A weird analyses on the results for  Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll conducted by Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (US). Do you see any difference as I did?

People who voted think religious preachers are more impotent intellectuals to this world than atheists. The same crowd was mentally aright  in 2005 . Also , now there are more intellectuals in south Asia and gulf compared to west.

Looks like whole poll has intention of appeasement.

2005 list :

1. Noam Chomsky : American philosopher, libertarian socialist
2. Umberto Eco : Italian critic, philosopher
3. Richard Dawkins : English biologist , author, atheist
4. Václav Havel :  Czech playwright, essayist, politician.
5. Christopher Hitchens : British author, journalist, and atheist
6. Paul Krugman :  American economist, liberal columnist, and author (Nobel)
7. Jürgen Habermas : German philosopher and sociologist
8. Amartya Sen : Indian economist,  Professor (Nobel)
9. Jared Diamond : American scientist , author Atheist
10. Salman Rushdie : British Indian novelist,  Atheist

2008 list

1. Fethullah Gulen : Turkish preacher
2. Muhammad Yunus : Bangladeshi banker and economist
3. Yusuf al-Qaradawi : Egyptian scholar and preacher
4. Orhan Pamuk : Turkish novelist
5. Aitzaz Ahsan : Pakistani Advocate
6. Amr Khaled :  Egyptian activist and preacher
7. Abdolkarim Soroush :  Iranian thinker, philosopher, reformer
8. Tariq Ramadan : Swiss religous academic
9. Mahmood Mamdani : Ugandan Professor Government
10. Shirin Ebadi :  Iranian lawyer, human rights activist

PETA, PETA .. where are you ?

• More than 40,000 bulls are slaughtered in rings in Spain each year, according to The New York Times.

• Before a bullfight, people will hit the bull on the head with bags of sand – for a long time and violently – to deprive the bull of his senses, according to The Washington Post.

• Former bullfighters admit that bulls are intentionally debilitated with beatings to the kidneys and heavy weights hung around their necks for weeks before the fight, according to The Animals’ Voice.

• Most of the time, bulls go into the arena blinded by the light because they are kept in darkness for 48 hours before the confrontation, according to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.

• Mexican bullfighting also includes novillada, or baby bullfights. Baby bulls, some no more than a few weeks old, are brought into arenas where they are stabbed to death by spectators, many of whom are children. These bloodbaths end with spectators’ cutting off the ears and tail of the often still conscious calf lying in his own blood.

source

And here is one of the local versions -  from Madurai. These methods may not be as cruel as it is mentioned above. But bull fight can never be bull friendly , wot say ?

First was this

#2 : Women (again ?? ) are going to loose strength in their heel[1][2], toes gonna get stronger [3]though [refer the pic].

[1] : Unless classical Indian and Russian dances, get popular again.

[2]: Unless High heel shoes get some kind of ban on it, like Fatwa etc.

[3]: Unless “low heel- high toe shoes” become popular ( I am thinking of inventing one )

       Some time back Srik asked me “Whats the difference between a Kerala communist and other communists? Well, Kerala communism is a philosophy by itself. It is “take policies as time changes and completely forget where they started”. In my opinion it is a complete hypocrisy. Infact, communism in India has lost its meaning. If Karl Marks was alive today, he would have definitely taken rat poison.
      For example, there was “Anti Coke Pepsi” campaign few months back. Kerala assembly discussed it for length and finally decided to ban those products. Next day none of the college campuses had Coke and Pepsi but Sprite, Seven-up, Mirinda, Fanta …were available. A curious journalist asked one of the ministers “Why two products alone, why not ban all the products which are proved to have chemicals”. Minister happily said, “Oops … In assembly we did not discuss other drinks at all … he he”.
Another instance is where they have done blunder in their party name itself (my previous post).

Coming to the point of me being called a Kerala communist when I was a kid, was because of the way I used to argue. Here is an instance I remember –

“Hey mom, Bro is eating curd”
“So???”
“Why am I was not served curd for lunch”
“Alright … take how much ever you want”
“Gee..!! You know I don’t eat curd”
“I know that … that is why I did not serve you”
“But why did you give it to him, all are equal isn’t it”
“You don’t eat, I did not give it to you. Your brother eats, so he is eating”
“There is no equality in this house, if all are equal how come some are served more??”
Soon after my statement there was political oppression on me.
Now when I look back, I feel it’s kinda cute. Thatz me!!!

If you want to know where you fall in the political map, here is a political compass. Answer all the questions and find what political nature you have.

I am slightly authoritarian and neo-liberal (Oops … against Gandhi?).

Technorati Tags: political, compass, gandhi, hitler, views, facism, left, kerala, india

Imagine a situation where your boss gave you a day off. To spend time he gave you one boooring book (say Ayn rand ) and a stupid movie ( say some karan johar). Which one would you chose ?

That was just a question, for answers just look at these maps.

Books published, including school textbooks.  and boy !!! where is Africa ?

Movies watched, I am accountable for nearly half of this bulge

PS: Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.

When was the last time you exclaimed “Oh my god” in public ? and which god was it ? You don’t now ?? well , you better know it. Some one might sit on your neck and prove your exclaim is very offensive to him. Also it would be politically and theologically incorrect and big time violation of his rule he has read.

Here is a guys who went on proving the same stuff all over again. To mention some:

1. God came and told me “I am god. If any other gods come and claim that they are also gods, its wrong. please note down there is no god other than me”. Now there if there are any , that is a violation.

2. God said that he doesn’t have a face , if any other gods claim to have face thats again violation, since my god said so.

so on , you ll find many such logical reasoning in this video.

This directly from senate. Someone’s god gets offended while Rajan Zed wanted pray for his God.

Technorati Tags: rajan, zed, hindu, prayer, senate, Christian, god, religion, commandments, disrupt, extremists

The results are out, and Taj Mahal has passed the exam. Here is my contribution.

It was very stupid of them to have a voting system for selecting wonders. Don’t they know India and China constitute most of world’s population ? We just vote for anything that is ours. Look at the other wonders., Taj’s not worth there.

You can easily guess what will be world wonders coming years. Taj Mahal, Marina Beach, Thirupathi Temple… so on.

PS: In an TV road interview it was asked “what will be the next (this time) world wonders?”. One of the answer was “Taj mahal.. ann..hmm.. Minakshi Temple.. hmm .. then … Marina Beach ??”.

For reasons for “NOT FOR PRESIDENT”,  follow the links in this post

I don’t want a President, who talks to ghosts and dead people.

I will be very irritated if she does not answer this :

She claims that she is talking to dead people. She claims to have been advised by her long-dead guru (Dada Lekhraj who founded Brahma Kumari sect) through the body of head of Brahma Kumaris World Spritual University, Hridaymohini, also popularly known as ‘dadiji.’ WTF! I know that this Brahmakumari sect is one huge scam and has seriously affected the lives of people. To find that our Presidential nominee is not just a mere follower of this cult but also claims to have supernatural conversations with the dead in the 21st century is astounding. -                  Patrix

There are several Jokes on Adam and Eve, the first prophets. This political joke is my favorite among them. I read many versions of it , with Russians , Egyptians and Indians also. Pakistani version is very apt for the context. No offense .. but truth

A German, a Frenchman, an Englishman, and an Pakistani went to an Art museum and were spending some time in front of the painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. After observing the painting for a while an intrigued observer asked the four men where they thought Adam and Eve’s origins could be from.

The German said: “Look at the perfection of their bodies. She with her slender and well-formed figure and he with that athletic body and bulging muscles. There is no doubt they must be of German origin.”

Immediately the Frenchman reacts! “C’est Impossible! One can clearly see the eroticism that is exuding from both figures… She so feminine? He so masculine… And both so aware of the impending temptation… They must be French!”

Shaking his head in disagreement, the Englishman comments: “Oh No, Chaps it can’t be! Note the serenity on their faces, their delicate pose, the sobriety in their gestures. They could only be English.”

After a few more seconds of contemplation, the Pakistani exclaims: “I do NOT agree with ANY of your theories! Look closer, they do not have clothes, they do not have shoes, and they do not even have shelter. All they have is ONE apple to eat and to top it all off it is prohibited, there is fatwa on it! They don’t protest and they STILL think they are in Paradise!?? Clearly, these two can only be Pakistanis!!!”

And this is latest controversy on Adam and Eve, the first prophets – A Pakistani version. This cartoon was published in a Pakistani Magazine some time back. As expected there was a fatwa on the editors. And Guess what was the complaint ? Cartoonist painted the couple “naked”. Guess I need to read holy books again , these guys questioning my memory

clipped from www.flickr.com

Technorati Tags: adam, eve, pakistan, joke, fatwa, cartoon

[via ]

[via]

Technorati Tags: racism, truthministry, conversion

To my dear future wife,

I don’t care how do you look. I don’t give a damn about how much do you weigh. These are all immaterial in a proper Indian arranged marriage/remarriage ( with Indian culture incorporated in it). What i am asking is you to follow proper culture and customs – which is the same tradition which we celebrated from years.

If you still dint understand, forward this to your dad. tell him these are the things he needs to take care.

• I am a post graduate in a world class institute and currently working in a reputed multinational. My current market rate is min of 25 Lack rupees. Just for you i am relaxing the rates. Let be in dollars and just 22 Lacks.

• I don’t like two wheelers, they are unsafe and inefficient with me and you ( two hundred KGs ) on it. Ask your dad Ford. (By ask i mean insist )

• I estimate you can always carry minimum of 5 to 6 kg of gold. its just for a day ( the day you are getting married ). (Please refer the example picture ) Later I shall decide what to do with it. I am a good investor , and I bet the best in horse race.

• I would like to have ( need ) a grand party for me and my friends. We take “teacher’s” and “Vat69″. See i am making it cheaper, I dint ask for Jack Danial’s

• There are several other requests , I shall let you know as and when it comes to my mind. But beware I have five Lt of kerosene ready, I wont hesitate to use it as all Indian cultured dudes have done.

Example: This is picture to illustrate how much dowry you can bring to me. After looking at this I felt I should be following Indian culture of taking dowry and throwing all ethics to a pit. good luck.

News : “New Gold mine found in India”

Technorati Tags: India, marriage, dowry, gold

To all commi organizations who paint him in their pamphlets ,to all yo-young college kids wearing his T-shirts without knowing who is he ,

Che is dead , Get over it !!!!

Technorati Tags: Che, Guerra

When the movie ‘Pirates of Caribbean’ came to theatre here(I am a hardcore fab of Jonny Depp), I bought tickets, watched that crap, ate pop-corn and came back. I am also planning to watch Sreck 3. If I like it, I’ll applaud and write a blog entry. If not walk out in the middle of the movie and drive back home.
Watch a movie, laugh/cry, watch again/quit in middle then forget about it, that’s all… Life is to enjoy…so simple … I thought, So far.
Now, let me introduce some of Rajni’s fans, to whom watching movies is not as simple as it to me (buy tickets, eat popcorn etc). They cry, they laugh, they go hysteric, they get new hair cut, they get tattooed … pierced etc, etc.

Have a look at couple of extreme worshipers of Shivaji

I live in Chennai and life seems so different from last one week. Having Rajani movies in your town is not all that simple. This phenomenon is observed on such a large scale, the entire state seems mesmerized.

Here Prathibha Patil to be the next president of India is just another news but this news is not as important as ‘Shivaji’!

PETA PETA where are you ???

PS: PETA peta where are you… Picture has been removed, after friends requested to remove it

It’s obvious that everyone is concerned about global warming, specially when there is a camera looking at them. Anyone can answer “basically I am very very much concerned, thanks for this opportunity for being a part of this survey, actually …. Thank you one and all “ etc etc. One of such useless time pass survey says:

“Indians cared most about carbon emissions, with 55 per cent describing themselves as “very concerned” about the issue while just 32 per cent of Britons felt the same way”

If you are confused I would suggest ROFL

Instead of making that survey a complete failure, they could have asked a different set of questions and made it funny

I) Are you concerned about global warming?a) Very much concerned b) somewhat concerned d) not concerned

II) If a) please tell us what is global warming.

Women going to loose strength in their right arm(in the coming generations), unless they stop using multipurpose pink looking vanity bags (and start swinging arms evenly).
Its simple Darwin theory of evolution – “don’t use? Loose it”. Homo sapiens had tails, they lost it , why ? they dint use it .

My goodness…!!!! I am going to be famous for this discovery

Woman with bag, originally uploaded by is a brahmin.

The story Ramayana* is his entire life journey starting from his innocent youth, his mastery over skills in winning Sita, his role as dutiful and obedient son to adhere to his father’s words while aware of the flagitious intensions of his step mother. He gives up all the worldly richness and sets away to spend 14 years in jungle. Sita being his wife accompanies him followed by Laxman, Ram’s younger brother.

They spend quite an adventurous and romantic** life in the forest. Sita finds her world in her husband Ram and experiences an unspelled love for him. Everything works fine when one day, Sita gets abducted by Ravana while Ram is away to fulfill one of her impossible wishes. Ram does everything possible to get back his love. He gathers a huge army, builds a bridge across an ocean, does all that he could. Finally, he succeeds to kill Ravana and gets her back. With this they complete 14 years of stay in jungle and they return to their kingdom after which they should have lived happily ever after.

But the story takes turmoil instead, Ram’s story ends here and Sita’s story begins. This happens when a subject of Ram’s kingdom whispers “how could Ram trust Sita, who been with Ravana for so long”. Ram wants a test now, Agni-Pareeksha – A test to check purity of a woman, by entering into fire. Exactly this part of the story becomes hard to digest. This is where so many questions arise and is left unanswered.

• Did it serve right for a person like Ram ‘the so called God’ to come down to such a cruel act?
• Is he setting example for all men or rather his followers to commit such an act?
• Or is he doing right by following well set example from his predecessors?
• Ram must have done justice to his kingdom? But why not to his wife? Had he really loved her he wouldn’t have banished her at such a crucial moment.

Did it serve her right to undergo another painful punishment after she had been a victim and had already suffered years of pain in the evil’s custody?

Why anywhere in the whole epic Sita does not have any views? Why didn’t she refuse when they were to leave for jungle (her sister Urmila does that)? Why didn’t she not ask back “why should I jump into fire?” “Don’t you trust me?”

We often come across people stating ‘Ram jaisa pati mila hai’. Can we really consider Ram as an ‘example for perfection’?

If these questions are answered they can be called as Sitayana. It should contain the entire possible thing Sita would have had in mind, but not presented in Ramayana. Nina Paley an Indian born professional animation moviemaker is releasing Santayana. She says:

“We never really know why Rama banishes Sita. Common interpretations resemble rationalizations and apologies: Rama “had to” abuse Sita to maintain the traditional order of his kingdom, in which the opinion of the lowliest man ranked higher than the life of any woman. As literature, Rama’s behavior towards Sita makes no sense…except it’s so realistic. It is the Ramayana’s ambiguities that make it so compelling.”

I strongly feel, movie is going to make some level of controversy and protest. If you are planning to participate, please make sure you have answers to all the questions Ms. Paley is asking.
Some clips of the movie have already reached youTube reservoir. I have posted two of them.

Sita in Love

Ram in Doubt

* Ramayana – the most popular mythological epic dwells around Ram –ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu as believed by most of the Hindus. Ram is another name for a ‘perfect man’ and is symbolized for loyalty, respect, courage, justice and unbound love.

** Their romantic story in forest is only next best to Kalidasa’s Shakuntala. They sit watching “Kaumauda” near lake cheek to cheek whole night long with “rAtrirEva vyamsIt” (a great literary work in Sanskrit).

Technorati Tags: sita, seeta, seetayana, sitayana, rama, ramayana, ravana, feminism,

I am done; I am not atheist any more. Thanks for all those who continuously tried convince me that “almighty God exists “(like credit card salesmen). Thanks for all those mails and pamphlets. Now that I have opened my mind and accepted God exists, please help me further to understand “which package” of god is suitable for my life style. I heard they come in different features. (Sarcasm is intended in whole paragraph)

And to all those who are still atheists, here is a story if a holy Barber which opened my mind (or closed … or whatever)

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God,

the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.”

” Why do you say that?” asked the customer.

“Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things.”

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and

he said to the barber: “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”

“How can you say that?”Asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.”

“Exactly !”- affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don’t go to Him and do not look for Him. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

An awesome mail forward, worth reading. I had a Sevier stomach pain from laughing. Here’s a prime example of “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus” offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix

The professor told his class one day:

“Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.”

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students: Rebecca (female) and Gary (male).
——————————————-

THE STORY:
(first paragraph by Rebecca) At first, Laurie couldn’t decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary)
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. ” A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,” he said into his transgalactic communicator. “Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far…” But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship’s cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4.”Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,” Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. “Why must one lose one’s innocence to become a woman?” she pondered wistfully.

Gary
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu’udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu’udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent,chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)
Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. “Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F–KING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I’m such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!”

(Rebecca)
Asshole.

(Gary)
B*tch

(Rebecca)
F__K YOU – YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Gary)
Go drink some tea – w*ore.

(TEACHER)
*A+ – I really liked this one.*

Technorati Tags: Men, Mars, women, venues,

I feel we have lost a definition of word “insult”. We are dying to find an insult in something and we are waiting for it to happen. Take our National anthem; you translate it – Insult! Instrumental? – Insult! Sung for more than 52 seconds? – Insult! Less? – Insult! Lower/higher pitch – Insult!

Most of the time I don’t get what exactly is an insult. If Mandira is wearing this is an insult, then why not those thousands tri-color clad fans acting crazy is an insult. Why those thousands of plastic tri-colors in dustbins on next day to Aug 15, is not an insult. I want to know very badly why it is insult if mandira does it, and why it is not when this woman does it.

she was in a saree — designed by Puneet Nanda of designer label Satya Paul — that had flags of all countries in the World Cup.

By the time the showers had done their two bits, Bedi was back on air with a different saree. But the damage was already done. Puneet Nanda had to apologise. “I didn’t think our flag would end up near Bedi’s foot. I am sorry,” he told

The controversy comes at a time when Akal Takht, the highest body of Sikh religious affairs, accepted the apology of Bedi pertaining to the use of a Sikh religious symbol on her body as a tattoo – DNA

Puneet Nanda tells. “I didn’t think our flag would end up near Bedi’s foot. I am sorry,” In other words that would be “I am sorry that we insulted ours, alas … It should’ve been theirs”. Just imagine what would have happened if Indian and Pakistan flags just interchanged(they are currently in lucky spot). I guess Musharraf would have tested his next missile EOD

Technorati Tags: Mandira, bedi, India, Pakistan, national, flag, insult, cricket, world, cup, finals, sari,

There is one more chain mail; it’s about the plastic bottles we use. There is a number written on the bottom of every plastic bottle, which varies from one to seven. Hoax Chain Mail claims that the number indicates how many times that particular plastic is recycled in reverse order. So anything above 5 is good.

It’s actually nothing to do with the number of recycling of the bottles. It’s just the type of plastic which is used for that particular bottle. 5 is polypropylene and 1 is PET that is polyethlyene terephthalate. The numbers below is useful while sorting the collected bottles while recycling. In other words it is plastic identification number.

1 – PET, polyethlyene terephthalate
2 – HDPE, high-density polyethylene
3 – PVC, polyvinyl chloride
4 – LDPE, low-density polyethylene
5 – PP, polypropylene
6 – PS/PS-E, polystyrene / expanded polystyrene
7 – OTHER, resins or multi-materials

Google yourself if you are not satisfied. But don’t panic if you receive the same chain mail tomorrow.

Here is copy paste of that mail

How to avoid:
Check on the bottom of the bottle there is a triangle sign and there will be a number on it. If the number is higher than or equal to 5 –> then this bottle is safe to use.

Whatever number under 5, will release the chemical. For most bottle water, the number is 1.

Did you know chemical released by plastic water bottles can cause cancer

(It is not the water that affecting you but the chemical releasing from the bottle)

Pass this to all your friends and also make them aware of it…

Technorati Tags: polyethlyene, terephthalate, PET, bottles, plastic, recycle, hoax, chain, mail