9/1/12

Talibanisation of Afganishtan



Few years back I wrote "Blasphemy in the name of religion", I wondered how a person is termed blaspheme if the person don't agree to any religion or rules of a religion. History has shown as many examples where people have been alleged to have blasphemed against religion. Would we forget Galileo or Socrates? But years down the line their words, their research have proved to be beneficial to all. There had been a lot of Galileo s and Socrates who have done good for us but we turned deaf ears to them initially and later accepted the change.

Nowadays blasphemy have taken a new route, where people are beheaded and killed as they entertained themselves by playing music and dancing to it. Can you imagine where we have changed too. The people who beheads others are also humans but they consider themselves to be the protectors of a particular religion. They are of the opinion that they are correct and they know the respective religion unlike anyone. These are people who can cause bloodshed without a chill in the spine. I remember when I was young I saw a goat being killed during the Bengali Kali Puja and I felt a chill. Of course its not that I am a vegetarian but seeing a big goat getting beheaded is something different. Its good that many households in the Bengali community have abolished the ritual.

I am talking of the Talibans in Afghanistan who recently beheaded around 17 people including a couple of women too as they were dancing to music. Talibans have done this before too a few years back, they have killed several innocent Afghanistan in the name of religion and power. They started many rules in the name of religion where they have chained the freedom of women under various laws of Islam, many of them created by them and nowhere is depicted in the Holy Quran too.

Talibans have proved to be in humans who were responsible for the loss of hundreds of lives in Afghanistan a few years back before they were thrown out of power but it seems they are trying to hit back again slowly by showing their deeds if inhumanity in the name of religion. Talibans have destroyed many historical sculptures dating back to centuries as those sculptures were not of Islam. They were of Lord Buddha. The famous bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed even after repeated requests from all quarters across the world, but all requests went to deaf ears. Normally we preserve these structures as these ones are heritage sites. So question arises people who don't know the meaning of heritage , how do they expect to maintain the heritage of a religion which they claim to be theirs.

Is there a way Talibans can be turned to normal humans so that they have some normal human instincts instead of the animal instinct they have. Is it really possible only by gun shots or there are some other ways. I think the famous Divide and Rule policy might work in this. The Afghanistan government need to find out loopholes in Talibans so that they can be brought to a human court to turn into humans. A lot of psychologists need to work days and nights might be to turn these people. 

Hoping for a sunny day for Afghanistan.

8/30/12

Should India wait any more for AJMAL KASAB to be hanged ?

Ajmal Kasab is doing the headlines today as he was gifted with the death sentence today. Well, this man have made headlines many a times though He made himself famous with his pics in the CST in mumbai when he attacked the civilians with a AK47 in hand.

He was also accompanied by another militant Ismail khan who died in cross firing and Kasab was captured alive by a constable who took 5 bullets still held on to Kasabs gun so that he can be captured alive. I still remember that day, every news channel was showing LIVE the CST, Tajmahal hotel and other places hit in the attack, police, firemen were here and there trying to douse the fire. So many people lost their lives including police officers and security personnel.

The next few days the headlines had only details of the Mumbai attacks, news of people who lost their lives, news of security personnel who braved all odds. It was a black day in our country. Every body mourned the deaths of the ones who braved their lives for the safety of others.

Kasab if that's his actual name as there were many confusions on his name too initially because of language difference. India have spend close to 50 crores for the safety of the man who according to the courts of India waged war against the country. He was responsible for multiple innocent deaths and loss of millions of money.It was told that the government had to construct a special cell for him which cannot be destroyed by RDX too.

So why are we waiting to hang him to death. The government have got enough time to take out information from him. Initially Pakistan denied his existence as a Pakistani but later even Pakistan agreed that he is from Pakistan when many reporters traced him to his village faridkot in Pakistan.

We spend a lot of money in petting these dreaded terrorists who take our country as a place where they can do anything. Our judiciary system being slow indirectly makes the country loose more money in keeping these people alive. Moreover the almost abolishment of capital punishment have made things more worse. The judiciary should have a special system for people like KASAB. No further choices should be given for appealing to a higher court. There should be a fast pace system of coming to a judgement for these people.

AS the present uproar in the country says that KASAB should be hanged soon, I completely agree to this as no further taxpayers money should be wasted for people like this. Of course chances can be given to live and improve but to those who feels guilty about their deeds but people like KASAB don't. There were instances where he went on record saying that what he has done is for the good. He agreed to the ideas of the militants who derived the plan of bombing mumbai.

People like Kasab should never be given a chance to live , only then it might bring in changes to the ones who still idol worship him. Exceptions should be given to those who understands their guilt and seeks forgiveness. 

8/28/12

Is it time for BLOOD PLATINUM now?

Diamonds are said to be a woman's best friend. They are like immortal, we have heard stories of famous diamonds across the world. Kings and Queens used to adore them. Many empires used to fight for certain diamonds.There are more such stories on diamonds.

Now diamonds which was a dream of many have become a household jewelery for many now. Even the middle classes are running for diamonds now. For a few thousand rupees one can get a good diamond earrings or rings or empty your pocket a bit more and you get necklaces and what not. Diamonds are not that dream for the middle class and a sign of prosperity for a few.

But how many of us know what goes on in a diamond mine, what goes on to those miners. How many of us know that this diamond mining industry involves child labor too. Not only child labor there are so many miners who suffer from malnourishment, poor wages, severe health issues, and moreover they are made to stay in places near the mines which is next to hell. Many types of diseases are rampant in these areas too.

All these at the cost of a overpriced diamond which we die for. The people who are actually getting the diamonds for us are paid a measly wage and sold off in the market at a higher price. There are places in the world like in certain regions of South Africa diamonds are mined by terrorists outfits and sold in lieu of guns and bullets. Children as young as 9-10 are made to work in these places as they comes in cheap. There are children in such places who are bonded for life as their parents might have taken a loan from these people and since the rate of interest is high the paybacks which they do goes off for the interest only and the main amount is not paid. Moreover illiteracy is also another factor which eats in the roots , its like those feudal lords in ancient India.

The movie BLOOD DIAMOND shows the pathetic conditions of such laborers. The recent news about the conditions of the laborers in the platinum mines in South Africa adds one more example to this. The fault of these people was they protested against the low wages for which they got paid with bullets. Platinum is another such costly metal after which we are running nowadays. I remember years back when Ben Johnson or Sachin Tendulkar had a platinum on them we used to say that it suits them. Now you can get platinum also for a few thousand bucks. The reason: savvy marketing of platinum have also increased like we see for diamonds: DIAMONDS ARE FOR EVER. So now would it be the time for BLOOD PLATINUM like BLOOD DIAMOND.

8/27/12

Death of a Legend-NEIL ARMSTRONG

I remember during my childhood when I was going through a book on space , I learnt about the 1st man to land in space. It was a book I got as a prize from my school. It had pictures of the great men who went to space. Likewise Neil Armstrong was the 1st man on moon , Yuri Gagarin the 1st man in space and Laika the first animal in space, not to forget our own Rakesh Sharma to be the 1st Indian in space.

Then years later there was an email which wanted to prove the landing of Neil Armstrong to be all false, it said that it was all made up and gave all sorts of reasons to prove that it was a hoax. It seemed that history has been changed. The email was trying to say with all pictures of the landing, telling something of the shadows of the man which fell on the surface. I found it really hard to believe what was being sad. So at last after much fight within myself I ended up deleting the email.

Later I googled about this and found some details of the theory which the email suggested. It seems that there were mainly  three reasons which  seemed to be more significant than the others offered:
1: USA had to win the space race against the then called USSR.

2: Cold war was on and USA had to prove it was well ahead of the USSR as USSR had been sending unmanned spacecrafts to the space and if USA sends a manned shuttle to space it would automatically go ahead of all including USSR who was at the epitome of technology during those days.

3: It is also claimed that NASA faked the landings to avoid humiliation and to ensure that there is not stoppage of fundings for its different programs.

After going through all this I felt what famous actor TOM HANKS told "We live in a society where there is no law [against] making money in the promulgation of ignorance or, in some cases, stupidity" when he was asked about his opinion on these theories after his movie Apollo13 and documentary FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON was a complete truth.

While I was a child I always wished to be an astronaut so that I can go to space and see the beauty with my own eyes. Well that didn't happen after all.yesterday when the news came that Neil Armstrong is no more,these memories came back. A man who was the first to land on the moon is indeed a task to reckon and remember for years to come. This is of course history which cant be changed like we read histories of our kings and queens years back which cant be changed. Can anyone deny the inventions of the likes of Galileo,Copernicus, Albert Einstein, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose,Satendranath Bose or Subramanyan Chandrasekhar. NO, we cant as their theories and inventions have made history and is learnt still now. we will keep reading about these people for years to come. Even though we will not read about these people in our history text books but will remain immortal in science books to all. As NASA says:"As long as there is history, there will be Neil Armstrong".