Friday, July 29, 2005

The dictator

President Musharraf growled again. As mad as he gets. This is a typical sign of a dictator who, even when sincerely wants to do something good for his country, ends up thudding his nose on the floor. The president, in one of his profound whimsical fits, ordered all foreign madrassa students to leave the country. There is a plenty of examples that when you try to enforce something with an iron hand, you effectively fail in your objective by giving enough stimulus to the weaker to become strong. Such an important ordinance was passed without any public debate or any discussion about its pros and cons, something, as a matter of fact, not quite unnatural in a tyranny. These militant ways to straighten out the society will only breed hatred, bitterness and more extremism. The best way to fight religious fanaticism, I think, is to make way for scientific education, encouragement to learn physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, agriculture etc. and make it accessible to all. Natural and human sciences should be worshipped as religion. However, such accomplishments call for sustained efforts, willingness of the government and undefeatable patience. There is no short cut to that end. Any militant policy to achieve that quickly will create more problems than it solves .

Monday, July 25, 2005

Earthquake II

According to the BBC the quake in the Nicobar Islands was not a deadly one and so far no casualties were reported. I feel a great deal interested to do some geological studies about the region's proneness to earthquakes. Will try to be back with my 'research' soon.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Earthquake in India?

I'm just alerted by the BBC that a major earthquake struck the Nicobar Islands. No details have been provided. I am feeling very nervous whether this is of tsunami magnitude.

Apology does not fit in

Really really I am very much moved by the killing of this poor Brazilian Menezes (27) in a London tube station by the police for no crime whatsoever. I don't understand why his running away from the plain-clothed gun-wielding officers is being considered as an excuse to shoot him. How can one make out at those nervous moments that those gun-toting guys were not, in fact, goons themselves (or shall I say terrorists)?

I just came to know that the chief of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair has formally apologized to his family for this 'tragedy' (what about the word crime). Yesterday, in one of the public statements, issued by the police they expressed 'satisfaction' that the murdered man is not linked to terrorism. I have no words to express my indignation, my hatred and my dismay. The consequence of this easily avoidable 'tragedy' is surely going have fatal ramifications. The actual criminals are at large, moving scot free when police with all their incompetence are chasing, harassing and killing innocent civilians. Firstly, this incident will foment racial hatred among the communities as it takes no efforts to deduce that the skin color of the victim placed the odds against him. On the other hand, the exposure of the police inefficiency and the lack of confidence that they will possibly suffer from from now on, gives the real terrorists a time for jubilation -- that does not bode well.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

The human rights question?

So it is finally announced that the man shot dead by the police at the Stockwell Tube Station two days back is not connected to the recent London bombings. The whole incident turns murkier than before with this development. It is also revealed that the victim is of Brazilian descent, a country whose name popped up for the first time. The incident very crudely shows us how difficult it is to protect human rights in the face of terrorism. Such violations are rampant in many African and Asian countries. The explanation that is usually offered is the deeply rooted poverty and illiteracy that those countries are beset with although the large scale atrocities by the US army in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay can hardly be overlooked. The present incident is, in some sense, quite movie-like and also remarkable as it is committed by the most sophisticated and trained police officers, in full public view, in a cold blooded manner, and that too in the heart of London which is claimed to be a flag bearer of concurrent civilization.
I am reminded of a saying -- do not quite remember to whom this is attributed -- that there is always a danger that you yourself become a monster while fighting against them.

WWIII

After the London bombings now came the attacks in Egypt. It seems like a shadow war being waged between two sides all around the world causing blood shedding, loss of lives, panic and utter chaos. If you go back into history of humankind you will be appalled to see that war has been omnipresent since time immemorial. Only the form of that changed from time to time. (for example, in the present edition suicide-bombing has emerged as an infallible weapon in the armoury of one warring side). This mere fact somewhat makes me upset and augurs bad for the future of the world. A poem by Sukanta Bhattacharya sounds so unrealistic,
"E prithibike e sishur basjogyo kore jabo ami,
Nabajatok er proti ei amar dripto driro Ongeekar."
(I promise the unborn child a livable place)

Thursday, July 21, 2005

As I blog

This is my fourth post since I started blog. The idea was to use this as a means to reach out to people with some brains and intellects. However, I was not welcomed by anybody on joining this community nor was I chided or reproached for that. I desire to see comments by others on my posts and but there is none so far. The whole ambiance seems to be totally oblivious of my presence. Practically, I need some marketing to get bloggers look at my pages. So I navigated through the pages of many bloggers and posted some comments. For example, there is one called 'me' (this person is a woman whom I caught up with on the yahoo chat and whom I would always love to call mimi) who rekindled the desire in me to blog. But the kind of stuff she writes is amateurish, out-of-focus and therefore painful to read through. Despite this fact I will continue to post comments on her writings just because, in my imagination, I built her as a sweet, sexy, cuddly young lady. The second blogger some of whose stuff I consumed writes under the name 'satchisgod' (very curious to know the suggestions that this name has got) and seems to be passing through an extreme identity crisis. My advices for him is to keep cool and look at the world with some sympathy that would perhaps bring some rest to his mind without which he may possibly remain the mindless junk as he is now. ....
That's all for today. I need some time to develop my ideas about this august company of bloggers.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Kissinger on the Indians

Yes I finally got the transcript (very recently released by the White House) of the actual telephonic conversation that took place in nov 1971 between Henry Kissinger, the then national security advisor of the US, and President Nixon where Mrs. Indira Gandhi was called an "old bitch" and the Indians "bastards". It is understandable that, in informal and casual chat, usage of slangs like those are not uncommon and should not be taken seriously. But I just dont understand why it was necessary to make it available to the public when there is a risk of misunderstanding and causing damage to the sentiments of many people inspite of the fact that "the govt. of the US can never mean any harm to any people".

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The name 'blog'

This trasformation of the word `weblog' to simply `blog' appears to be very interesting. To discover who first used this may be even more interesting.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Blog opened ....

I have just created this account. I am curious to know how best this blog can improve my life. For my part, I am serious.

free hit counter script