Sunday, April 30, 2006

Ham Do - Hamare Do

I was extremely tempted to write one more blog before vacations. This habit has caught up recently and i view it as healthy as blogging has prompted me to think in diverse directions, something which i was not doing at all before ... After an analysis of my own institution, indian team spirit, nudity, internet users ... "avuthu pottu" is now directed towards "number of siblings" . Hence, one more from the stable ...

Over the years, i have observed families with single, two or more than two children. One of my conclusions is that 2 kids is the best scenario which parents can have.

1) When parents have just one child, He becomes what is popularly called in China as "The Little Emperor" of the house. Right from the birth to teenage you will find that he would have been vaccinated for all sorts of unknown diseases ... fed all sorts of dietary supplements and food stuffs .... Sent to the most expensive school. He gets the best clothes picked up for him... People come,move,act and do all things at this fella's beck and call. He becomes the only object of attention in the house. Parents shover their entire love and affection on this child. They tend to hold on a lot to their only hope in old-age and display such a possessive attitude with the child that in most cases such kind parental love tends to spoil the child. The child is not taught on aspects of sharing and on most cases you will find such children irascible, OBESE, rebellious, maverick, Intelligent, talented, egoistic. Now in no way i am viewing these qualities as negative please ... you need some of them to survive in Kaliyug.

2) When parents have more than two children: Now one thing is sure, more than two children is simply a desire of parents to have child of a desired sex (especially male child some 20-30 years back). Parents always wish: "Oh !! this time i must have a male/female child" .. As it is said, Man proposes God disposes and hence the result you get double the pleasure (twins !! you dirty mind !!) ....

In case of 3 children : In this case children are never close in age to each other (obviously, mother can't go into labour for 3 consequtive times in say about 3 years) ... A generation gap is created (most cases a gap of 15 years between eldest and younget) ...
The youngest child is as a result of parents being satisfied by their effort to have a child of their desired sex ;) . This child the most doted one in the family. The youngest child finds that he has more than two parents (The eldest doubles up as parent in case .....). He acts like a rebel and the extra love confered upon him/her makes this case similar to one-child case which i have described in detail earlier.

The middle one is the most confused and his situation i personally empathize with ... He doesn't get special love/attention for neither being the youngest nor the eldest. In most cases, he acts like a non-descript member and is often left to fend for himself/herself. Being close in age to the elder one, the middle is made to use "Second-hand" stuff passed from the elder siblings. It's as if his growing years would never be either remembered by parents nor an effort would be made to record his growing years. Efforts put in middle child case are considered at best a formality. (Procreation effort not included here !!)
The eldest one in due course becomes a grandfather to the youngest one by the age of 30 ......

In case of four children or more which seldom happens these days, the house becomes a mini-playground with sounds from all corners .... In house "CHAOS RULES" but often there is "Order in Chaos" ... The parents better have plenty of money to give the best to their children and Oh Boy !! I salute to the MOTHERS who have 4 children or more ......

3) Having children in the house is anyday better than having none ... so don't be too proud about your blood & lineage and adopt a child so as to make your life as well as some needy's child's life better .....

4) Which brings me to the best case left that is (My case !!!!) 2 children ..... Ideal combination, good/proper sibling fights , sharing qualities inculcated at early age, proper maturity and development of appropriate responsible attitude and many many more . enough stuff to write another blog i guess.....

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Why India sucks in football & hockey !!

Being a true football and hockey fan, this question often engages me the most. Why a nation which is by the far the best in Cricket (a team game) fails to match with the same effort in other team games like Football and Hockey. True !! Physically we are not as superior as the Europeans, but countries like china, south korea and japan have showed that Asians too are good in football.

Then, An Ayn Rand Quote comes to mind: "Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong"
I questioned myself whether cricket is really a team game as football or Hockey !! Then i realized that individual has more scope to perform here than the team and often teams are known by the individuals who represent them. The living testimony of this fact is people naming teams like Gavaskar XI or Border XI.. Offlate ! People after looking at Australians have realized that cricket has to be won by a team and not by an individual.

Now coming back to football and hockey. We, Indians, have rarely put up superlative efforts when it came to perform as a team. We look more for individual than collective glory. Psychologically, if you see, any aspirant in these two games always aspires to be a striker first. Being a defender or mid-fielder is just a chance. This is because we perceive as the one who finishes is the one who is the best (Primarily this was the reason why Hrishikesh Kanitkar was retained in the team for two years after hitting a boundary off the penultimate ball to finish the match). Hence we see Dhanraj and Baichung getting fame whereas one does not remember a certain Tirkey !!

Reflect on this: Wayne Rooney, a striker of Manchester United(my fav team) passed the ball at the right moment to Park Si Jung(his team-mate) to score the goal. He could have scored it himself but had a 50-50 chance, but gave it to Park Si Jung who finished cleanly to give United a 2-0 lead. Jung after scoring, congratulated Rooney for the pass without any delay. Professional !! Which is why good players like Terry, Ferdinand, Lampard, Gerrard, Neville are all recognized there !!

Locally, While i was playing football along with IIT boys in campus, I found that people tended to shoot even when they had 1% chance on scoring goal and for every goal scored people congratulated the striker (who obviously went into wild celebration) without bothering about the people who set his goal up for him ....

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Online Hunk - Offline Junk

It is said that only few in the world suffer from split personalities. But i categorically state that almost all of us suffer from split personalities. Yes !! Evey human has two different personalities: One what he really is and one what he projects. For a few set of people this difference is not there .... To help you digest this statement, I bring you a case where the difference is extremely prominent: An Online Surfer.

My experience has with such people has made me conclude that what you perceive of such people when you interact with them online is a much different picture when you interact with them offline ....

People might disagree with me and say that "I am the sum of what i write " .. but this statement is really not true. There are certain people who write and interact well online ... They will display extremely fancy status messages ... Some of the funny ones which i encountered :-

a) Exams ---> Now, i have never seen this guy studying or doing anything but his online profile shows that he is extremely busy throughout the day
b) Dead .. will be back on **** ---> Even i get confused at the real intent of this message ... You scrap him once and you get a reply within the next 30 secs..
c) Aha !! My home i miss you so much ---> Now if he loves his home so much, then why don't i see him going home often inspite of getting chances ....
d) All sorts of philosophical thoughts which have absolutely no real connection with them in real life ......

They will reply to all your mails, scraps, pings but real life ..... I bet a $100 that they will be much much different ... They will be extremely silent, introvert fellows who have lost all the drive to take part in real physical activities ....... You can very well say that this person has two different personalities .....

The internet has really changed the way we view relationship. People have started talking with keyboards instead of the god-gifted mouth. The live example is my college hostel where neighbours chat more on the net than in each others rooms. The touch and feel relationship is slowly going down ... The net may bring in sympathy( i know what you feel!) to you .... but the empathy part is not there (I feel what you feel!) ... One of prime reasons for a suicide at my institution

People take a lot of initiatives on the net by forming communities ranging from Jessica Lal petition to protest reservation petition to what not !! but when it comes to deliver in real life by physcially working for a good cause you seldom find takers .... which i why i say chances of a revolution or an upheavel for any good cause is very feeble !!!! Pretty disturbing ..........

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

The importance of being Naked

There are people who have thrashed Nakedness in the following way :-

1) Every time a woman loses something, she looks better, but every time a man loses something he looks worse
2) To act with clothes on is performance, with clothes off it is documentary - Julia Roberts
3) If Miss means respectably unmarried, and Mrs. respectably married, then Ms. means nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
4) Pornography tells lies about women, but it really tells the truth about men ;)
and many many more which is enough to fill countless blogs ...

Ages people have always been confused from being Nude and being Naked.
Which is what makes me punch keystrokes in dispelling all doubts.

Nudity is more a physical phenomenon ... Nakedness is more of a mental kind .... the most fearless person on this earth is a Naked person. Which is why i feel in cricket minnows like kenya,bangladesh, Pakistan (i really consider them minnows against us at all times) at times get better of their rivals when they play fearlessly .....

when you make yourself naked and see a particular dimension/object , you will realize the beauty of things which you have never experienced or felt before . The impression of clothes merely acts like a haze which deprives you of enjoying the true worth, the true beauty for which it was created in first place.
You become fearless,objective,composed in your thoughts and actions ....

A naked man sees nobody as superior and nobody as inferior - As it is rightly said "We are by nature all as one, all alike, if you see us naked" .. A naked person comes above successes and failures, above pleasures and sorrows, above friends and foes ... to him all is the same ...... He will never waver,wander,muse in life ... To him life is a path, a road, to his destination ... which brings me to the point .. Nakedness is revolutionary .....

After reading all this, just take this two question test :

Q1. Have you at all necessary junctures in your life told your best friend/parents/siblings point-blank that a particular action which they did is wrong ? (obviously according to your point of view !!)

Q2. Have you at any point of time confronted a misdeed happening around you and worked to make it right ???

Remember be truthful to yourself while answering ....

I guess this free-gospel is enough to get your thought process stirring .... My detailed writing on this issue is still under editing .... :)

Please pass me your views and be truthful in your comments - A Naked Truth is anyday better than a well dressed lie

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Orphanage

I am feeling like i am studying in an orphanage. You may ask me why:-

1) In a orphanage, the patron visits the place once in a year. he just looks at smiling kids without realizing that these innocent cherubic ones, are just trained to smile at visitors. He would obviously smile back with sympathy at these poor souls.... similar is the case happening at my place.. Our founder visits our college once in year and asks those same materialistic questions about the happenings in and around the college .. He doesn't even bother to evaluate these kides little realizing that these are no longer kids of an orphanage but well performing youngsters who just need a big break in life .....

2) There are some people who are you can say less worse than previous one ... These people just dole out some small pity offerings like sponsoring a shirt, a mid-day meal to the most bright boy in the anath-alay and so on .. Companies in my college sponsor scholarships which seem like pittances in such an expensive world .. When it comes to employment, they do not even bother to consider such students for whom they are giving money to groom ..... obviously, just because i work for some NGO/organization (some ppl take pride in doing that !!) doesn't mean that i will bring this kids home .... NGo work is my professional life .... rest is private .....

3) The teacher's teach as if they are teaching to a deprived/impoverished lot which is different from the others in league... "By the same particular token" in one of the lectures, a teacher makes it a point to make whip my college's ass at each juncture ....

I would have loved to reveal names ... but then "Avuthu-pottu" is all about stripping events and reveal the hidden/naked truth .. the same should be applied to person's only in special cases ......

But yes Finally !!! Just like an orphanage, we all kids sit and smile in posh-blazers and crispy borrowed shirts when some rich deprived fella comes to college for placement ..... why i say this is because, they ask questions in interviews, to which we answer like kids !!