Why I love window seat?
A. I flew for the first time when I was 22.
B. I am a fan of Bill Gates.
C. I don’t know.
D. I think, in case of an emergency I would safely jump out.
The right answer is C.
Yeah, I don’t why but in spite of having numerable instances of disturbing people on the aisle seat for washrooms and regretting of not having an aisle seat in case of Kingfisher airlines, I love to be seated on a window seat.
That day was no exception. My travel agent took my request seriously and arranged a window seat for me. My fellow colleague who recently came from US told me that LH air hostesses do not talk to the people who do not drink. So, with the clear intentions of getting a good customer service, I decided to say yes whenever anybody would ask me for a drink in the next 9 hours.
Interestingly, I had already set my biological clock before even reaching to the other part of the world. It was 3:30 AM and I was wide awake, experimenting with all the luxuries I was expected to use to their fullest. In those 9 hours, I watched a movie, Red Cliff. Revised a movie called Kaminey, slept, had touch-ups with the colon-dipped tissues, had food and explored the washrooms. In total, it was a nice experience to stretch and have a nice flight.
I opened the window panes after 7 hours, in the anticipation of having a look of firangi asmaan. Instead I got a very strange view of white clouds down there. They looked like snow on the vast planes but I knew that we were nowhere close to the land because there were still 2 more hours to reach Frankfurt. Yahan ke toh baadal bhi paraye hein... reminded me of a dialogue from DDLJ ... yahan ke toh kabutar bhi paraye hein.
(bad joke ?? skip this.. oh you have already read it.. :-D another bad joke.. )
Very soon my wait ended and I started seeing some land. Bright and colorful. Full of white color. Endless panorama view of snow and snow. Upon reaching closer to the city, the colors started changing. Streets, trees, cars, highways and mushroom-looking-unorganized-country-houses started cropping out of the snow, showing off.
After desperately waiting for 9 hours, the aircraft took a plunge. The snow region was left way back. Frankfurt was cloudy but snowless. The aircraft, with arms wide open, threw herself upon the dark, tall and handsome runway which cuddled us in himself with love.
I took my 1st step on a foreign land.
In-Flight – Part 2
Departure – Part 1
After all possible checks, cross checks and double checks on my tickets, passport, luggage and clothes I started waiting anxiously for my cab to come and take me to the airport. While everybody in the house was wide awake, thrilled about my travel and interested in me talking to them, I was waiting for a call/SMS confirmation from my cab.
Finally I called up and got the confirmation that the cab would be there on time.
While on one hand I was really excited about my 4 weeks escapade from my usual life and ghar-grahasti, I was sub-consciously started feeling that how much I would miss my daughter in the coming days. That natural bond between an animal and its offspring was growing stronger inside me after every passing minute. So I took a strong step and asked Suman to put Nicku on sleep.
Then started the final hour which we all spent in chit-chatting with each other. At 11:45 sharp the cab guy called me and told me that he was outside..
all my bags are packed, I am ready to go… my taxi is waiting… already I am so.. … I am leaving on a …
Instantly upon climbing in the cab I dumped all my anxiousness and started enjoying the ride. In Bangalore, you cannot have such a beautiful ride at any other hour of the day. No traffic, no noise.. cool breeze and myself. It took just 20 minutes to reach Hebbal Flyover after that the long stretch of new airport road was waiting for me. But within minutes my driver started taking big volumes of air in his lungs.. which we sometime call yawning. With my natural instinct of survival I immediately stopped thinking about the blondes of USA and started concentrating on the driver.
That led to another disaster when I asked him how cab companies make money and why his company charge 900 bucks for an airport ride where Meru asks for 600. That night I got the most valuable business knowledge of my life in terms of logistics, govt policies, petrol prices, local companies, global companies, car insurance and what not. My patience ran out and I started praying to both Indian and American gods that my driver should shut up. However nobody listened to my prays and I reached the airport with the over dosage of the business conditions in India.
I was only 3 hours early for my flight and that was the reason, I believed that I am doomed and I will not get a seat. My heart was running and so was I. As I was flying with the business class, the lady at the check-in counter gave me a business lounge entry pass which I immediately forgot to use once I entered the waiting area where I saw the biggest inventory of alcohol I have had ever seen in my entire life. It was a you-name-it-we-have-it scenario. The only problem was that I did not even know so many names.
After gaining some valuable information(read Names and Prices :-)) of some very expensive alcohols, I headed to the other areas which comprised of shops, restaurant and bars. Showing off my ignorance once again, I thought that was the business lounge because it was stunningly clean, bright and exuberant. After spending an hour playing X-BOX and enquiring digital cameras in that area I finally asked a guy if that was the business lounge and he routed me to the right place. Upon entering I realized the value of the last hour which I wasted.
For the next one hour I experimented with different types of alcohols and airport’s free internet to tell the entire world what a gala time I was having.
Thanks to twitter and Facebook.
After some, I don’t know how much, time the LCD screens flickered and Now Boarding appeared in front of LH 755. With all the un-explainable anxiety and thrill, I walked towards my aircraft.
Curious Case of a Happy Pet
There is an advertisement on air these days, of a very popular washing powder, in which a young boy tries to bring smile on the face of his teacher, Rosy miss.
This ad on one hand shows the little effort of that kid while on the other hand show one aspect of love and emotion which not everybody can understand or I must say appreciate. That is the bond between a pet and its owner. Remember how sad was Rosy miss?
But the hint of what this article contains is – anybody noticed the big house and huge garden in that adv ?? The significance of the size will be explained shortly.
Fellow toastmasters and my dear friends, in reality, not everyone is like Rosy Miss. A couple of years back, I had a neighbor. A young and enthusiastic boy in his early 20s. He bought a golden brown Labrador puppy. Its name was Tintin. I used to envy that boy so much because I couldn’t have such a cute dog.
That boy had a helper for washing his car. To my surprise I saw that guy only walking Tintin, giving him bath and taking care of him. While it is not a crime to have a helper for your dog but it is surprising to see that a boy who is staying alone is not enjoying his pet's company.
Anyways... soon, my envy turned into disgust when I came to know that that boy used to tie Tintin in one corner of his house, for the whole day, when he used to go to office. As I myself had been a pet owner in the past, I felt the pain and loneliness Tintin must have had been through. I heard Tintin crying and howling for the whole day many times. Tintin used to get tied to a low partition, about 4 feet high, in the hall of the house. One day Tintin jumped the partition, couldn’t reach the surface on the other side and hanged to death.
Just because we love animals doesn’t mean that we are eligible to have one.
There are 2 kinds of animal lovers in this world. One who really love animals and two who think that they love animals. People of the 1st category do a lot of research and introspect before adopting a pet. They generally have some hands-on also on owning a pet. Even if they do not have pets, they show their love by feeding and caring stray and abandoned animals. People like Rosy miss fall in that category. While my not-a-pet-lover neighbor falls in the 2nd category who think that they love animals.
Now the question arises, how will we come to know if we can take care of a pet or not without actually adopting one? To answer this, we must be honest to ourselves and ask ourselves a question. Can we afford it? Can we afford to not only buy but maintain. What about its food expenses, medication, vaccination toys etc?
2nd factor which we should consider is what pet to adopt. We must think will that animal be able to adjust with us? Do you know, demand for a pet owl surged dramatically in the US when the 1st movie of Harry potter series was released. Owl is a wild animal. It cannot go well with human. It cannot play with us like dogs do. So we must not go for chameleons, snakes, tortoise etc.
Recently, the pedigree puppy of Paris Hilton has become a huge craze world wide and people think they can also carry it in a hand bag? We need to grow up, don’t we?
Paris Hilton’s puppy is of a very fragile breed and really really expensive to maintain. Not everybody can afford it.
Ok, now phase 1 is over where we have seen if we can afford to buy or not. Here comes the phase 2. In this phase we must cross check will the animal we are planning to bring, go well with our home, surrounding and locality. For example, big dogs must be adopted by people who have big houses, with high walls and big play area. The aggressive breeds like German shepherd can be very unpredictable in their behavior because homely upbringing makes them humble while their natural instinct makes them dangerous. Owner must watch and warn people and kids coming close to it. But the reverse is true at home. At home, let your pet free. Let him play around, explore the surroundings and socialize with neighbors. Studies show that dogs who always stay in confined places are dangerous. At home we really don't need a hunting dog so we must teach them some socializing.
If you have small house or you are putting up in an apartment, it is better to have small pets like parrots, cats and pedigree puppies. It is important to give toys to your pet. Toys not only keep them busy but actually push their mental growth. After all animals also need their neurons to be connected.
And now a very very important factor. Their physical requirements. Animals are also a form of life on earth. They also have hormones running up and down in their bodies. Understand those needs and try to find a suitable partner for your pet. You don’t have to bring one more pet in your house because luckily they feel the need only a couple of times a year. So do not hesitate. Talk to your vet who can actually act as a middle man for finding a potential partner for your pet. You can go online also these days. Social networking sites are very effective tools for this.
And last but not the least. Time !! Give time to your pet. Pets are like kids. They need love, attention and time. Loneliness leads to frustration which may result in violent behavior. Walking your dog twice a day, for at least an hour, is far more important than buying an expensive vodaphone pug and taking him to the best clinic in the town.
Friends, there are people, and we could be one of them, who think that they love animals but they never realize what it takes to own a pet. They never realize that pets are not toys. They are not show pieces. Animals are also living beings.
A mute yet and an expressive form of Nature’s gift which has a right to live not only with dignity but also with happiness.
Euthanasia
A deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering.
Euthanasia or as it is more commonly known as Mercy Killing.
Euthanasia has come alive suddenly when the Apex Court has rejected the plea of a writer, Pinki Virani, to grant mercy killing to Aruna Shanbaug.
Aruna Shanbaug, a 61 year old former nurse who cannot even participate in the debate going over euthanasia because she is lying in a hospital, with her brain as dead as the bodies lying in the mortuary of the same hospital.
Leaving Aruna Shanbaug here for a moment I would like to throw some light on euthanasia. There are 4 categories in which we can put this concept.
Voluntary euthanasia: in which one asks for death if he feels his illness is not curable.
Involuntary euthanasia: In this category someone else decides for euthanasia on behalf of the patient because the patient may not be in the state to decide.
Passive euthanasia: it is called so because in such cases doctors discontinue the life support system.
Active euthanasia: In this type medical assistant inject lethal substance in patient’s body.
Let’s come back to Aruna Shanbaug who is waiting and do not even know that she is waiting. Waiting for justice ??? No !!! She got the bookmarked-justice when her assaulter got a jail term for 6 years for attempt to murder and robbery, only.
No she is not waiting for justice. My friends, she is waiting for something nobody waits for. A dignified and peaceful end of her 36 years long agony.
You coin the term Mercy Killing… and immediately world divides into 2 groups and hit the road in protest of each other. Showing placards for it, writing volumes against it and giving their own view of right and wrong.. life and death.. crime and sin..
When we talk about crime and sin, we know there are some actions which are restricted by law and hence they are crime. The ones which are restricted by religion are sins.
However there are cases, like the case of Aruna Shanbaug, where the line dividing the two goes blur.
I do not want to provide partial information to make a biased environment. So I will try to question both of the ideologies. 1st the mindset of the people who appose euthanasia.
The argument given by the people, who oppose mercy killing, is that, we are not god and we have no right to take anyone’s life. Aruna is a victim of an unfortunate event and thus we, as a society, have a greater responsibility towards caring her. We should not count the years but have a bigger picture of value of life. If we legalize it, we may set an example which can later be abused in the country like India where rules and laws can be flouted and manipulated.
The point is how we can define the quality of life. There are millions of people in this world who are differently able and have a right to live with dignity and freedom. Tomorrow a rowdy may rob and kill a visually disabled person and if caught, can escape with an excuse of mercy killing. Or a son may send his parents to the gates of heaven just to avoid the burden of taking care of them.
Even in the rarest case, as of Aruna’s, if you can argue that she cannot even appreciate the care society is showing to her, let us remind you that there is something above the physical existence of brain and that is the soul. Just think of how disgusted her soul will feel when she will see that the same society who gave her those scars is today running away from her. Therefore we must not forget that the existence of the human race on this planet is a result of 2 postulates: a. Staying Together and b. Protecting the weak.
After reading this do you feel that the argument was correct and the society should continue taking care of people like Aruna Shanbaug ???
If you answer is yes, that means you feel that she should continue living like a specimen for medical examples.
The other group asked us to respect the value of life. Can we call this a life?
Aruna Shanbaug simply exists. She doesn’t live.
Her case cannot be simply compared with any other case of sick or disabled person.
She is not on life support system. Her lungs and heart are working fine. But she is brain dead. She cannot feel anything. She cannot feel hunger. Even if the hospital staff simply stops feeding her, she will leave this world without a single pulse of pain reaching her mind.
Doctors say that there is no hope for her recovery. And even if someday a spark happens in her dead brain and she comes to life, what she will confront with ??? The traumatizing memories of the brutal assault ?? The realization that she spent 36 years like a artifact in a museum ???
Sometime back we discussed the trauma; her soul will go through when we will not care for her anymore. But isn’t it more practical to think about her body which is physically present in front of us? After the death we cremate the body with so much respect. Shouldn’t we show some respect to her body which is being kept alive artificially?
Even if we assume that there is a medically denied concept of soul, I want to say today – Her soul must be crying to get out of this world and go to heaven where it should have gone long ago. I must say that in this case, it would be a real mercy on her to either let her die without food or she should be given active euthanasia.
So that was my reply to the moral and ethical conflicts involved here.
Let me touch upon some legal aspect here. We generally forget that processes are for people and not the other way round. We are simply struggling to come out of the illusion of a process which says ending any life is a criminal offense.
After defining a super set called Life, we defined subsets and called one of them as Murder. But ending a life is justified in some cases. So to allow those cases, we defined one more subset and put a list of acceptable forms of murder in that. For example, war and death sentences.
Ending a life is a crime or not is clearly defined and documented in cases of war and death sentences. Shooting at enemy in a war is not crime. But killing innocent people during a war is a war crime. Penal courts granting death sentence to someone is not a crime but sentences granted by naxalites comes under offence.
Whatever can be used can be abused also. A surgeon can use a knife for saving a life as well as taking a life.
Friends I am not saying here that anybody who comes and says I am terminally ill, I want a peaceful exit, should be granted. We must have proper safeguards. There can be laws which enable people to write some kind of a will that if something incurable happens to them and they are not able to take the decisions, some assigned person should take such decision on their behalf. Laws can be strengthened to protect people from being abused by euthanasia.
The essence of my argument is, if we can brainstorm and standardize few forms of ending a life like sentences and war, why can’t we pen down some clauses for the rarest of rare case of Aruna Shanbaug and give her an opportunity to leave this world. It’s high time, that Indian Penal Court should be upgraded for the inclusion of new laws considering Euthanasia a rare-legal practice.
Holi-Day In A Hostel
Hottest in the hot and coldest in the cold is the place we call Rajasthan. On the north-eastern border of colorful and vibrant aapno Rajasthan, is situated a small town called Alwar, famous for 2 things-
1. Delicious Milk Cake of Baba Thakur Das and
2. Dry and sleepy Sariska Tiger Reserve Park which can be renamed now as Sariska Reserve Park because there are no tigers left.
All the ferocious tigers have been relocated to a place which is just 20 km away from the main city.
As I stepped out on a cleaner than expected platform # 1 at Alwar junction, I saw many food vendors selling Alwar’s famous milk cake. I wondered if the milk cake has also been relocated.
Stalls names were misspelled at some places, even when they are written in Hindi; still they were convincingly informing me that they were not collaborated with the famous baba thakur das in any sense.
Well, I needed a cab to go to the place where the tigers were. And that day there was a special show also because that day there was the festival of colors which we all know as Holi.
Soon I realized that I won’t be able to get a cab there and I tried my chance to get a place on a local public transport which looked like as if DNA of a small piglet has been mutated by a nuclear reaction and he has transformed into a giant swine. They call it a tempo.
I want to tell one more quality of Alwar without which describing Alwar is a crime.
In winters, Alwar becomes an invisible city. Covered with heavy fog, city looks like not even waking up till, sometimes, 11 o clock in the morning. People riding scooter can feel the tiny crystal of ice piercing deep in the face and melting beneath the skin.
Thank fully that day it was 7th march, the time of the year when the chilling winter comes to its end and the harsh sun still far away from kissing the earth.
I reached my destination which was Matsya Industrial Area. It looked more like an agricultural land. It was green and serene place, stretched in all 10 directions. There were a couple of boards saying the addresses of the factories situated there. Pepsi, Bindra Stone Crushers etc. Around 500 meters ahead, surrounded by the lush green mustard crop, I was able to see a large building. It looked like a flower mushroom grown in a grass field. That was the place where my tigers were.
Imperial Institute of Engineering and Technology. My elder brother Nikki, and 4 more tigers like him were studying there. Jitu, Chhota, Jimmy and Nana.
I was standing in front of the main gate of the hostel building and the college campus was on my right. My eyes were swinging left and right for the girl’s hostel as I was imagining fitness freak girls jogging around. Later I came to know that the girl’s hostel is inside the college campus for their extra safety. My brother took me inside the hostel and all my dreams of actually coming across a karan johar style filmi hostel started jumping out of my mind. Where are the studs going out with basket ball? Where is that pony-tail loverboy with his guitar ??
It’s 8 o clock now, it’s holi today.. still no activity.. no noise, no dhol, no fights nothing..
As I walked with my brother in the lobby, I heard some chuckles and laughters in the next room.
I knew them, they were my brother’s friends. I met them before. Jitu bhaiya was trying to unfold some paper chits and trying to pull out small balls out of them. Nana was holding a manual grinder made of stone. They had 3 big tea campers filled with thandai, a drink made up of milk, dry fruits and other flavoring stuffs. They were grinding the small balls with small amount of thandai, and mixing the entire stuff in the campers.
Those small balls were bhang, a common local drug which is extremely popular in north India during Holi.
That day Holi happened in 4 phases. In 1st phase 1st year students were called in and asked to carry those campers to the seniors in their rooms, wake them up and offer them the thandai. I was pleasantly surprised by this humble gesture of my brother and his frends to serve their frends. Within minutes the whole hostel was wide awake and started fighting for every drop of thandai.. There were smart people too who made their own smart arrangements before hand.
The other boys of the lobby, Goli, Pogo and their gang had the plan to start the holi with Dadu. A old looking bald guy whose actual name was rastogi but got this name Dadu thanks to his appearance. Dadu shamelessly refused to offer a cigarette last night to Pogo aka Portho Gonguly.. so today was the revenge day. Dadu was pulled out of his room like draupadi was pulled by Dushasana. In a blink of an eye Dadu was painted in Eastman color, in a blink of the second eye Dadu’s t-shirt was torn and before Dadu could’ve expressed his anger on local t-shirt’s cheap stiching, his jocky vest screamed and was torn down into pieces.
I was horrified by the sheer thought of level of fight which was about to start. Colorful Dadu was fuming, trying to be a lion by parting his lips and showing his multi-colored dental makeover to the crowd and watching everyone with an eye of a tiger. Colorful dadu’s eyes met with Pogo’s and the hard core enemies moved closer to each other, joined their hands, added the power and attacked Goli.
Yes, they joined together and attacked Goli who was still colorless.
Goli was shouting and accusing Pogo of betraying him but all efforts in vain and the very next second when the crowd spared him he looked like an insect coming out of an asian paint canister. Then started the massacre of color, water, torn baniyans, screams and shouts. Within half an hour all 200 boys of the hostel were half naked and not a single body was in the condition to be identified.
Phase 2 started without any formal inauguration. Some body picked the wet piece of torn t-shirt and turned it into a speedy projectile traveling parallel to the ground. And when the missile hit the naked target, there were 2 sounds. 1st was of wet cloth hitting the flesh and 2nd came straight from the vocal chords of the target. The target instantly started jumping in all directions to ease out the pain somehow. For the next 15 minutes, hostel witnessed the gruesome war between two on-the-spot formed tribal groups fighting with their future weapons; Wet clothes and wet clothes.
Phase 3 started when an opportunist dhol wala appeared outside the hostel boundary and started beating the dhol in the hope of getting some Holi bakshish. That caught the attention of the tigers and everyone ran outside to call him in. Boys called him inside the hostel compound and started dancing with the Dhol. One boy pulled the water pipe lying there in the garden, turned on the tap and held the pipe vertical like an umbrella. Gushing water from the pipe jumped high in the air and came down splashing on the tribal group dancing on bhandara beats of the dhol.
After enough dancing, phase 4 started with a simulated wedding procession. The most humble and polite boy of 1st year was made a groom and everyone else surrounded him. Following the Indian wedding tradition of groom’s friends and relatives going to the bride’s place for wedding, the procession started its march towards the girls hostel.
Lead by the dhol wala and the groom and followed by the naked tribal-looking baraatis, this procession was stopping after every 2 minutes for a dance session. People were coming in the center in round robin fashion to contribute. As the procession was leaving hostel main gate and heading towards college campus where the girls hostel was situated, the security guards got busy on their walky talkys. They conveyed the msg to the guards of the girls hostel that some 200 odd crazy-half-naked boys are coming towards the girls hostel. Please do the needful.
When we reached the girls hostel, we saw that the main gate of the hostel was locked with heavy metal chain. There were big windows in the lobby of the girls hostel where all the girls accumulated to see the Dulha. I came to know that this was the annual ritual on holi and that’s why the girls were already expecting the boys with the procession. Windows were covered with metal nets and hence reduced the visibility to a disappointing low. The only information which was coming out of those windows was that the girls also were painted black and blue from head to toe. We were not able to make out if they were also donning the tribal outfit or not.
It was 11:30 by that time and it was time to relax. All of us sat their only. Some started their efforts to get rid of the color using the taps near by.
Few started regaining their energy using stamina sticks which were carefully wrapped in polyethene to protect them from water. They used to call them cigarettes.
By 12:00, few men from boys hostel’s mess came to deliver the food in the girl’s hostel. That was the indication for us too, to wrap this up and head back for food. The rare event of getting good food on a special occasion was itself a celebration for the boys.
I am a holi lover and enjoy holi every year but I cannot forget my once in a life time experience of My Holi-Day in a Hostel.
Project# 3 at Crystal-Talk Toastmasters Club
Disclaimer: The views are taken from the original article published in Times of India. This speech was delivered within Motorola office premises in Bangalore, India. But Motorola is not responsible for any remark made by the speaker.
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" A King, who disregards an enemy and does not protect himself, indeed faces disappointment and would be removed from his position. "
Those were the words uttered by Kumbhakarana to Ravana before going to the battle with Sri Ram, mentioned in chapter 63, Yuddha Kanda, The Ramayana.
Good evening friends. A very happy Diwali to all of you in advance and I hope Dussera was prosperous of all of us.
Today we are exactly in the center of 2 historic dates. The first we celebrate as the triumph of good over evil and the 2nd which is an anniversary of our beloved prince Rama’s home coming. On Dussera, in every part of the country, fierce effigies of Ravana, his son Meghnad and his obese brother Kumbhkarana were ceremonially burnt.
Ravana was a fearless yet extremely educated and laureate Brahmin. The only sin he committed in his lifetime was to abduct a defenseless woman and lusted after her. Although he had his own set of justified reasons to wage war on Ram-
1. Killing of his subordinates Khara and Dushana by Rama and Laxmana.
2. Attack on 14000 of his men in janasthana and most importantly
3. Humiliation of his sister Suparnakha by Laxmana.
But Ravana violated the accepted protocol of war by abducting Sita. Had Ravana chosen to take on Rama upfront in a battle, he would not have been held guilty of adharma.
Now when this is well known that Ravana was not a rakshasa, let us try to understand what rakshasa is and how bad was the rakshasa race. Ramayana has the illustrations that when Hanuman arrived in Lanka to find Sita, he was delighted by its sight. The highways of Lanka were broad and decorated with flowers. The city was crowded with lofty mansions. The houses were spotlessly whites and were built in the shapes of Padma, that is lotus and Swastika. In some houses people were chanting shloks and mantras from ved and puran.
The demonization of Rakshasas as uncivilized barbarians was actually a perfect example of the fact that the victorious writes the history. I am not saying that Rama told the world that how bad the rakshasas were but it was us, the common men, who were overwhelmed by the victory of their king and comfortably took thousands of years to make up stories for our kids.
An extremely difficult-to-read biography of Ravana written with over usage of Sanskrit by Acharya Chatursen, actually throws light on the so called demons of today, who were nothing but simple casts like Brahmin, Baniya and Thakur of today’s times. Yes my friends, Rakshasa, Daitya, Danava, Naag, Gandharva and Devta were nothing but people of different regions, casts and tribal groups.
Let’s discuss about 2 of the most acclaimed characters of the epic who never got their deserving laud, kumbhakarana and Meghnad.
The legends says that Kumbhakarana was a harmless prince who got a curse from Brahma to sleep for 6 months just to save population of vegetation and animals from his insatiable hunger. Ramayana itself tells the wisdom of Kumbhakarana when he told Ravana that he will have to soon reap the consequences of stealing someone’s wife.
Even Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana had a very highlighted and enlightened speech kumbhakaran gave to Ravana before played his role in the war.
Was he an evil ?? Torn between his intellect and his sense of loyalty, he chose the latter. It’s the dilemma anyone can face and may go the Kumbhakarana’s way. Was he wrong??? Should he have gone the Vibhishana’s way to betray his brother???
Then comes the most respected fighter of Lanka, the Meghnad. Popularly known as Indrajit for whom there was no choice. To him, loyalty was paramount. His dialogue with Vibhishana mentions, “Pride in Birth, Friendship and Brotherhood do not govern your conduct?? A stranger will always be a stranger where your own people will always be yours. He who abandons his own country is doomed to perish.”
Inspite of Meghnad bearing the brunt of his father’s sin, his name became immortal. There are countless individuals named after him as Indrajit. Vibhishana’s name died with him. The man honored by Rama himself has become a name from treachery.
It is the leader not a soldier who is right and wrong. Still every year we gloat over the killing of Kumbhakaran and Meghnad. I wish to conclude with this open question we should ask ourselves.
Shouldn’t they be excused now??
Project# 2 at Crystal-Talk Toastmasters Club
Cross Examination of a discriminator
Disclaimer: The view are taken from the original blog written by me@ http://jainy-speaks.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-baby-boy.html .
This speech was delivered within Motorola office premises in Bangalore, India. But Motorola is not responsible for any remark made by the speaker.
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23rd July 2007.. Orissa Police found 30 polythene bags stuffed with female fetuses. Killed even before they could have opened their eyes.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the ugly world.
Recently I celebrated end of my 1st year as a father. It is a baby girl, born in an expensive hospital made for upper middle class and upper class people. When the nurse came out of operation theatre she sheepishly said, it’s a girl. With all her hopes of getting a hefty tip crash landed.
In 2002, I was in my 3rd year of engineering. A friend of mine came back from her house after his elder bro became a father and his parents didn’t allow him to take sweets with him because it was a girl and not a boy.
That was scene 1 in a Metro city like Delhi.
Scene 2. 2001. A small town in Rajasthan. A woman asked the nurse after gaining consciousness, is it a boy or is it a girl? The nurse replied that she got a kaani chhori.. girl with disability in one eye..
That lady got a boy and the nurse said that just to avoid the blame of having a buri nazar on the boy.
Centuries are taking their turns but one thing which is seriously consistent in the Indian Society is still the wish for a boy in the family. There is change in the society but the questions are why the change is taking so much time and why the change is not reaching to every portion of the society.
Now, can we assume that the young generation has already upgraded from such mentality and so society will be changed in the next 15 years?
Scene 3: One of my cousins advised me to give tender coconut’s flower to my pregnant wife to eat so that she can give birth to a boy.
Surprisingly my cousin is a doctor and gender of a fetus is decided at the time of conception which cannot be changed later.
Let me narrow down the topic by discussing one question, its possible answers and my counterviews on those answers.
The question is: What is so good about baby boys and why people prefer a boy over a girl??
Anwer#1. Boy will carry the family name. A girl will be married and go.
Answer# 2. Boy will be a bread winner for the family and will take care of the aged parents.
Answer# 3. Marriage is a costly affair for girl's parents.
Now let me counter these answers by my points.
Counterview for Answer#1.
How many of you know the name of your grandfather's father??
What’s this fuss about our family name?
We are middle class people and not the nawabs and zamindaars of 1800 times who boast of their bloodline. In this modern world what we do is what matters. Could Chelsea Clinton outvote Obama in 2008 US Elections just because her father is a former president?
If people are worried about who will enjoy their assets after their death then they should simply think if their legacy can be forwarded to their sons the same can be gifted to their daughters also.
Now coming to the question of whose name should be given to the children. My question is: Is it really important ???
How many of us know/remember Rajeev Gandhi's father's name?? Or Rajiv Gandhi's paternal grand father's name? Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are still flaunting the blood line of Nehru and Indira Gandhi and not Feroz Gandhi.. Priyanka is still Gandhi and not Vadhera, practically.
Counter view #2. Boys will take care of the parents. With the increasing number of young boys and girls moving out of their hometowns to metro cities and abroad, the only thing they can do to their parents is sending money. And with the growing foresight for the retirement options and investments for safe future, everybody is moving towards a state when money will not be a favor to take from children, any more.
So if your son is not with you and you don’t need money also from him, how does that matter if he is son and not daughter?
There are examples of children settled in US, keep sending money and visiting only when any of their parent dies.
On the other hand there are examples of daughters taking care of their parents. So clearly, as marriage is seen a bond between two families and not only between to people, it is a time to realize that if a woman can take care of her ailing parent in laws then similar duty is of a man also to take care of his in laws.
Counter view #3. Wedding is a costly affair for girl’s parents.
Until and unless we make our girls independent, educated and smart, we will continue to be haunted by the wedding expenses and dowry ghost. An eligible groom can be bartered against a deserving bride. The problem is more specific to smaller cities and towns where lesser girls take education for profession and financial independence and are primarily seen as a liability that must get married and go.
I want to conclude with 2 requests:
1. Let the chanda kocchars and indira nooyis of future see this world.
2. Don’t just feel happy that you are educated and you don’t discriminate. Someone else in your vicinity must be doing this. Be proactive, keep your eyes open, spread the word and take the pledge that we all have to root out this evil from this world.
