Thursday, September 01, 2005
Damned French!
If you ask me, the trouble in New Orleans is because of the French. Look at the map (cross section), why did they have to build a city in such a place? I guess some people have France to blame for one more thing!
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Dark Water
I went to see the movie 'Dark Water'. I did not know at first that it was written by the same guy who wrote The Ring. It was 2 hours and Rs. 300 of my life that I would never get back. I spent less than that in a nearyby bowling alley and I was satisfied. The only things that looked scary in the movie was the power plant built so close to the school in that movie. After the 2 Ring movies and this one, I will never look at the ditch full of black water the same way again. Should I expect a little girl to jump out of that and try to kill me? What is it with Japanese, death and watery tarts? To boot, some 'respected critics' here have given three and a half stars out of five for this!
I went with my flatmate to this movie. We went to a bowling alley first, then to a nearby restaurant - 'Only Parattas', on Linking Road, Lokhandwala. Describing it overpriced is an understatement. A single paratta was Rs. 100 - the same could be had for less than Rs. 10 in a decent restaurant, and Rs. 20 in a pricey restaurant. Service was very poor. We had to wait for 10 minutes to order, even though it was past 10 in the night, and there were only a few people. The kitchen's smoke was spilling over into the hall, the stuff my flatmate ordered were very oily, there were flies about the place, we had to tell the waiter three times before he brought us our bills, there were two very noisy children crying in the restaurant. I would never recommend anyone to eat there. I have also been taking him to a nearby bar for the last two days. He says he has doubts about the marriage. He wonders if his old 'girlfriend' still wants him.
I went with my flatmate to this movie. We went to a bowling alley first, then to a nearby restaurant - 'Only Parattas', on Linking Road, Lokhandwala. Describing it overpriced is an understatement. A single paratta was Rs. 100 - the same could be had for less than Rs. 10 in a decent restaurant, and Rs. 20 in a pricey restaurant. Service was very poor. We had to wait for 10 minutes to order, even though it was past 10 in the night, and there were only a few people. The kitchen's smoke was spilling over into the hall, the stuff my flatmate ordered were very oily, there were flies about the place, we had to tell the waiter three times before he brought us our bills, there were two very noisy children crying in the restaurant. I would never recommend anyone to eat there. I have also been taking him to a nearby bar for the last two days. He says he has doubts about the marriage. He wonders if his old 'girlfriend' still wants him.
Death
My friend and a classmate in college, Kuchi, died in a road accident on friday. I am very sad. He was not even 25.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Nazi India
On Times of India
The too powerful, all pervasive government here is set to become more powerful, with a Soviet style 'Internal Security Centre'. Proposed by a duffer in IIT Kanpur.
Why not just put everybody in jail? That would be costly - building a lot of jails for 1.3 billion and growing. Just make the whole country a big jail.
What are they going to do? Have 1 billion cameras? Let people 'keep tabs' on their neighbours? Pit family members against each other? It is funny how they call him an 'offender' and not a terrorist. What about the politicians? Would they be tracked too?
Congress is not new to having control of Indian citizens. In 1971 they came up with something called MISA. It was used extensively to arrest and detain anyone who dissented with Indira Gandhi or the Congress Party or the neighbourhood policeman or any bloody fool, without producing them in court. Tens of thousands of 'political prisoners' were tortured to death. Later, they came up with TADA, which was used again. This time, it was used by the state governments more than the central government. Again, tens of thousands were jailed without legal recourse, and most of them were tortured to death. The current act isPOTA (2002). Used extensively, again, against anyone who dared to voice their opinion. It was common by the friendly neighbourhood policeman to pick up someone alive and return them dead. If someone died and the news came out in the newspapers, they were posthumously made 'terrorists trained by Pakistan.'
I know what it will be used for - terrorising the common man. Don't like someone's face? Someone did not let you break the queue? Flag his name in the database and let the local thugs, aka policemen, do the dirty job. And, what scientific, technical and analytical expertise? This is a country where the government blocks 'objectionable websites' like yahoogroups.com because it was used by terrorists to communicate with each other. This is the country where the policemen capture 'all involved terrorists' within days, only for the convicts to be released 5 years later because they really had nothing to do with those blasts. This is the country where something like a voters' list is used during riots for targeting the 'opposing forces. - as in 1984, 1991, 2002
"The brain (sic) behind the proposal, Phalguni Gupta said: "The proposal is aimed to act as a deterrent and give security agencies an edge in the fight against terror."
It will definitely give them an edge, in the fight against honest citizens, fight against human rights. Policemen fight tooth and nail against human rights organizations which 'protect terrorists'. If not for the human rights activists, they would be doing an effective job of cleaning the country of terrorists and solving all crimes within a day, with their unique 'investigation techniques'. Why label it torture when it is so effective?
There is even an Anti-Hijacking Act (1984)- could they use it when the Taliban hijacked an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar? Eight days, one death, and the release of some terrorists. Compare it to the incident where a central minister (Mufti Muhammad Sayeed)'s daughter was kidnapped and the government immediately gave up some Kashmiri terrorists.
Don't be surprised if some mandarin reads this blog and it doesn't get updated any more. You know where you can find me. Just tell my parents I loved them very much.
List of ordinances.
"The Union home ministry is considering a proposal from IIT-Kanpur to set up an 'Internal Security Centre' (ISC) in the country on the pattern of US Department of Homeland Security to protect India from terror attacks."
The too powerful, all pervasive government here is set to become more powerful, with a Soviet style 'Internal Security Centre'. Proposed by a duffer in IIT Kanpur.
Why not just put everybody in jail? That would be costly - building a lot of jails for 1.3 billion and growing. Just make the whole country a big jail.
" The Centre hopes to put in place a security system in which "everybody would know that somebody is observing him", making it impossible for an offender to remain undetected."
What are they going to do? Have 1 billion cameras? Let people 'keep tabs' on their neighbours? Pit family members against each other? It is funny how they call him an 'offender' and not a terrorist. What about the politicians? Would they be tracked too?
Congress is not new to having control of Indian citizens. In 1971 they came up with something called MISA. It was used extensively to arrest and detain anyone who dissented with Indira Gandhi or the Congress Party or the neighbourhood policeman or any bloody fool, without producing them in court. Tens of thousands of 'political prisoners' were tortured to death. Later, they came up with TADA, which was used again. This time, it was used by the state governments more than the central government. Again, tens of thousands were jailed without legal recourse, and most of them were tortured to death. The current act isPOTA (2002). Used extensively, again, against anyone who dared to voice their opinion. It was common by the friendly neighbourhood policeman to pick up someone alive and return them dead. If someone died and the news came out in the newspapers, they were posthumously made 'terrorists trained by Pakistan.'
" The ISC will work as a coordination centre for all security and law enforcing agencies in the country. Besides maintaining a databank of every individual and activities like profession, place of residence, records of foreign visits etc., it will also act as a central body to tackle internal security issues particularly those requiring "scientific, technical and analytical" expertise."
I know what it will be used for - terrorising the common man. Don't like someone's face? Someone did not let you break the queue? Flag his name in the database and let the local thugs, aka policemen, do the dirty job. And, what scientific, technical and analytical expertise? This is a country where the government blocks 'objectionable websites' like yahoogroups.com because it was used by terrorists to communicate with each other. This is the country where the policemen capture 'all involved terrorists' within days, only for the convicts to be released 5 years later because they really had nothing to do with those blasts. This is the country where something like a voters' list is used during riots for targeting the 'opposing forces. - as in 1984, 1991, 2002
"The brain (sic) behind the proposal, Phalguni Gupta said: "The proposal is aimed to act as a deterrent and give security agencies an edge in the fight against terror."
It will definitely give them an edge, in the fight against honest citizens, fight against human rights. Policemen fight tooth and nail against human rights organizations which 'protect terrorists'. If not for the human rights activists, they would be doing an effective job of cleaning the country of terrorists and solving all crimes within a day, with their unique 'investigation techniques'. Why label it torture when it is so effective?
There is even an Anti-Hijacking Act (1984)- could they use it when the Taliban hijacked an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar? Eight days, one death, and the release of some terrorists. Compare it to the incident where a central minister (Mufti Muhammad Sayeed)'s daughter was kidnapped and the government immediately gave up some Kashmiri terrorists.
Don't be surprised if some mandarin reads this blog and it doesn't get updated any more. You know where you can find me. Just tell my parents I loved them very much.
List of ordinances.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Boohoo
My flatmate is getting married. He got drunk the next day. I will have to move out in the next four or five months, again. This is the third flat I had in about 5 months in Mumbai. I hate moving again. :(
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