Outspokenness – As a virtue and as a vice

One of the rare good things about the otherwise murkier times of crises is that they make people to think out of the box. Things that were taken for granted till then, more often than not, get a re-look. Of late I got an occasion to face a crisis of some sort when one of my acquaintances, who had been a friend till then, accused me of being a person of bad character and discovered that it is the reason why a lot of people “hate” me. Reason for this sudden denunciation was my outspoken revelation of a truth that my ex-friend didn’t want to believe in. So is outspokenness really a virtue or a vice?

In a general sense, outspokenness can be of two types – outspoken words and outspoken deeds. Honest outspokenness is quite a dangerous proposition as it is the least expected virtue in this world where people, who are politically correct, in their actions and words, are considered quintessential by the majority. But those who are honest and sincere reject any drive towards being always politically correct as they believe that a life that is not capable of outspoken expression of one’s mind is a life that is as disgraceful as disgraceful can be. In that sense, my ex-friend, by discovering that I’ve a bad character because of my outspokenness, has given me a great compliment. It is because it is a known fact that we, human beings, are not able to live a life by making everyone around us happy. And if there is someone who has been successful in leading such a life, it means that he/she has never spoken his/her mind and has always led a life shying away from speaking out the hard truth out of sheer pusillanimity. And friends, make no mistake, that is a dishonourable life. It is a life that is as dishonourable a life as that of a politician who is never free to speak up his mind and always has to agree to the decision of the party to which he/she owes allegiance to, irrespective of whether he/she personally believes in that or not. And if this argument appeals to you, then you have to accept that outspokenness is definitely a virtue. So by saying that some people hate me, my ex-friend has declared to this world that I have been living a courageous life, speaking hard truths, by declining to get bogged down by this society’s call for being always politically correct.

Outspokenness in deeds finds its most perceptible expression in affection and sincerity in relationships. Times have become so rude that pure and outspoken expression of affection is being treated as a dreadful thing. Emergence of nuclear family has made personal spaces of people quite narrow and hence they have time only for their immediate family. Therefore any expression of outspoken affection by people, other than the immediate family, is being considered as an annoying intrusion and as a vice that need to be defeated by hook or by crook. Gone are days where affection of candid nature has been widely appreciated and now what people and the society expect is, what I call, “restricted sincerity” that is superficial and superfluous. And it is not for those who believe that outspokenness is a virtue, but is for those who believe in the virtuousness of tact and political correctness. So the society and its people have started seeing people with outspoken affection in a way Satan sees the holy cross. To drive affectionate folks away, people will avoid them, hurt them, humiliate them and will ostracise them from their vicinity as if he/she is an outcast deserving nothing but scorn, contempt and absolute disdain. Here, for the person who shows candid affection, outspokenness is a virtue while for the person who believes in the supremacy of tact, outspokenness is a ludicrous vice. 

So a sensible conclusion to which we can arrive is that outspokenness can be a virtue or a vice based on the intention with which it is practised. If you are being outspoken with the sole intention of doing good to someone or to express an ultimate truth, though rude it may sound, then you are practising something that is virtuous. At the same time if you are outspoken with malevolence in your mind, then your outspokenness is a vice that should be curtailed if you wish to live a life of self esteem. And now a spare of thought for my ex-friend who has given me an occasion to meander in thoughts through which I have never before travelled. Hopefully he/she will continue to live in denial to the outspoken truth that I’ve expressed, because if at any time that person would discover the truth himself/herself, he/she would feel profound grief to have lived on for a lot of days on false beliefs and mistaken convictions. 

To all those people who have been travelling the less travelled path of outspokenness, I would like to remind you that there are not many roses in your path. You are swimming against the tide, challenging a world that would consider you as a moron, destined to doom; moving against so called “worthy” practices of tact, restricted sincerity and superficial affection with which this world is rather obsessed with. So appreciations are not going to come your way, but spears of vilifications, diatribes and denunciations. And again, those who stir up a hornet’s nest can hardly complain about being stung, isn’t it?

(Republished from Vox SEO, the SEO writing forum in Calpine Technologies)

The Master Bags the Oscar, That Too Twice

The Mozart of Madras, the Master music director has brought two Oscars to India. He won the Academy Award for best song and for best original score. From here onwards AR Rahman is “the Academy Award Winner – AR Rahman.” The man known for his musical genius and humility has answered all his critics not with his words, but with his music and achievement. People who criticise him are either reckless or haven’t heard all his styles of music. The man is known for his ability to make songs utilising different types of music, where he brings together Carnatic music, Hindustani music and other international varieties of pop, rap, jazz, samba and many other varieties of music. We, Rahmaniacs are left speechless with this great achievement of our great hero – RAHMAN JAI HO!!!!!!

A word of appreciation to Resul Pookutty too for bringing Oscar glory to Kerala.

(AR Rahman's Greatest Five - My Personal Choice)

Pinarayi Ki Jai, Nava Kerala March Ki Jai

It is a known fact these days that the CPI (M) in Kerala has constituted a group of tech savvy young comrades who are constantly on the look out of “miscreants” who in the blogosphere and in the web world are mongering “rumours” against the party and party leaders in a bid to “destroy” the party. (These people are also a part of the “Media Syndicate”, is what their party secretary is saying) So while I am writing this piece, it is only natural that I am a bit scared about getting caught for the same “crime.” But accumulating all courage that I could gather, I am going to ‘call a spade a spade.’ So last week the state secretary of CPI (M) started his “Nava Kerala March” with a “great” theme, ‘Safe India, Prosperous Kerala.’

One can only wonder how a march in Kerala is going to have any effect on the security of India as the CPI (M) has no realistic chances of coming to power at the centre. Even if they come to power taking the help of all smaller political parties in the country, there is no guarantee that they can stay on with their government for more than a year. So it is rather foolish to have a theme of “Safe India” in this Nava Kerala March. If about prosperous Kerala, that is what the CPI (M) leaders (and for that matter leaders of all political parties in the state) have been “striving” hard for quite a long time. And who else is more capable and suitable for taking forward such a march than the CPI (M) state secretary Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan.

Day by day Pinarayi is improving as a leader and that is not a surprise at all. He is the father of a son who despite getting very low marks in SSLC and graduation improved considerably to get even a scholarship to study MBA at Birmingham University. If son is so talented, then can father be far behind? Rumour mongering is at work against him too is what the party is saying. Otherwise how can anyone dare to point an accusing finger against the so called quintessential leader of the party? The SNC Lavelin corruption is a concocted case is what Pinarayi and his party has been saying for quite a long time. If that is the case then why are the party and its leaders getting so much disgusted whenever someone talks about that issue. If it is a fictitious case they can very well win the case when it come in the court. Instead the party is hell bent on blaming the UPA government at the centre and the CBI for including Pinarayi’s name in the charge sheet. The intolerance of the party leaders towards the accusation in the Lavelin case is so big that some have started behaving as insane. EP Jayarajan in a speech that he made some days back at a meeting of Nava Kerala March was calling “poda pulle CBI.” And if you don’t know who this EP Jayarajan, then he is the same MLA who advised Malayalis to make liquor a part of our diet. He is a “respected” leader of CPI (M) and then do you need another example to understand the rot that the party is facing these days? He is one politician from whom we should expect a prosperous Kerala, how silly.

If there is one die-hard supporter of Pinarayi, who starts his every day with a prayer taking the name of Pinarayi, then it is our Minister, G. Sudhakaran. Known for his preposterous loquacity, Sudhakaran is person whose loquacity borders insanity. He always speaks with unmatched stupidity, unparalleled idiocy and incomparable futility. He has been hailed as the voice of the common people by some of his party men. But the truth is that his eloquent nonsense is a shame for the state of Kerala and each time one hears his rubbish rhetoric one can’t help but curse his/her ill fate of being in the state where he is a Minister. As if this is not enough he was heard last week saying that he will cut off anyone’s hands who dares to burn the effigy of Pinarayi Vijayan. Mr. Minister seems to be oblivious about the facts that burning effigy is a legal form of protest and anyone who dares to challenge the expression of such protests by issuing threats is liable to be prosecuted. There had been a lot of uneducated and stupid politicians who bark about all sorts of nonsense things in the states like Bihar and UP and we Malayalis always boasted that we don’t have such fools as Ministers or politicians. But I think now we don’t have that privilege to boast about our Ministers and politicians and the credit for this change goes to the inimitable Sudhakaran. Now he is another politician from whom we should expect a prosperous Kerala.

Any talk about CPI (M) ministers and you forget about the great economist Thomas Isaac, is a cardinal sin. They say that all Malayalis should thank the Almighty for giving us this talented economist as the Finance Minister. He has all economics knowledge of this world to find flaws in the economic policies of the central government, but knows nothing to bring development to the state. He was agitated on finding that the central government was not ready to reduce the price of petrol and diesel even after reduction in the international crude oil price, but when the central government did reduce the price, he was quick to raise the state tax on fuel there by increasing the price of petrol and diesel. May be that is better economics, that we mere mortals won’t understand. He being the Finance Minister is another person from whom we have to expect a prosperous Kerala.

When the Nava Kerala March reach Thiruvananthapuram a lot of people would believe that Kerala would be more prosperous and India would be safer than before. Needless to say that those people are diehard CPI (M) supporters who have staunch belief in their leaders and their ability to make changes to their lives. But for all those people who still haven’t lost their ability to think, this march is a futile exercise meant only to enhance the political career of a person. March or no march, the lives of the people of this state is going to remain this pathetic. May be as one of my CPI (M) friends had told, if we can’t stand this government anymore, we should just get out of this state and live at some other place. But everywhere politicians are the same, whatever may be the name of their party. (see article on why political parties are useless) We just have to get used to living in this part of the world where this very weird form of democracy is in practice.

But for the time being I would hope that the tech-savvy red volunteers of the party would not grab me and assault me for writing this piece. My readers would also pray for me, I hope. Anyways for the sake of assuaging their anger let me add this and try to fool them – Pinarayi Ki Jai, Nava Kerala March Ki Jai.

Humanitarian Crisis Unfolding in Gaza

Even after the scathing criticism by the United Nations, Israel is continuing with its brutal attack on the Palestinians. The missile assault on the schools run by the United Nations under pretext of attacking ‘hiding’ Hamas militants should be condemned by all who give any importance to human values and ideals. In the military attack on the Gaza strip, about 1,200 people have lost their lives, where one third is children and young people. Humanitarian groups have called for an immediate end to the conflict as people in the Gaza strip are reeling under pressures of hunger, power outages, lack of basic sanitation and medicine.

Human rights activism often takes no cognisance of political facts and always considers it beyond its own realm. Therefore we are not interested in knowing who is politically correct, the Israelis or the Hamas. The gross human rights violation perpetrated by the Israeli forces needed to be condemned in the strongest of terms. The United Nations has called for a war crimes investigation into the actions of the Israeli forces as their actions are nothing but genocide. In any war women and children are given exemption from killing by the warring forces. But in its assault, Israel made no distinction between men, women and children. They were just inclined towards killing and handing over maximum destruction to Palestinian people in Gaza and their infrastructure. As a result of the destruction of the infrastructure, there has been shortage of basic supplies like food, water and medicine. On June 28, the Israeli IAF bombed the major power plant in Gaza and hence electrical outages have become common. Hospitals, sewage treatment plants and water utilities are working on generators that are having outdated electronic parts and are in the verge of breakdown.

About 85% of people in Gaza are dependent upon the food handouts of the United Nations World Food Program. Because of the continuous bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the aid workers of the United Nations are not able to carry out their responsibilities. The killing of a truck driver of the UN made it suspend all relief operations in Gaza. This has made matters worse for the Gazans and now a lot of those families are living on one meal a day. The situation would result in problems of chronic malnutrition for the children in Gaza and that would mean that the crisis can lead to some long term health issues to those children. Therefore it is important for the international community to find an immediate solution for the crisis in Gaza.

Another dismaying fact coming out of this crisis is that Israel had used white phosphorous as a weapon against the civilians of Gaza. The use of white phosphorous as a weapon has been banned by Third Convention on Conventional Weapons that deals with incendiary weapons. Israel is not a signatory of the agreement but still the use of such horrific weapons that cause burn from the skin to the bone to the civilian population must not be used under any circumstances.

Once the conflict ends, Israel administration will have some serious questions to answer. The attacks that have killed thousands of civilians, children in particular, are outrageous attacks on humanity. The international community has the onus to judge whether these attacks are war crimes and if they are the perpetrators should be brought to book. Humanitarian aid workers and organisations like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have a daunting task ahead of them even after the crisis is over. They have to provide aid to the people of Gaza who by now would have lost all hope. Human Rights organisations should also work in tandem with the aid organisations to bring relief and support to the ordinary people of Gaza.

I Congratulate Music Maestro AR Rahman for Bagging the Golden Globe Award

I congratulate the music maestro, Isaipuyal, AR Rahman for bagging the coveted Golden Globe Award for the original music score for the film Slumdog Millionaire. Thus he became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe. Rahman has given a great Pongal gift to all Tamilians and another reason for us all Indians to be proud being an Indian. Thanks for creating great musical scores all these years in the Indian wide screen and in the International arena.

In Cricket, Australian Unilateralism is Over

In the realm of international relations, this decade is one where all major economic powers in the world are asking for a paradigm shift from the unilateralism practised by the United States to a multilateral world where almost all countries have an equal voice in world affairs. But even a diehard optimist will accept that it will take some more decades before it actually happens. At the same time in the world of cricket one can be rest assured that the unilateralism and dominance of Australia is over. 

Australia had won last three world cups, in 1999, 2003 and 2007. And interestingly, in these three times, they had defeated the countries of the sub-continent, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka respectively. As a result of this dominance of Australia in world cups, one joke that went on the rounds was that there is no need to waste time for other countries by playing the world cup and the International Cricket Council or the ICC can simplify the whole event of world cup by having just three ceremonies viz., inauguration, handing the trophy to the Australian team and then the closing ceremony. 

But all that has changed in the last one and a half years and the credit for that should go to some of the finest cricket being played by some other countries in the cricketing world, like India and South Africa. At the same time one should admit that one of the main reasons for Australia’s decline has been the retirement of two of the greatest bowlers of the modern era – the leg spin legend Shane Warne and the lanky fast bowling great Glenn McGrath. The team was so much dependent on these great players that their absence is a gap that the Australian team is finding very hard to fill. With the absence those two players, Australia is finding it difficult these days to take 20 wickets of the opposition team, which is a must for winning test matches. In the last few series Brett Lee had been nothing but below par on international standards. Mitchell Johnson is just an emerging international player and there is a real dearth of quality spin bowlers to replace the class of Warne. New spin bowlers in the team like Jason Krejza and Nathan Hauritz are not of the same mould of that of Warne.

Some people like it or not, the fact of the matter is that Ricky Ponting is not a great captain. They say that a captain is only as good as his team and if that is the case then Ponting has stooped from a great captain to an ordinary captain with the retirement of Warne and McGrath. But in the history of cricket there had been some great captains who were able to extract extraordinary performance from his ordinary players. Former Australian captain Allan Border and Pakistani captain Imran Khan were two of those brilliant captains who were able to do this. But now we know that Ponting neither has the extraordinary ability of these two captains nor has the leadership abilities shown by his own captains Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. At the same time there is no doubting the batting abilities of Ricky Ponting where he is one of the greatest batsmen of all times.

After failing to retain the Border-Gavaskar and after losing the home series to South Africa, some heads are sure to roll in the Australian team. The first casualty is surely going to be the beleaguered southpaw, the burly opener, Mathew Hayden who had been ridiculously out of sorts and managed an average of less than 20 in the series against the Proteas. Michael Hussey was not also at his best in the recent series as he also ended up with a very low batting average. Though Michael Clarke was not good against the Indians, he regained some of his confidence against South Africa. Brett Lee and Stuart Clark are out of the team owing to injuries. The only silver lining as far as Australia is concerned in the recent series was the emergence of Peter Siddle as a lethal bowler, but it is too early to confirm his place in the team or in the league of good fast bowlers.

For the first time in history, South Africa won a test match series down under, but failed to secure a white wash. This has helped the Aussies to maintain their number one position in ICC test rankings, but time is not far when teams like India and South Africa, who are playing good cricket these days, usurp the number one position from the Aussies. If they have to maintain it in the future too, they have to make some serious changes in their team as well as in the way they play their cricket. 

India and Pakistan, after the Mumbai Siege

It has been one month since some ten miscreants from across the border, from Pakistan, emerged in the city of Mumbai via the sea route and held the whole of India under siege for about three days. The audacious attack carried out by the criminals of the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba had the full backing of the ISI or the ex-officials of the organisation. As a result of this gruesome attack, India and Pakistan are at loggerheads and the diplomatic relationship between the two nuclear states is at a very low level. But instead of going on with deploying army at the border between the nations, India has taken the diplomatic route to pressurise Pakistan to take actions to dismantle the terror infrastructure in Pakistan. But the Pakistan government doesn’t seem to be in a mood to do this or doesn’t have the required power and authority to do this.

There are a lot of reasons to believe that the terror strike by Lashkar in Mumbai is a handiwork of the Pakistan army. Pakistan army is waging an unpopular war in the Afghan border against Taliban fighters of Pakistani origin. Under extreme pressure from the United States, Pakistan is forced to fight alongside NATO forces in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. This is a war that the Pakistan army loathe to fight as they are fighting against Pakistanis against the popular wish. They are in look out for an excuse to retreat from the Afghan border and a war with India will be a great excuse for them to withdraw from the western border and redeploy the army in their eastern border with India. A war against India will be a great morale booster for the Pakistani army that is under great stress fighting their own people in the western border. As it is evident from the present scenario, a war or a prospect of war with India is perhaps the only unifying force for the Pakistanis. Right now we are seeing that all political parties in Pakistan as well as army and even Pakistani Taliban are speaking in the same voice against India. So all in all a war can be a great benefit to the army in the pursuance of their ambitions. This is exactly the reason why India is not keen for a war with Pakistan and this is the reason why the United States is also interested in having a peaceful solution to this impasse.

What India need from Pakistan is pretty simple. We want Pakistan to handover the terrorists behind the Mumbai attack to us so that they can produced under a court of justice. The lone terrorist captured in the attack, Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, has told the interrogators that he is from Pakistan and has detailed them about the training that he received from Lashkar at their centre at Muridke in Pakistan. Moreover the precision and planning with which Mumbai attackers had gone on with their assault show that they had received training from people in the army or ex-officials of the army and the ISI. But Pakistan is going on with their denial that Kasab is not a Pakistani and says that Pakistan has no hand in the Mumbai attack.

The only option available with India to pressurise Pakistan into acting against the terrorist infrastructure in their mainland is by carrying out a diplomatic offensive. India has gone to the security council of the United Nations with the demand of banning the terror outfits in Pakistan. As a result of this United Nations had banned the sister organisation of LeT, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa or the JuD. India is also working with the United States to pressurise Pakistan into taking actions against the terrorists. Indian government is also trying to rope in China as well as Saudi Arabia into its diplomatic offensive to coerce Pakistan into doing something substantial in the fight against terror. India hasn’t taken the diplomatic step of calling back its High Commissioner from Pakistan or stopping the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) between the two nations. But the Indian government has called off the cricket team’s tour of Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes.

Pakistan is continuing with its denial rhetoric saying that the Mumbai attackers are not Pakistanis and hence they can’t take any actions against them. They say that they want more evidence from India, proving that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack are from the Pakistani soil. But India is not interested in sharing the evidences with Pakistan as it is known that if we share the evidences with Pakistan they will use these evidences to help the terrorists to escape from international security forces, as is the experience of the past. In the past, when India shared evidences of the crimes committed by Pakistani nationals, Pakistan had taken some actions for the name sake and the acquitted the criminals under pretext of lack of tangible evidences against them.

Pakistan is a failed state where full-fledged democracy is still a distant dream. If someone thinks that with the arrival of democratic government in Pakistan, the grip of Pakistan army on the policy making of Pakistan is over, then they are thinking so only at their peril. Even now the army calls all the shots in Pakistan and this is evident from the way the Pakistani establishment had responded to the Mumbai attack. At first, President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Sardari promised to send the Director General of ISI to India to help in the investigation of the attack, but immediately had to backtrack following pressure from ISI and the army. So India should have no hope that Pakistan will act against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack who have the backing and support of the ISI and the Pakistani army.

The Mumbai attack of 26/11 and the way in which Indian security forces and Mumbai police responded to it had shown to this world and the terrorists that India is a strong state with brave and courageous people. Though we were shocked for a short period of time, we have come back with more resolve and grit. At this point of time, we should also thank and salute the brave commandos and cops of India for saving thousands of people and for saving the pride of this nation. As an NSG commander has said, we hope that such an attack will not happen again in India, but if at all it happens we will make sure that the perpetrators of such crime will not go back safely. War with Pakistan is not a first option, but if that country is not ready to take actions against the terrorist infrastructure prevailing there, then we will have to resort to that last option. But till then, we have to go ahead with our diplomatic offensive and corner Pakistan and force them to take actions against the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

60th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Today, 10 December 2008, marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Back in 1948, on the same day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the declaration which has since become one of the most important documents of the civilised world. The Commission of Human Rights, a standing body of the United Nations, was composed for the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The commission was broadly represented by the delegates of the global community under the Chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that the inherent dignity and equality of human beings is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace and forms the basis for the peaceful coexistence of different people in this world. The declaration also aims at promoting equality and social justice for all men and women irrespective of their caste, creed, race, nationality, colour, language, religion, national origin, social status, political opinion and birth or other status. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also aspires to end slavery and other similar inhuman practices as well as cruel and degrading treatment or punishment.

There are 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the basic principles of those articles are dignity, liberty, equality and universal brotherhood. The articles set forth the various principles of human rights in the realm of individual rights, rights of individuals in the political and civil society, public and spiritual rights as well as social, cultural and economic rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a legally binding treaty on the member countries of the United Nations but the declaration had a major influence on the constitutions of almost all countries since 1948. It is also the foundation for a number of universal treaties and has a very important influence on the laws of various international organisations.

Though the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in the year 1948 and 60 years had passed since then, human rights violations are still going on in various parts of this world. Organisations like the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch are constantly trying to pressurise governments of various countries for the strict adherence to the principles proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But there are a lot of rogue states in the world that are continuously violating the basic tenets of the declaration. Such states should be diplomatically convinced by the international community to follow the principles of human rights as envisaged by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is not only the responsibility of nations or international organisations, but that of all human beings to understand, disseminate as well as follow the basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the declaration itself advocate, adoption of the various articles of this declaration is paramount to the achievement of international peace and universal brotherhood. So let us make a promise that we will follow those principles all our lives as well as voice our disapproval with courage whenever the basic tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are violated by individuals, organisations or nations.

The Quintessential Lady

A humming bird sings and flies past me,

Then comes back and flies round and round,

Her humming, quite mirthful, quite jocund,

So does my beloved sister speak,

With a sound, quite mirthful, quite jocund,

My sweet, new sister, with whom,

I have vowed to share the stage of this life,

In her affectionate heart, an indelible pain,

On her charming face, an indelible smile,

For she had learnt the art of veiling,

Agonizing incidences of appalling yore,

Under pretexts of affable humour.

During vexatious days, befriended her parents,
And told them, “at times life can get painful,
Yet we mortals have to live on and on,
Like the sun that sets westwards every dusk,
Only to rise in the east every morn afresh”,
And she, my beloved sister, goes on in life,
As a dutiful wife, for her life’s companion,
He, her better half, lives so merry, so easy,
Often proclaims, “Life is simple when she’s near”
She to her son, a mother, so special, so great,
And all mothers are so special, so great,
God wisely sent to build heaven on earth.

In this world, where made are promises,
To be broken, shattered or forgotten,
I, being a poet, possess an emotional heart,
And words so honest, truthful and earnest,
Makes a conscientious promise and swear,
To my sweet, new sister, with whom,
I have vowed to share the stage of this world,
“Even while I would rest in my sepulchre,
Old, decrepit and dead, my sincere soul,
Will be encumbered with a brotherly affection,
Coveted by the angels in the heaven,
And the devils beneath the blue sea.”

I stand upon this world, pleased and awed,
To have done a thing often held implausible,
And now with pride to the world I announce,
I have discovered the quintessential lady.

(Written on and dedicated to my new sister who is perhaps the greatest woman I have ever met in my life, next only to my mother. Her story is an inspiration to all who know her and knowing stories like her's make us understand that this life is worth living, though it is besmirched with pains and troubles)

I Pray for the Victims of Mumbai Terror Strikes

I pray for the victims of the Mumbai terror strikes. This is a time when we Indians should stand united and take a pledge to defeat terrorism in all its manifestations. The spirit of Indians will stand the test of times and we will defeat the heinous ambitions of terrorists of all hues.