Daily Archives: February 4, 2008

February 4, 2008

If we are truly free, why have we to adhere to the 75% attendance rule in colleges or stand up for the national anthem??

So, we all read in school about how our country is democratic, right? And we mention it on every Independence Day, Republic Day and all other conceivable occasions. And we all hold our right to freedom of speech and expression so dear to us, and we all stand up for the national anthem before the movie starts (although some of us, like me, do it rather reluctantly!), right?
Dude, we already know all that. Why are you writing about it? I am sure that is the thought racing through your minds right now. Well, my point is not a very simple one, and I don’t expect too many people to understand it. But here it goes.


Our forefathers (the supposedly great but highly misled and sadomasochistic Gandhi among them), created this nation with the very noble ideas of Liberty and Equality. But these people also framed a law stating that any disrespect shown to the national flag, or anthem and other such symbols of a pseudo democracy, is a punishable offence!
Now I ask, is this not a contradiction? If all men are created equal, and if all have the right to say what they want, why can’t a citizen disagree with the ideal of the very nation he lives in? (I’m not saying that we piss on the flag and do other such vile, obscene things; that certainly is disrespect) I raise a simple issue if I live as a free man in a free country, why am I being forced to stand up to a song that I feel is intrinsically wrong? This is not just hypocrisy, this is deep-rooted wickedness. And ours is not the only nation that’s suffering!


As strange as it may seem, I really don’t identify with nationalism, because I believe all men are the same. Why differentiate between men? Why have borders? True, people who have common culture can have the freedom to stay together if they want to, but why have rigid borders and differences on the basis of race and nationality? Or sex for that matter (no silly, not how frequently, but male or female!)?


The truth is that the priests, politicians and religious leaders want to crush your individuality! They impose all these borders and rules on you to stop you from thinking independently, from living as you want! Of course, they do all this under the garb of culture, political revolution and religion, and yes, through education. Consider this if we are truly free, why have we to adhere to the 75% attendance rule in colleges? Undoubtedly, it is the silliest rule I have seen! If I think I gain nothing from attending a particular lecture, why should I waste my time?


The point, I state again, is that we have unconsciously surrendered our lives to these pathetic morons! The goal of society is merely to create a herd, because a herd has no individuality. Animals move in herds! And all this is being done to curb your freedom. Just look at all that your politicians are saying and your priests as well. Look into it deeply and you will find that they are all out to crush your individuality.


This is not just a time pass article… This is a call to revolution against those very forces that have been oppressing us!
I know most people won’t really understand all that I have written, but if my words can create a spark in you, I shall consider myself a success. And if that spark does come, don’t thank me, thank God or Allah or Bhagwan or whatever you call this existence. May all be blessed!

Posted by Sandhya Rajan in Uncategorized

February 4, 2008

Instructions to open a book:

1. First take the book.
2. Next keep it in such a way that the bound edge is to the left.

NOW OPEN THE BOOK…….

OR

Just open the last page to get into a whole new interesting world… The world which I ve rightly named as DOODLES WORLD!!!!!

Now the last page of a notebook can say a lot about its owner.. If ur last page is empty or if u think doodling in the last page spoils the beauty of ur Chak-a-Chak white book..Then stop!!! Turn the page.. This article is not for you..

On the other hand if u are a typical student like me then read on. Who else better than us would understand the potential of back pages?? It helps us realize our talents. Here.. I am referring to calligraphers and cartoonists.. From fashion designing to profiles.. from writing names in different fonts to checking ambidextrosity …to err practicing forgery… And of course not to forget the caricatures of our beloved profs…
So next time the talent hunt is on…You know where to begin…

Apart from time pass, our back pages serve as our handy dandy telephone diary. We’ll need to call our friends to ask her/him to clarify doubts or to copy down homework sums)U were busy doodling in the class remember!!!!). So along with calligraphy and the cartoons goes the encircled telephone number. (The fact where you wrote is immaterial.)

Another rule\funda that we follow in back pages is FILL UP EVERY SPACE TILL THERE IS NO PLACE!!! A careful study of back pages shows the existence of conversational writings. A few torn ends indicate the same is used for note passing!!

There are innumerable other uses also.. To mention a few (i) TIC TAC TOE, (ii) HOLLYWOOD,
(iii)HANGMAN (Need more explanation?? Then you are the worlds greatest nerd), (iv) Check whether your pen is working by writing on the last or blot ink pens, (v) Math formulae….Last minute revision??? Just flip to the last page.. (vi) Rough Calculations

The last page gets filled with all this and more and becomes a memoir later. A memoir, which can be looked through and remembered like the fossile of life. More to doodle and not enough space?? Don’t Worry… There ll be more notebooks and more backpages…

ENJOY DOODLING!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Sandhya Rajan in Uncategorized

February 4, 2008

I love kids! Kids are like de-stressers for me. I love enjoying the way they ask questions and their inquisitiveness. The kid who is my best friend is my 7 year old cousin Vishnu who lives at Fremont, CA.

In my last post, you could ve seen a story written by Vishnu.

Vishnu is a tech savvy kid. He has his own gmail id on gtalk and has his own PC with protected Internet access only to a couple of games site.

He always logs in to gtalk from his id on weekends and other holidays. When he sees me online, he pings me and we both have long chats about Games , Science experiments, pulling each other’s legs and what not..

So that day, I was pinged by Unshu (as I fondly call him) on gtalk and we were talking about games and stuff.. When it struck me.. I asked him, “Hey Unshu, What do u wanna become when you grow up?” Unshu replied, “I wanna be a game developer!!!”

There was no hesitation. There was no pause. When I was a kid, Computers were never heard of as a household item as it is now. Internet was a dream ..

Thats not all.. He shot back questions at me, which i present you as a conversation.

Vishnu: Hey Sandhya, Can I ask you something?

Me: Sure Unshu!

Vishnu: Appa told me that you ll work for Microsoft. IS that true?

Me: Not sure Vishnu! I am interning there. Maybe yes, maybe no.

Vishnu: Oh! Then shall I tell you something which I feel?

Me: Sure Unsh! Go ahead..

Vishnu: Amma works for Google.. SO you better work for Microsoft. Because according to me, Google cannot run without Microsoft.

At that moment, I was dumb struck! How much have these kids been influenced by technologies.

I continued asking him why?

Vishnu: Oh yeah! You dont know? Microsoft has this Windows Stuff on only which Gtalk or google search can run. Moreover Google has only Google talk, Google mail and Google Earth but Microsoft has this whole big Windows and so many programming stuff.

I was totally totally shocked! How much kids these days know? I knew Windows only when I was around 14 or so. But Vishnu already knows to differentiate between Google and Microsoft… Ha ha ha.. He knows that both the companies are rivals already.. And I explained to him the various services offered by Google and Microsoft and he was really happy to know that there was Google Mars and Google Moon.. Ha ha ha..

I guess he ll become a game developer at Microsoft developing Games for X BOX nth version which comes out when he is a developer 15 years later

All the best Unshu for ur game developing future!!!

Posted by Sandhya Rajan in Uncategorized

February 4, 2008

The Story below was written by cousin Vishnu, who lives at Fremont, California and is 7 years old. I was just amazed at the way he has written the story.. I just wanted to share his story with the world. The story is based on his real life project of collecting and re-cycling plastic bottles. It has a message. It sure can be implemented in our country. Congrats Unshu! I love you so much :-*

 

 

Once there lived a boy. His name was Donny and he was 7 years old. He lived in Fremont, California and went to Dragon Elementary school. He had a little brother and he lived in his house with his mom and dad. Donny loved to read, you give him anything readable, he will read it.

 

One day he found a plastic bottle on the ground. He started to read the label. It said on the label, CA CRV. Then, he asked his mom, “Mommy, what does CA CRV mean?” His mom said, “Well, Donny, CA CRV means California Cash Redemption Value, which means if you give these bottles the recycle center you will get money. You can even give it to your school. Your school will recycle it and get money to go on field trips!” Donny said, “Mommy I want to start collecting bottles”. Mommy said, “Okay Donny!”<!–[endif]–>

 

Next day, Donny went to some houses nearby and told twenty people about his project for school and gave them bags to collect bottles. He asked them for ten bottles each week. After a week he went to their houses and each house gave him ten bottles at the least. He got two hundred bottles. He said to himself “If I go to twenty houses for 5 weeks, I will get one thousand bottles.” So the next week he went to the same houses and they all gave him bottles. He counted his bottles and he got 400 bottles this week. “Wow!” said Donny.

“Now I just need 400 more and I will have one thousand bottles!” The next week Donny went to his mom’s company and asked twenty of his mom’s friends to him bottles. A week later he got lots of bottles. He counted his bottles, there were 400 bottles. “Yippee! I have one thousand bottles!” said Donny. Then Donny asked his mom, “Mommy, how much money is 1,000 bottles?” His mom used the calculator and said, “1000 X 0.05, that is $50”. Donny was very happy and he screamed, “I have $50, I want to get two thousand bottles now.”

 

He then went to his dad’s company and he got 100 bottles. Also his classmates collected bottles for the school. He collected from all those houses in the neighborhood every week using a wagon, his mom brought him bottles from her office friends and he kept getting more and more. He loved counting the bottles with his brother and family. They crushed them with their feet to so it will take less space to store. It was lot of fun every week. Donny and his mom went to recycle center and gave the bottles and got money for the bottles each week. One day, he called his grandma in Brazil and asked her to collect bottles for his school project. His grandma said, “Yes dear, I will surely do it for you! It is a great project, good job.”

 

His grandma asked everyone is San Paolo to collect bottles. Everybody gave her lots of bottles. She counted the bottles and they were 600 bottles. She called Donny and told him she got 600 bottles. Donny asked his grandma to Fed Ex it to him. The bottles went to a Fed Ex truck, then to the airport and there was DHL plane was taking it to CA. On the way there was a tornado. It struck right on the plane and the pilot turned off the engine thinking the plane will come down. Instead the tornado took the plane all the way from the Pacific Ocean to Fremont, California, right to the front of Donny’s house. Donny was so very excited.

A plane landing in your house does not happen every day. News reporters came there to cover this story. Many reporters came and they took a lot of pictures. They asked Donny questions – “Why are the bottles here?” Donny said, “I am doing a project for my school and my grandma sent these bottles for me.” Then the next reporter asked him, “What did you gain out of this project Donny?” “I learnt that recycling is good the environment and I raised money for my school from CA CRV.” Another reporter asked, “What’s next Donny?” Donny said, “Well, I want to do this project for my college funds”. “Okay wow!! We can try our best to ask every company in CA to give you bottles through our news. Our news will come on TV at 5pm.” Donny turned on the TV. They showed how the plane landed and how Donny spoke. A little later the plane left.

 He waited for a week and a Fed Ex truck got him thousands and thousands of bottles. He got enough bottles for his college fund. Donny grew up and went to college. He became a Bottle Millionaire because he started a recycling business. He has a message now, “It is good to recycle, but best is to Use Less. Do not make it useless.”

Posted by Sandhya Rajan in Uncategorized