The Small Voice

Dear Shri PM ji, Thanks for speaking out and calming us finally, days after the tragedy that happened on the streets of Delhi. Sir, we would like to believe that your feelings of concern for the victim are indeed true and genuine. We thank you for the deep empathy you displayed for the young protestors braving the Delhi cold, getting drenched by water cannon, beaten up by Police batons, shot by tear gas shells while demanding a safer city for women.  Your words of calm and reason are soothing balm to a troubled nation. We already feel better. But sir, YOU are the establishment. You don’t demand results , but, it is you who should deliver RESULTS . The people are angry because each day their wives, sisters and daughters are condemned to live in a state of fear of the goons and criminals. Women are afraid to step out after dark in the capital of the country. Even women of foreign countries are regularly issued advisories suggesting caution. Z plus security ...

Whence  hast thou come ... You can buy a kit on the National Geographic website , provide your DNA sample (just  swab the inside of your cheek) and send it back. What comes next is awesome. NG with IBM will send you your complete gene history. They will tell you how much Neanderthal is in you, the global migration pattern that your ancestors followed hundreds—even thousands—of years ago, with an unprecedented view of your ancestral journey.   Also, you will have the opportunity to share your story and connect with other Genographic Project participants, helping the project fill in the gaps in the human story. Who knows you may find out that you are a long lost descendent of Genghis Khan or even better, remotely related to ME !!!  Ain't that cool? If you have $199 to spare, you may buy it. I certainly would have, if only I had 200 bucks…. Donations welcome.

Pretty nasty stuff which happened in New Delhi the other day. Absolutely disgusting. Now please don’t take me wrong, all you proud Delhi-ites, for this blog has lots of happy memories & pals associated with the city of New Delhi. However, in all those happy and eventful years that one spent there, one always felt that a simmering undercurrent of latent violence beneath the usual easy demeanor of a lot of city residents. If you have stayed in the city, only then you come to realize how an average Roman could have enjoyed the Roman Circuses as a form of entertainment in those days. In Delhi, an argument will seldom end in mere words, and the usual notion is “only the weak are polite”. One believes that the city is tough enough for males too, while the situation may be alarming for the fairer sex. Capital punishment for rape? A lot of sound bytes were floating in the Parliament as well as in the media yesterday. While atrocities like rape are indeed a scar on the...

Soon enough I will be switching off my mobile, pulling the plug of the laptop, in short will do my best to be incommunicado to the world at large. Now, please don’t mistake me.  I am not pulling the fast one on the boss. Nor am I one of the “End of the World on 21-12” believers. Nothing of that sort. You see, it will soon be the “Happy New Year” time. (shudder) Christmas and the New Year is a special time in the developed countries, a time for family, fun and joy.  It’s special time of the year for India too, albeit a bit differently.  The New Year is the time when city roads in India transform into virtual roads of Carmageddon (that game which lets you play out your speed-enhanced, crimson-tinted fantasies).   The women would only be fractionally better off than the hapless pedestrians in the above-mentioned Computer game. It’s fun time… Everybody will be trying to party at the same time. I have a neat algorithm for the 31 st December eve ...

The sad event in Newtown, Connecticut, where one student gunned down scores of kids and a few teachers still smolders the question as to what could have been done to avoid such events. While the world grieves the death of the innocents, a honest soul searching needs to be done by the Americans to establish how best a repeat may be avoided. Several voices are already rising in support and in opposition to the lax Gun control laws in the country.  Going through the Washington post article , one learns that so far, thirteen incidents of mass shootings have taken place in the US during 2012. With a total casualty of little less than a hundred lives and the number of injured being slightly higher. Shockingly, about half of these deaths were caused by use of Automatic weapons.  An automatic firearm reloads itself and keeps firing until the trigger is released. Pretty deadly stuff. These are shocking numbers. Especially so, since they have happened in “The world’s most advan...