On Time And Punctuality

As my alarm ringed this morning to wake me up, I had a thought "What if there were no clocks or any sort of machine which shows us the time!!?" I couldn't stop but think that my life would have been much easier and lesser stressful hadn't time pieces been invented.

People wouldn't have to wake up at a certain time, be punctual with anything, make schedules and keep timings for every single thing on planet earth. Well, I wouldn't be late for school if clocks weren't invented, well I could sleep WELL PAST my bed time. There wouldn't even be a bed time. People would sleep when the light goes and wake up when the sun comes up. Ah,How blissful life would have been.

In the 16th Cetury, Children my age would have been working in factories making various other articles,but why did they have to invent the clock? You may ask me what I have against clocks personally. Personally, It's the sense of timer they send, The Tick,tock,tick,tock,tick,tock. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK. Christ,Just the sound of it ruins my day because of the feeling of being late.

It's like,we do not even have time to say "Hey there,mate. How's the day treating you" or even a goodbye with a hug. It's almost like,it's ALWAYS the "Oh my God,I'm late!! I'm late!! I'm late!" kinda thing.

Why did clocks have to be invented?? I recently have this feeling that if I don't do something productive every time the clock ticks, I'll grow up to be a very old man. Maybe even a homeless bugger if I don't get some studying in...Don't get the proper education and a pretty decent job to fund my life..

Bah..I don't even know what this disease is called, Well,I don't even know if it is a disease.... I just wish I could wipe out ALL CLOCKS in this goddamn world.. Then,People would have more time to talk to others, human relationships would improve. Plus,we would sleep when the sun sets and get up when the sun rises, Then my teachers wouldn't be pressurising me to submit my projects or lab records by time since there would be NO TIME!!! Yay!!

Wow,What a feeling the thought gives me... Well,I don't be a homeless bugger who is very old, so I pretty much think I should get some education done..

Good day/night Peeps!!!

Keep imagining weird stuff like me :P

Subway Buddy

That's right everybody, my first Subway Buddy is a rat. Actually, it's an honor. This has to be the absolute most adorable rat you have ever seen in your life in OUR HUGE CITY. I mean just LOOK at it. The poor thing. I'm sure it was poisoned. Look at it lying there, it looks as though it had it's self a heart attack. Why are we so cruel?

We are killing enough animals out there. The oil spill killing millions each day, our pollution killing off endangered species, and now killing innocent little rats!

Okay, I know what you are thinking. Alex's insane (Well,He is..But come on). Rats are disgusting. Rats leave me nightmares, poop on my rug, eat my brownies, but can you say that after looking at this innocent rat? Poisoned by your screams? It's cute. It's dead. It's sad!

The rats name was Billy. He was the class clown. He liked to eat yogurt, and steal homeless men's money to buy himself a twix bar in the rat counter below the human deli. He would share it with his family. He was a good baby. Always slept when told to. Always read in bed. Always ate the cheese, put the ketchup on the hamburgers. The ants. The cockroaches. But one day, one day, his mother died.And he was lost in a sea of desperation. He cried. And cried. And ran into the tracks of the subway and by accident licked the pole of poison. And then he died, the next day.

So all you rat haters. Feel for poor Billy. Feel for his friends and family. Who not only are grieving for the loss of his mother, but for the loss of him. And now. Whenever you see a rat, think of Billy before you scream. Think of Billy before you kill off his family tree. He is watching you. Baby Billy is watching.

On The Apu Trilogy

Discipline, it is said, is finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them in a good way. Self discipline, is to follow them in a better way.

When I consider the force that draws and subsequently absorbs one into Satyajit Ray's films, it strikes me that it is a look at the world, at every age and in every circumstance, through the eyes of a child. Satyajit Ray's beautiful, melodious movies are dedicated to his original vision of the world; a vision of innocence, curiosity and complete acceptance. This is Ray's famous humanism, his discipline, which he adapted from the neorealist and new wave masters of Europe. In in my opinion he did it in a better way. But that might just be me.

Nobody makes movies like these anymore- there are few stories out there now, that do not judge their characters. Consider the character of Apu who ambles through the stages of life over the course of three movies in the Apu Trilogy- Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar. There is not a moment, along the evolution of his complex, blue-gray character- idealist, escapist, brilliant yet unfocussed, morally flimsy, ill-disposed to dealing with both consequence and responsibility - that you do not completely understand his motivations, identify with him and even love him as Apu, the shirtless little tamarind-stealing urchin with an early fascination for trains that go out into the great, wide world.

A still from Aparajito

The great danger of romantics is the expectation of a beautiful resolution to the questions of life, presented in poetry, in pleasing color schemes, with a matching soundtrack. It's not a great time for dreamers; yet as a generation we have the anomalous power of indulging our inner romantic; we can turn all our pictures to sepia tone, crop out the bad parts and erase the scars. It sometimes strikes me as the victory of cynicism over all of us; that we have all, en masse, accepted that life cannot be beautiful without make up.

But take a look at any one of Ray's incredibly low-tech, incredibly beautiful films. In Ray's black and white world, one sees colors. He hides none of the bestial indifference of the world to personal suffering - death, loneliness, illness, abject poverty, the dizzy confusion of the youth, the sudden imposition of fate upon fantasy- all of these are the recurrent themes of the Apu trilogy. Yet what in life we would find unbearable, here it is expected, acceptable, even uplifting. How is this so? How can squalor, sadness and deficiency engage the senses, heart and mind, as would opulence?

It is as Apu himself explains to his friend Pulu in Apur Sansar, as he details the many tragedies that befalls the unfortunate hero of his great, literary effort (oh, how many bells that ring). While his hero fails at his ultimate goal, it is not a tragedy, because the point of life is to traverse it. As in the case of this hero, there is no opportunity for wasted potential in Ray's movies, for every experience, good and bad, offers the chance for for engagement with life. Everything is exquisite in its native essence- the tingling bell on the neck of a starving calf, a devout priest finding death at the banks of the holy Ganges, the abrupt end of girlish anticipation in a thunder storm that had earlier symbolized her own vigorous, burgeoning youth. Ray diverts the crushing emotional response of every sad situation, to the spectacular visual poetry of its circumstance. Sometimes I wonder if reading the original written work upon which this series is based, would evoke a different sensation than what the films manage to bring forth.

Durga, Pather Panchali

I agree with Ray's treatment of the everyday because the humanity he brings to his subjects is far more honest and true to life than stark realism, that takes an objective view and is empty of all sentiment. Real life, in my experience is not flavorless. All that we see and experience is processed through the stuff of our own thoughts, personalities and memories; it is tinged with the flavor of us. Life is subjective and our art would do well to reflect this truth.

All those,who haven't watched the Apu Trilogy,I can tell you that you have missed out on something in life. When I first read the English Adaptation of Pather Panchali, I still remember being so affected by his sister's death that I dropped the book and clung to my sister and wept for almost an hour.

Human beings trying to understand reality/life are akin to the six blind men touching an Elephant, each one has a different perception-collectively they are all partly right and yet individually they're wrong - at the same time they aren't even close to the real thing....Which is bigger than they can ever comprehend!

On Trekking and Traveling Alone

It's one of the few times that I have had the liberty to travel alone. Being born to an Indian mum, Traveling alone is like a taboo since they are just too possessive over their kids.

But this is one of those times that she has let me travel alone. I did it last year and I'm doing it this year too.

Traveling alone is a really cool feeling especially because you go to an entirely new place, and you have to live on your own for the duration of your stay.

It makes me feel on top of the world because it feels like I'm all free and away from all the hue and cry of the city. At a place where you do not understand or speak the language,you have to survive for a few days/ week.

I've traveled quite a few places in the last week.

I first traveled to Coorg,Karnataka,India then went down to Mysore.

Cool Things About It

- I lived at a resort named "Virbhoomi" which literally means land of the brave or something similar. The place was awesome, the location of it was the best I'd say.

- The fact that I managed with my bit of broken Hindi and my English is something I should be proud of. Well, It was bad that most people did not understand my English Accent. They just kept saying "huh?" and neither could I understand their English since it was kinda rotten.

- The Swimming Pool there deserves special mention. The food sucked, the rooms weren't the greatest but the swimming pool nulls it all.

- The Climate was splendid. Since it had rained the night I arrived there,The climate was mostly cold and that made my stay there more pleasant. The colder, the better since it'd make the travel more fun

- The places I visited: The places I visited are as below..

1) Raja Seat: This place, looks dull at first. Well,I thought so at first too! It was a garden with a few beautiful flowers and a good view over the place. After 6.30,I stood in AWE for the next 30 minutes. It was time for the dancing fountain, which my cousin told me was the best part about the place. I didn't expect much out of it but I was completely taken aback by it. It was a feast to the eye. There were almost 200 hundred people and I can say that all of them went home satisfied.

2) Nisagardama: This is a kind of an amusement park kind. Coming from the city I do, I have seen a lot of big big parks and this one was equally good. Not the ideal amusement park, I'd rather call it an entertainment park. It has a bunch of animals such as Deer, Elephants, Various birds and the like. Its where we can feed the animals. I am not a fan of feeding animals,but at this place, they sell cucumbers and mango pieces which we can buy and feed the animals. Trust me, It is fun.

I don't really remember much of what I did in the other places I went.. The other places I went were Abbi Falls,where the water would have been faster had it been falling through a water pipe and Nagarhole,where there was Elephant Safari. Since I am this guy against cruelty towards Animal Safaris,I couldn't stand the sight of people sitting on Elephants and enjoying the travel. How many of us stop for a second to think about how the Elephant would feel when it gets beaten by the Mahut for not listening to him?!! It's something all of us should stop and think about.

I then traveled to Mysore which is about 3-4 hours by road from Coorg. Many of you readers,from India would know this place.

This was my first visit to the city, the Palace City as it is known still. The place still has an 19th Century India look to it.

The old style buildings, The people, The Palaces, everything adds an old look to the place. Especially the cows roaming around all over the city.

Being the photography enthusiast that I am,I had a great time photographing every nook and corner of the city.

The highlight of the city has to be the Mysore Palace, built by the King of the place back in the late 19th Century-Early 20th Century. The things I grasped from the Audio Guide that they gave me are that they had a wooden castle in the 19th century but it was burnt down somehow. Yeah,I would guess it is something like the Great Chicago Fire since its upto my imagination to imagine what happened.

The Architecture of the place was simply mind blowing. The blend of Indian and European Architecture can be seen in the domes and windows. You could stand and look at the place from the outside for almost 30 minutes and still look at it with your mouth open because it is so beautiful. I was lucky that I arrived at the city on a Sunday,because it is on Sunday that the Palace is illuminated completely for one hour between 1900-2000 hours. I got to know that the palace would be illuminated only at 1932hours when the Hotel Attendant told me. Thanks to the fact that the Hotel I stayed at was just 5 minutes from the Palace, I could reach the Palace before 1940 and could see the Illuminated Palace for 20 whole minutes. For the first 10 minutes,I had my mouth wide open looking at the beautiful sight without even blinking. And in the last 10 minutes,I realized that I hadn't clicked pictures of it and panicked and clicked a few pictures. And when I was taking pictures, The clock ticked 2000 but the lights weren't turned off. I'd say,Ideal Indian Attitude. No punctuality. But it favoured me this time because I could photograph most part of the palace from the outside.

On the inside, the interior designs are the best I have seen all my life. Bad luck that photography inside the palace is strictly prohibited, I couldn't click any pictures but I have it all embedded in my mind. I can still see it when I close my eyes.

The bad things are, Bad cell phone signal, I couldn't call home much all through my travel. Bad food, I was praying I don't have a bad stomach because it would ruin the travel. Bad roads, God.. My back still aches even though I'm lying in bed while typing that.

Over and Out for now

I want to go to Tibet for my next travel alone!

What Really Happened

A videotape purportedly showing Osama bin Laden confessing to the 9/11 attacks was made public on December 13, 2001: The tape bore a label indicating it was made on November 9. Administration officials wouldn't reveal exactly how or when they got it, except to say it was found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in. [Online NewsHour] The videotape was supposedly physically located.

The size of a standard VHS videotape is 7.5 inches wide by 4.2 inches deep by 1 inch high - if you look in a video cabinet you'll see they're not very big. The satellite photograph on the right shows Jalalabad - it is very big and it contains a lot of buildings (not all single story). Don't you find it somewhat fortuitous that a very small video tape of Osama confessing to the 9/11 attacks was found in this very big city? Were squads of video watchers sent in to view every tape found just in case one showed Osama confessing? Here's what was said of the "lucky find":

Satellite photo of Jalalabad. Population ~150,000 Click for full sized image

"For those who see this tape, they'll realise that not only is he guilty of incredible murder, he has no conscience and no soul, that he represents the worst of civilisation," said President George W Bush. US Senator Ron Wyden, who has also seen the tape, says he hopes it will remove suspicions in countries such as Pakistan that the 11 September attacks were an Israeli plot aimed at drawing the US into a war with Islamic countries. [BBC News] The video was very effective in diverting media attention away from the deportation of five Israelis who danced as the twin towers burned - "Osama" certainly picks his moments to appear. Details of the videotape - includes full video and transcript. A German TV show found that the White House's translation of the video was inaccurate and "manipulative". Bin Laden even praised two live 'hijackers' - Wail M. Alshehri and Salem Alhazmi. Why didn't he know the names of hijackers he personally chose? The quality of the video was very poor and the authenticity of the tape was questioned. This annoyed President Bush: "It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is doctored," he said during a brief photo opportunity with the prime minister of Thailand. "That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man." [CNN] Okay, let's take a closer look at bin Laden and his views. The following is an extract from bin Laden's September 28, 2001 denial of involvement in the 9/11 attacks... "This system is totally in control of the American-Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States. It is clear that the American people are themselves the slaves of the Jews and are forced to live according to the principles and laws laid by them. So, the punishment should reach Israel. In fact, it is Israel, which is giving a blood bath to innocent Muslims and the U.S. is not uttering a single word." [Public Action] ...and his views were the same in 1998: "We say to the Americans as people and to American mothers, if they cherish their lives and if they cherish their sons, they must elect an American patriotic government that caters to their interests, not the interests of the Jews." [American Free Press] The above demonstrates that bin Laden publicly aired very strong views about Israel and Jews when given the chance. Below are still images from bin Laden videos released in 2001. The images are in chronological order. A point to note about bin Laden is he was suffering renal failure... Renal dialysis -- talking about hemodialysis -- is something that really is reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure. That means their kidneys have just completely shut down. The most common cause of something like that would be something like diabetes and hypertension. Once that's happened, if you're separated from your dialysis machine -- and incidentally, dialysis machines require electricity, they're going to require clean water, they're going to require a sterile setting -- infection is a huge risk with that. If you don't have all those things and a functioning dialysis machine, it's unlikely that you'd survive beyond several days or a week at the most. [CNN] ...therefore his health in the videos is very relevant. Click for full sized image. Videos 1, 2 and 4 show the real bin Laden, video 3 shows the "lucky find" bin Laden. Points of note regarding the videos: Video #1 Video #2 Video #3 Video #4 Beard color below bottom lip White White Black White Jews/Israel/Palestine mentioned Yes Yes No Yes Muslim suffering mentioned Yes Yes No Yes Health Good Deteriorating Good Poor The "bin Laden" in video #3 has the wrong beard color, and his views and health are inconsistent with those of the real bin Laden. Also, if video #3 was a true bin Laden confession then why didn't he attribute 9/11 to avenging the suffering of Muslims, especially since America was attacking the country in which he was living? The poor image quality of video #3 stands out when compared to the genuine bin Laden videos. There is also excessive noise on the video's audio track, making it impossible to really hear what is being said. Given that the tape was recorded in an area supposedly devoid of audio urban signature there should have been little ambient noise, yet the speech is masked with a great deal of noise. There is clearly good reason to doubt the November 9 tape. And the most important point is that according to the FBI website, Osama is LEFT-HANDED,but in video #3, He is shown to be writing a note with his RIGHT HAND which by itself is contradicting. This was not the first video claiming to show Osama confessing to the 9/11 attacks... [Video] footage, to which the Telegraph obtained access in the Middle East yesterday, was not made for public release via the al-Jazeera television network used by bin Laden for propaganda purposes in the past. ... The video will form the centrepiece of Britain and America's new evidence against bin Laden, to be released this Wednesday. ... It is significant that throughout the video he uses the personal pronouns "I" and "we" to claim responsibility for the attacks. In the past, he has spoken of the attackers only in the third person. [Telegraph 11/11/01] ...and this never-to-be-seen video also appeared right on cue, along with misleading headlines stating that bin Laden had nuclear weapons. The combination of the two had the desired effect: Emergency powers to imprison suspected international terrorists indefinitely using special closed courts will be announced this week. The measure, which will require exemption from human rights legislation, will be used to round up about 20 suspects hiding in Britain beyond the reach of existing laws. [Telegraph 11/11/2001] Even hard line secular Pakistanis were unconvinced by the November 9 video tape released by the US government. Iqbal Haider, a former senator from the party of ousted prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said he found it hard to believe that bin Laden would allow himself to be filmed confessing to the crime. "It is hard to believe that a man who masterminds the September attacks with such secrecy and finesse could be that stupid and imprudent," he said. "I hate Osama and the Taliban because they inflicted incalculable damage on Muslims ... but it is hard to digest that he can be such a fool." When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, [Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI] said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.” [Muckraker Report] If the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11 then it stands to reason that the above "confession videos" were propaganda tools created to justify the pursuit of a preplanned war. You are being lied to by the US Government. They are using deception to trick you into surrendering your freedoms, money, and the lives of your children for a phony "War On Terror".

Happy Mother's Day

To all those mothers all around the world who have meant a lot to all their children!

On this day,I'd like to share this!

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MOM GETS CHILLING MOTHER'S DAY MESSAGE FROM LOST DAUGHTER

EDMONTON - Alana Baxter, who lost her husband and two daughters in a horrific train crash last year, has waited a long time to hear her daughter say "I love you" again.

She recently got the chilling Mother's Day message while sorting items for a silent auction.

It was held in memory of her husband John and daughters Julianne, 9, and Coral Sky, 7, who died in a tragic crash one year ago.

Baxter said she was sorting items for the auction when her friend tossed her a teddy bear that she had never seen before.

"I happened to squeeze it and Julianne's voice said, 'I love you Mommy'," she said. "My jaw dropped."

Baxter figured Julianne had been planning to give it to her for last Mother's Day.

But the little girl died just days before getting the chance to pass along the gift.

Baxter's daughters died with their dad after the pickup they were travelling in inexplicably crossed into the path of a VIA Rail Train on May 4, 2010.
The crash happened as drivers battled white-out conditions in a snowstorm.

Investigators have said safety systems at the site were working properly at the time of the crash.

One year later, she said some days are better than others and Alana now cares for her remaining child, John Jr., 3.

"I still have bad days, there are times I have to go off by myself," she said. "I've been doing better the last three months, the first nine months were really, really difficult."

As John Jr. gets older, she says she wants him to feel like he can talk about his sisters and dad.

"We have scrapbooks with all the cards, newspaper clippings and artwork," she said. "So when he has questions, we'll be able to open them up and show him."

She said the auction was a way to celebrate her family and begin the healing process.

"I needed to accept their passing and I say passing because I still have a hard time saying death" she said.

The auction raised funds for the Stollery Children's Hospital and the Edmonton Food Bank - the family's favourite charities.
It fell just days after the anniversary of their deaths, but the mood was light, Alana said.

"Everyone was smiling, there were hardly any tears," she said. "It was a great celebration of their memory."

Items belonging to her husband and girls were put up for auction - something the family talked about before the crash, she says.

"They had lots of toys from Christmas, a lot of the stuff we had already donated to the Stollery," she said. "It made sense to do this."
The final numbers are being tallied, with more donations to come in from family out of town.

"A Taylor Hall jersey went for $3,400, other small items were going for (up to) $400," she said. "The generosity of the community and the donations that came in were unreal."

Sweet

I was browsing through videos on YouTube and I fell across this video of a father and daughter doing covers of various songs and I found it absolutely adorable and thought it was worth a mention on my blog.

The Dad is a 24 year old single parent studying at UCLA who has a very interesting story.

It reminded me of the days when I used to have times like these with my Dad singing random songs and making random music, even if it didn't sound good,it was absolute fun!

On Cesc Fabregas And Arsenal

I'm an Arsenal Fan so I have to talk about my team in the wake of one of the best victories of the season,over the team which is claimed to be the best in England, Manchester United.

It was an awesome game and Arsenal won 1-0 with a great Ramsey strike. It was always Arsenal who looked like scoring all through the game,even though they did not get a penalty when Vidic handled the ball.

Forgetting that,There have been concerns about the move of Cesc Fabregas back to Barcelona,however Arsene Wenger is of the opinion that Arsenal will not sell their star player in the near future.

I hope Wenger sticks to his words because Fabregas is arguably the best Arsenal player right now,and if he goes,they will feel a difference and undoubtedly be weaker. Of course the team is not made of one player's presence,but Fabregas plays a key role to the Gunners and is a vital asset to Arsenal's success.

What Arsenal need right now is a couple of more players of Fabregas' caliber. Then we might see them having more chances for the Premier League.

I agree completely with what Fabregas said about not having a huge player to look up to. When Fabregas came into the team 8 years ago,He had Thierry Henry,Dennis Bergkamp,Patrick Vieira and co. to look up to for inspiration and share with them their experiences.
But right now when young people like Koscielny and Szcsezny come in,they do not have an elder and much experienced player to look upto. The most experienced player right now would have to be Fabregas and he himself is a very young guy.

Since Fabregas is the captain and Van Persie the vice-captain,they undergo the entire pressure of the team and since they are two always performing players,the team's entire burden is shouldered by them. Arsene Wenger needs to spend some amount of money to get an experienced player to Arsenal.

In 2004,It was like a dream team comprising Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry coupled with Ljunberg and Vieira.

Right now,Arsenal do not have such a player who can tilt a game towards Arsenal's favour with just his inspiring fight back and sharing his experience with the younger lads.

The one question of mine which has never been answered is, "Why doesn't Arsene Wenger want to spend on a quality player who is older than the lads and much experienced too!!? Everybody knows that what Arsenal needs is an experienced guy and when they get him,Arsenal will go back to winning ways and have more than a chance to hit the Premier League"

Well..There are more unanswered questions than that.

Just praying Fabregas won't leave Arsenal this year :(

Come on Arsene,Keep him! Please.

With him goes the best player at Arsenal right now!