A cohort of 150 people going to Church on Saturday night and celebrating their rights of being Americans- what’s wrong with this picture? They’re carrying hand guns!! I checked out this article and to my horror, it was the pastor who invited the gun-party – as I would like to call it. I don’t even want to touch upon what God would want (yea, I am implying that carrying weapons {used to harm people} to Church is oxymoronic) . Is being an American all about testing the limits? Then, the next birthday/ baby shower/ bridal shower/ wedding anniversary that I attend- I’ll gift them with a handgun so they can exercise their rights. Absolutely delightful right?
I once saw this kid with brand new squeaky shoes. But natural, she was showing-off her cute shoes by walking non-stop. I thought it was really cute for the first few minutes and that the shoes had served their purpose- the child had a smile on her face. Having surpassed that 20 minutes patience limit of mine, every step of hers became more and more agonizing by the minute. The point that I am making is that I’m really for freedom but there needs to be a limit to this relentless and meaningless showing off once you’ve expressed your jubilation over an achievement.
In my opinion, there have been too many people arguing for and against guns to an extent that it’s become a crucial issue for debates. Are Americans this shallow that they have to make mountain out of an anthill? (Right to buy guns? really?) First of all, what are the cops here for? Have some trust in the system and fight to make it better if you have to. If you can’t trust your own country, you have no right to claim the supremacy of this country over other countries. The only difference is that of cash flow- with enormous amount of resources and enough for every person to survive and save, the system should have been perfect or at least “safe enough” to be able to trust the cops to do their jobs. Or is it that people trust themselves more with firearms than cops (who most probably have million times more experience, than average people, with safety and handling of firearms)? Secondly, stop this ludicrous argument- with issues like people dying of hunger or even over-eating (ref. to obesity related problems) and people losing jobs, none of this sounds important. So, get over it and don’t act like a moron when you really need to step up.
The current market is filled with too many supplements for health purposes or body building. Little do we realize that everything that’s on the market is not safe! As Paracelsus aptly described:
“What is there that is not poison?
All things are poison and nothing (is) without poison.
Solely the dose determines that a thing is a poison.”
– (Paracelsus 1493-1541)
In other words, even water, when taken in excess, will kill you. However, knowing what amount is safe is important and that is the reason for all the safety trials that drugs have to go through before they are accessible to the general public. In USA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an organization that monitors the efficacy and safety of food items and drugs. Even though that is the case, this agency does not monitor products like diet supplements and energy drinks/supplements since supplements can not be categorized as drugs. The slight difference in words has a huge impact because the so-called supplements are not regulated in the least. One of the so-called highly effective supplements called “Colon xR” that Oprah and Dr. Oz advertised- has hardly been tested on human beings (or any other animal for that matter). In other words, if you end up being one of the first people to use the product and have adverse side-effects, you probably will be the first one to show it because you are one of the few test subjects.
Let’s dissect the situation further: Let us say that I made this concoction with apple, cinnamon, ginger and some coal-tar and now I decide to sell this as a supplement that helps in curing heart burns. I don’t have to provide any proof (supporting data) to ascertain that this is in fact effective and the FDA could care less unless people are showing some serious problems like ‘death’. For all you know, if you are taking the supplement, your heart burn might get cured because of placebo effect but might end up getting cancer because of it over 3 years. However, we won’t have any studies to demonstrate the correlation especially because there is so much of time gap between taking the drug and getting cancer; hence, my supplement will still be in the market and people will still be taking the pills/drink/whatever form my supplement is in.
The same risk is involved in taking any other drugs and even herbal medicines. The age-old herbal remedies have been found to be very efficacious in some cases; however, for safety reasons, the regulation of the dose of the product is important. For instance, if I know that 500 mg of the herbal medicine has harmful side effects but 100 mg does not have any observed adverse effect, it is important to determine this and be able to control the amount that is given (It still won’t be categorized as a drug though – not until the active ingredient has been identified).
Given the risks of taking supplements, it is important for the general public to be able to take informed decisions. Therefore, all these energy and diet supplements should be a no-no for anyone who understands the risks (as ambiguous as it is, the issue itself is that we don’t understand the risks!!!). I was truly shocked when I found this blog promoting Dr. Oz’s product (which was ‘advertized’ on Oprah’s show)- I am picking on her because there are people who do not understand everything and yet claim that they are the epitome of ethics. Being so popular, it is their responsibility to not spread ambiguous information.
What is worse is that the websites for these products quote generic statements from new channels like CNN and MSNBC and have positive testimonials from other websites/blogs/people right next to those- giving an impression that CNN endorses the product and hence, it must be effective. http://www.cleanserx.com/ is a very good example of the same. Why doesn’t anyone sue them for trying to con people? Marketting in this manner is as cheap and unethical as using subliminal images.
It is important to regulate some aspect of this market or somehow warn people about it. All-in-all, it should be the responsibility of FDA to make these companies add an extra few more words in the labels conveying that FDA has not yet approved these products (using a decent font-size).
Note: The following content might contain some spoilers for the movie “Untraceable“.
I recently watched this movie “Untraceable”and realized how clearly it outlines some of the issues that have been gnawing at my brain.
A synopsis for the movie: an internet serial killer kills certain people while broadcasting the slow and painful death on a website; the rate at which those people die is determined by the number of people who visit the site i.e. the more the visitors, the faster the victim dies.
The serial killer was not as disgusting as the people who were logging in and witnessing these live murders. The death of the person is shocking because of the response of the mob. It’s the fact that we’ve become so insensitive to violence and death that we’re able to laugh when a person dies right in front of us that is so shocking- and we thought that the idea of gladiators was barbaric.
A month ago, a person died while trying to get into Walmart for his Black Friday shopping. People stepped over him and he died- not only did the people not feel remorse or even feel sorry for this tragedy, they were more upset that the store was closed. Is a human life that worthless? If so, why on Earth are we invading other countries to demolish the regime of dictatorship? Just keep on earning money, live a luxurious life and die a natural death!
The world is full of sick people- the moment one realizes that he/she is invisible, the Pandora’s box opens. Just because you get to maintain anonymity, no one really gets to point finger at you that you lack moral values and that you’re sick to the core. The ethics in the real world are literally untraceable.
Bleach was the first one that I ever watched and at that moment, it was the self-exploration of Kurosaki Ichigo that was very intriguing. Ichigo, the protagonist who breaks all the rules known to every soul, is a teenager who has enormous amount of spiritual power. It’s an anime that is based on shinigami, the death gods. These death gods are responsible for the transfer of dead people’s souls to the soul society, so that they do not cross over the evil side (referred to as the hollow) and lead to utter chaos in the actual world. In many ways, it sounds like a version of Hindu mythology (except that there are many more shinigami in the manga concept). Ichigo, a mortal, is able to vanquish evil spirits to save the good ones. He fights several senior shinigami (captains) against all the odds and wins every battle because of his perseverance, the ability to keep himself focused and most importantly, to protect people who are very close to him.
Lately, too many questions have been cropping up in my mind, which go unanswered. I have felt that it is not adequate because of the concept of “mortal souls” in the world of souls and the presence of nobility (like those of Kuchiki)- does that mean that souls are born without the purpose of being sent to the real world? What does it really achieve- besides some awesome fighting? Ichigo seems to have lost his purpose.. with his emotions clouding his judgment and need-based passion to better himself, the anime seems to be losing its charm in this field of violence as well. It is as though the kid really needs to meditate a bit, get to know his Zanpaktou (sword- named Zangetsu) better, learn more about himself as well as his partner – Zangetsu and get a better perspective on life.
The first team that formed consisted of Ichigo, Rukia, Inoue (Orihime), Uryu (Ishida) and Chad (aka Sado)- with the strongest members being Ichigo and Uryu and the weakest being Rukia, Inoue and Chad. After the initial fights, Ichigo saves Rukia and gains the title of substitute Shinigami. Also, this adds another member to their team- Renji. All of these characters are unique in their own ways and have a great potential to improve in their fighting style. Rukia, portrayed to be a victim of a certain plot by Urahara, is somewhat disappointing in terms of growth in her strength. It seems that her emotions need to be stirred in order for her to be able to realize that growth has to occur on a continuous basis. It is as though she expects everyone to keep on saving her everytime. Renji’s bankai* seems to be extremely difficult to manage and has probably not reached its final shape or level. Ichigo’s bankai, on the other hand, merges the user are Zangetsu – giving user a Zangetsu-like appearance, speed and destructive power. Both Ichigo and Uryu (Ishida) have reached a certain glass-ceiling and they really need to get into “learning about themselves” mode to use more than speed in combat.
*Bankai= second transformation of sword that requires extremely high concentration and gets the sword user at an entirely new level of combat and mental ability.
The anime is extremely sexist in its approach, showing growth in guys but not Rukia and Orihime. Instead, when Orihime is kidnapped, the entire plot focuses on how Inoue is standing helpless, waiting to be saved. The appearance of Nel, however, was a nice twist in the plot.
I have not read the manga for Bleach, since I think anime does more justice to the combatting styles than the manga will ever do.
I have always had a fascination for fiction, for one can experience a rather more complicated or a simplistic version of the story. It is this euphoria of experiencing someone else’s life temporarily that makes things rather interesting- at least for me.
One anime that I’ve gotten hooked to is Skip beat, a serialized version of it’s Japanese manga. Being different from the rest of the anime that I have watched so far, this one focuses on a teenager, who meets the urban world and gradually, the showbiz with a deep desire to avenge herself for the ill-treatment by her so-called childhood sweetheart. This one really skips a beat – not because it doesn’t have violence but because it uses the power of animation to depict some of the most adorable emotions (like depicting an evil aura and thus, making it extremely hilarious).
Kyoko's evil aura haunting Sawara san
Kyoko san on cloud nine
The content was cute to begin with but right when it seemed that it was going to be a drag, as it was beginning to resemble a soap-opera. Right then, it took a twist and focused on the developing acting skills of Kyoko, giving her the much needed fashion taste. The down-to-earth kid is adorable for the innocence that she holds in herself. It is as though she held the magic portion to rid herself of all the earthly sins.
Tsuruga Ren, one of the main characters, has been depicted as the all-knowing good guy. Initially, he is given too much credit for the wisdom that he possesses- but he is as clueless as a 20 year old is. Fuwa Shoutarao, a 17 year old pop-star, is the villian in Kyoko’s life but he’s just like any other jerk kid at his age. However, as the serialized story will progress, it’ll seem that somewhere in the back of his mind- it’s still full of our adorable Kyoko-chan (mind you- she’s prefers the suffixes and will not settle for something as informal as just “Kyoko”).
When I learnt of the ages of the characters, I was surprised and yet, couldn’t stop thinking that children are forced to grow up in the show-biz. Irrespective of how old they are, everything that they do will be hyped up. However, as the manga/anime has it, it will be extra-hyped for the sake of keeping it’s patrons.
Politics has become a mere power game for which hundreds and thousands die just like that. It has always been like this but the so-called largest democracy has become a shallow warzone. Frankly speaking, I don’t want to be ruled over by someone. All I care about is that the crime is taken care of, people are working for what they get paid for and there is some sense of justice. In such a world, I don’t see the need for violence to prove one’s point.
Why do we cry about being criticized by Bush and others alike? Have we really done anything great or is it just our self-appreciating society that makes us all warm and fuzzy inside? I’ve received several mails about how great our country is because of Aryabhata, Pres. Abdul Kalam etc etc … SO WHAT??? What are we so satisfied about and basking in glory for? What did we do? Nothing right? If you did something, good for you but it isn’t enough yet. With people dying in Orissa over religion, people dying of starvation, dying because someone offended a politician, I don’t see the point in going gaga over our country’s history. For all that I have known, we’re the same old aadivaasis fighting for the same old piece of land. Let alone teaching our national language in every school, most of us don’t even remember our national anthem. We should proclaim ourselves as the top billion hypocrites of this world because we seldom do what we mean. On one hand we’ll be dressing up our children as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and Indira Gandhi and simultaneously thinking about how we can pay off someone to ignore an illegal action. How does it matter if the country is “progressing” financially, the gap between the rich and poor will remain as it is or just increase; more importantly, our pyare politicians will gain 10-100 Kgs of weight and soon leave their children with Trillions of Rupees.
I was once caught making this 8- shaped nod; a quizzical look by my professor immediately followed that gesture. It struck me then that I had not seen anyone else nod in such a manner. It seems that Indians (I am not sure of other countries though) are unique in using these nods. So, the globally understood convention is – moving head up and down is for conveying “yes” and moving the head sideways is for “no”, but what is an “eight shaped nod”?
Here’s my analysis: An eight/ sideways oscillating (like an upside down pendulum) shaped nod conveys “ok…” but a lot more can be deduced from the frequency and the amplitude of that head and neck movement. For instance, an 8-shaped nod is usually meant for supervisors. Also, both of these nods are usually meant for a set of instructions.
low frequency, hesitant oscillating (SO = sideways oscillating) nod = well.. ok, if you say so. I am not convinced but I will take your word for now. Although I have some serious doubts about what you’re saying, I don’t have enough info to back my argument(usually to a supervisor/ boss). For instance, a teacher tells his student that the sky is blue because of Raman scattering; though the student had heard something about Rayleigh scattering and is unsure, this nod will help her to get by the situation without making it embarrassing for herself or the teacher.
Low frequency, hesitant 8-shaped (8S) nod = I will go with the flow, I have no idea whether you are right or not and I am unable to grasp the logic behind it. For instance, in the following problem, a teacher tells a student to multiply two numbers first and then add 4 to the product.
23×7+4
Although the student doesn’t get it even after asking a number of times about the logic behind this, he gives up and just accepts it.
High frequency SO nod = I agree with you and that was how I will be going about it.
High frequency 8S nod = Yes, I get the logic and it’ll be done as the boss suggested.
Medium frequency, 8S nod + a smirk = I told you so!! IN your face! (The lower the frequency, the more the person is trying to taunt the recipient of the nod/gesture). This probably would be an exception when it comes to the 8S family of nods.
High frequency “yes” nod = I get what you’re saying and the logic behind it. So, it will be done in that exact way. For instance, a student going to her teacher for help with a problem after trying several times. As the teacher is explaining, the student realizes that she went about the problem in the same exact manner. In other words, it’s basically a confirmation.
Though, there’s very little difference between SO and 8S, 8S usually highlights the relationship between the one nodding and the audience.
Thus, a chunk of information can be gathered using subtle cues like the frequency of the nod, expression on the person’s face etc. This brings forth the question of why it might be prevalent in the areas where it is. I have a hypothesis that it is the social norms that cause a person to accept the viewpoint of the “boss” to increase their chances of bing successful.
A long tested means of succeeding has been to take the more experienced person’s suggestions seriously. The most experienced usually tend to be elderly people and with the utmost respect for elderly people, we find it difficult to just not heed their advice. What ever be the case, we have been taught directly or indirectly by our experiences that taking the elder person’s word irrespective of whether you understand it or not, the chances of being successful increases.
There are a few reasons that a person would nod in 8s or sideways, in an oscillatory manner with some hesitation: 1. The person is clueless and the person who is advising is the most experienced in that situation 2. The person does not want to embarrass the other person by simply stating that he/she is wrong (given the person’s age and experience in the field) 3. That suggestion was probably the best way for this person to succeed even though he/she knows that it’s not what the person quite agrees with.
What would it mean when it is applied to the society?
The ones venerated continue to be so and the one seeking advice buys time to think through the situation without eliciting an extreme response. This might not be the best course of action depending on the situation. However, it gives the person this opportunity to get himself/herself out of an uncomfortable situation if need be.
If there are any inconsistencies or misinterpretations in this post or just suggestions, please feel free to suggest any change(s)
It was just a couple of days ago when I had to eat outside; the problem with eating outside in a western country is that of the lack of awareness. Let me get a little more specific rather than shooting in all directions and more importantly, provide a background for this post. I have been a lacto-vegetarian (NOT a vegan) all my life. Having a dietetic restriction as this, I find it next to impossible to explain my food requirements to a common person (without putting in a ridiculous number of do’s and don’ts) as people have been ingenious enough to include animal extracts in seemingly vegetarian food. It is simply ludicrous that one would find it difficult to understand the basic concept of not eating animals. It really bothers me when people can not understand my basic meal preferences; it raises the basic question: “where did you complete your schooling???”. This brings me to another problem of people not knowing the sources of their food. I am very finicky about anything that will have any contact with my digestive tract and most probably my circulatory system.
There are people who serve seafood as vegetarian and are astonished at even the possibility of it being considered “non-vegetarian”. Sweety, let’s get back to the basic
definition of “vegetarian” – it is derived from the word “vegetable”; shrimp is not even remotely considered to be a vegetable. Finally, I find some veggies to make myself a veg. sandwich – oops!! there’s salami right next to the vegetables and it’s pieces are conspicuously present on the tomatoes that I was planning to use. My mind goes- aah.. exactly what I needed. I know that I can’t be this picky in this place and I’m really not making this up. However, I can’t have salami making its way into my system!!! So, finally, it ends up being a salad/ fruit treat (or just chips). 
Salads are not filling for me. The pile of cellulose (in the form of lettuce and spinach) is meant for cattle because they’re adept at using this as a nutrition source (unless of course I act like a rabbit**) and it’s devoid of any flavor or spice, which makes me wonder if I was attending the event to starve myself or was it my way of getting myself to eat bread and butter!! (How many servings of fruit can a person really get oneself to eat???).
This is just in case a person HAS to attend an impromptu formal event (otherwise, one can just call up the people and get some veg. food arranged or give them home made food prior to the event to be served as the main course – a list of “what to do if you’re a vegetarian” is available at Govinda’s Cafe’s website). If you’re a vegetarian and wish to enjoy a nice veg spicy meal, it’s almost impossible to live on outside food and yet follow your religion to the best of your conscience (that is of course if you’re lacto veg because of your religion) . At some level or the other, you just end up trusting the chef that he/she is not going to use the same gravy for the veg and non-veg without mixing them up or that the person won’t just use the same utensils without cleaning them. Some of the seemingly veg items might be prepared using beef/chicken stock. If not that, the most common (and disgusting) problem is that of chefs tasting something with a spoon and re-dipping the spoon in the same. Yes! it’s unhygienic and I don’t appreciate getting your germs in my system – really!
The problem really is that of ignorance- at least on part of the people who are waiting to take your order. A plausible solution that I am offering is that every food item really needs to have a very elaborate description and the employees should be aware of the possible misinterpretations. The safest bet would be to go to a vegan restaurant- I did something similar to that when I went outside for breakfast (during my interview) and I promise, I hadn’t had so much of tofu in my entire life! I tried a nice vegan restaurant the other day; the food was much better than what I had anticipated but I can not survive on it.
Every time I watch TV, every eatable is advertised by the amount of meat that’s present. Every new variety is targeted towards the non-vegetarian population. Hello? Can you please target our herbivorous population as well?? There’s a whole population of veg. Indians and vegans you can loot! After all, targeting this population would definitely be profitable given that not many companies are doing so and veggies cost a lot less than meat!! Moreover, the companies can advertise this as their step towards inculcating nutritious food in the daily lives. Spice it up and see for yourself the crowd that you gather. I do have some objections with fastfood restaurants coming up with food items like “baconator”. With the increasing population of obese individuals with very high frequency of metabolic syndrome, it should be the responsibility of these restaurants to provide money for diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular problems etc research. A more responsible step would be to establish hospitals next to each of those restaurants.
Expanding the subject, I feel that this country does not yet have the laws to let people to follow their religion freely. The restaurants and diners are in direct violation of the first amendment of US constitution since they do not completely disclose the sources of their ingredients and the waiters simply are unaware. A step to eradicate this problem and make the system translucent to the public would be to educate waiters and waitresses better.
** Rabbit basically recycles its food. Since it does not have multiple chambers for its stomach, as in many of the ruminating animals, the cellulose breaks down in its intestines and is excreted. This primary excretion is then again consumed for the extraction of nutrition from cellulose.
The post is not intended to hurt people; it sometimes becomes too frustrating that voicing out one’s opinion doesn’t culminate into an action. I used to find it amusing and yet very inconvenient when I first came across this problem. Now that I know that the system will have to change for me to co-exist and socialize without worrying about “what am I going to eat today”, it has become all the more traumatizing because something needs to be done about it. Who has the time or the patience – well, I need to take the initiative and only then I can ask people.
My break was very well spent in India. I anticipated that my cousins must all be very busy with their lives and that we might not be able to spend as much time as we used to – given that life’s not the same anymore. Life for me and bro, as we knew it, revolved around the school schedule: 1 month of school, 2 months of vacation, 9 months of school and final exams. To us, it was obvious that those 2 months had to be spent at grandparents’ places. The moment of epiphany was this one time when we could not spend the whole of our holidays with out cousins/ when our headquarters (HQ)** was no longer filled with people.
When we went there this time, we were in for such a warm welcome. I suddenly realized how much I missed everyone. My uncles and aunties spent so much of their time and effort to make us feel comfortable. My brothers and sister took time out when they were neck-deep into work and I cherished every moment that I spent with them. There was so much of warmth around that I ended up craving for so much more of that here… Boy.. we would drag our cousin out irrespective of how tired he was. I was actually about to ride a motorbike (yes! my feet did reach the ground…..) but so near and so far!! I didn’t want to get hospitalized during the few days that i was spending there- so didn’t push it.
Also, there were Lily (a cute puppy) and its guardians 
. We spent some nice time at the guardians’ place – just that i got a leather burn (am still a victim of the leather recliner!!!) there.
However, few words that I have been (and probably will be) repeating for a long time are “draw me an auto” (as in auto-rickshaw), “pappu can’t dance SADA!” and quotes from Shinchan (a very irritating and yet funny Japanese cartoon which has been dubbed in Hindi – it’s broadcasted on my cousin’s fav. cartoon channel at least 5 times a day). It was a nice change from the usual to see my hyd. cousins- they’ve really grown up so fast. I guess it was normal to see so much change given that they are in the growing stage.
My nephews and nieces were absolutely delightful – they’re growing up so fast!!!!!!!!!!!! P- being the star of our vacation was simply adorable (missed his b’day party though).. K, V&V were very cute as well.. K already looks like a choti si model . V&V remind me of me n sudhi (Vib’s a lot cuter actually- she kept on talking without even stopping for a breath; the enthusiasm is very contagious and Vis’s a very cute role model for Vib).
I’m still in the holiday mood even though I have a complete project to work on. If only I could spend some more time there…
** HQ = grandparents’ place
As we are marching into the era of environment consciousness, a layer of hypocrisy lies on most of the people’s mindset. It’s just something in vogue and not quite what we, as the citizens of earth want to do. Rich people are trying to become ‘eco-friendly’ by getting themselves one of those “green houses”** because that’s definitely going to increase their popularity. It’s all fine as long as it doesn’t hurt the nature instead. My ecology professor was bragging about the atrium in her house which contains many trees and plants. The person even mentioned that it uses a lot of lighting (actually because the atrium is not rightly placed)- to an extent that there are helicopters flying over the house frequently because of the illumination. Soon after this, the person starts discussing the conservation of resources…. makes one wonder- how did the person not realize that electricity is not green unless you’re using solar panels or hydro or wind energy. How do most of us miss that? With SEPTA very proudly advertising for the green buses, how are people accepting the term ‘green buses’ because in the long run, they’re probably doing more damage than anything else!!
**corrected
