how could the will to create have arisen in him?
If, on the other hand, he is not perfect, he could no more create the universe than a potter could.

If he is formless, actionless, and all-embracing, how could he have created the world?
Such a soul, devoid of all modality, would have no desire to create anything.

If he is perfect, he does not strive for the three aims of man,
So what advantage would be gianed by creating the universe?

If you say that he created to no purpose, because it was his nature to do so, then God is pointless.
If he created in some kind of sport, it was the sport of a foolish child, leading to trouble.

If he created because of the karma of embodied beings [acquired in a previous creation],
He is not the Almighty Lord, but subordinate to something else....

If out of love for living things and need of them he made the world,
Why did he not make creation wholly blissful, free from misfortune?

If he were transcendent he would not create, for he would be free;
Nor if involved in transmigration, for then he would not be almighty.

Thus the doctrine that the world was created by God makes no sense at all.

And God commits great sin in slaying the children whom he himself created.
If you say he slays only to destroy evil beings, why did he create such beings in the first place?

Good people should rebuke the believer in divine creation, maddened by an evil doctrine.

Know that the world is uncreated, as time itself is without beginning and end,
And is based on the [Seven] Tattvas, Jiva and the rest.

Uncreated and indestructible, it endures under the compulsion of its own nature,
Divided into three sections -- hell, the middle world, and the heavens.

Jinasena (fl.778-838)
Mahapurana

What is so startling about this, is that this was said in the 9th Century, and Jinasena was not met with widespread criticism, accused of being an "anti-Christ", beheaded (even if only symbolically), within a deeply "religious" society of the Hindus.

Jinasena is considered one of the greatest thinkers, by his Jain followers as well as Hindus alike (for Jainism was born out of discontentment of the corruption of religious practices) and more recently world renowned. it shows how both forms of thought were accepted, allowed to flourish and the individual given the right to choose what he perceives as correct. That, to this day, is missing in the western civilization and a "westernization" of eastern thought has led to a collapse of this freedom.

The Indian (due to the ignorance of the correct geographical/anthropological term) civilizations of the time, showed what it meant to be truly progressive and is surely an indication of a golden age gone by, forgotten and buried into the annals.

I only wish, more atheists armed themselves with the right questions, answers and patterns of thought, for when asked by an equivocal individual of questions (which within the atheist community are accepted to be inconsequential for our existence), appearing to be unable to answer, is seen as a sense of confusion within our scientific reasoning, as "an inability of science to answer all the questions".

I am sure a lot of "veteran" atheists are questioning my right to sermon them on that which they have been following, perhaps even propagating for such a long time, but it is the lack of this pattern of thought amongst atheists I happen to know (and in myself too) that propel me to put this forth, so that the tide may change.

Guilty of Thought

Conscience...is merely instinct socialized into guilt.
Robert Coover
The Origin of the Brunists, 1966

Robert Coover (1932-Present, Charles City, Iowa) is an American author and professor in the Literary Arts program at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. He teaches experimental narrative and literary hypermedia workshops.

Robert Coover's first novel, The Origin of the Brunists, won the 1966 William Faulkner Award.

- Source:
Wikipedia
Brown University (brown.edu)

Worst Nightmare

Pumping my fist in the air,
Celebrating, with a pop of champagne,
Slightly plastered,
And I can’t even recall why,
Dropping the glass from the lip,
Staring into the empty room.

The Supreme Sacrifice/ The Great Depression

Why do some things affect us so much? So much, it seems like déjà vu, even when the events are unrelated to our actual physical existence; so unconnected it might as well be fiction. This fictional pain seems more real, more palpable than the actual physical pain we inflict on ourselves each passing day.

Even today I feel the twang of pain, the unmistakable sense of helplessness and misery (perhaps even depression), while I know the events are of no significance, not to me and especially not to the person(s) it affects. Even fictional occurrences, such as ones on the silver screen, or those plainly for theatrical pleasures seem live.

Will I ever be rid of this cranial misfiring, something that arouses feelings, sensations and thoughts that I could do without, and more importantly do not belong to me? It may be early days for me to judge, but from the way things are going, I doubt it. I can already sense a re-casting of the ego, re-shaping my personality as I go along these experiences, changing aspects of me that make me vulnerable which will eventually make me numb to these feelings I have now, and which I fear will close me to a world of experiences that I perhaps might have had.

I can’t be certain whether I welcome these changes with open arms, or silently and grudgingly submit to. Whichever it might be, the result is decided though the path remains to be chosen. An attempt to alter the result can only lead to a living through a reality of paranoia and more mental hurt, something I refuse to subject myself knowingly and willingly to. This leads me again, to shut out a whole spectrum of feelings I have still to explore, a plethora of experiences I have been too young to soak in before this which I must forego, for my long term sanity.

Ironically, none of this assures maintenance of sanity, for which I so heavily sacrifice.