Antimony’s Weblog

November 14, 2009

Story Attempt

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 5:18 am

The teacher looked at her students again. And sighed again. She wasn’t sure how many times before this she had sighed already. But it seemed to be the only thing she could do.

The class sat in front of her. Their small little eyes, set in their small little face of the students, eagerly watching her every move, their small little ears listening to her every word. After all she was telling them a story. And which kindergarten kid wouldn’t want to hear stories, she thought.

She returned to her story narration. She had just gotten past the part where Goldilocks enters the home of the three bears while they are out for a stroll. But her mind wasn’t in it. She just couldn’t concentrate on the story. And she didn’t want to tell them a story when she wasn’t in the mood. She wanted them to relish every little detail when she said it patiently and that clearly wasn’t going to be the case now. Goldilocks would have to continue waiting at the bears’ home till next time.

‘OK class. Take out your drawing books now. Lets do some colouring!’, she called out to the class. They seemed puzzled, puzzled at the fact that the story had not been completed, but they took out their colouring books nonetheless. ‘Here is what we are going to do now. I want you to turn to page 76 and do the connect the dots on that page. Colour it well too! The best coloured will get a big chocolate from me’, she said with a big smile.

The class went into squeals of excitement. And they got started. That should give me time to think about this again, the teacher thought. And she got back to her thinking.

She thought about how each and every one of her students knew the other by name. How each and every one of them got along with the others in the class with no hesitation at all. How each and every one of them truly believed in the other. How each and every one of them placed genuine trust in their teacher as well as their friends. How each and every one of them were so very innocent and sweet.

And yet, she thought, a few years down the road, names would be forgotten. Frictions in friendships would crop up. Betrayals and cynicism would prevail over trust and belief in the other. Innocence would be lost and a desire to win at all costs would come out in its place.

Who really needs to learn from who?, the teacher wondered. We teach them how they shouldn’t become. We impress upon our children, our beliefs, our sense of ethics, our sense of etiquette. But if we think carefully, shouldn’t the children be the teachers? Teach us adults how to overcome the hostility between ourselves. Overcome the deep sense of distrust that we shouldn’t have developed in the first place. Teach us how to bridge differences and build bonds with others. Teach us to reclaim the lost world of innocence. And in fact, teach us the very way to actually leading our lives?

Ah well. Pretty heavy thoughts for the past five minutes of thinking, the teacher thought. Time to check on the class. And oh yeah! She wasn’t on good terms currently with the teacher next-in. So she would have to leave pretty soon. Maybe, she would ask the children to teach them how to be like them. But for now, she thought, think am going to give everyone a big chocolate.

October 13, 2009

A Hero

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 12:26 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8299780.stm

Now, this guy deserves serious respect. More respect than that is given to political leaders worldwide. He embodies CHANGE itself.

P.S. Thanks to Sathiyavelan for bringing this to my attention

April 17, 2009

What will you do?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 12:14 pm

So, the world’s largest democracy has just gone to the polls. Wonderful headline for any media person. But basically, is it really a nation that goes to the polls? Do the people of the supposed world’s largest democracy even care about the elections?

There was this news report which said that the overall voting turnout was around 60 per cent. It was seen quite a while before this article was even thought of, so it might not be the current figure. Nevertheless, there was this one figure buried amongst those poll figures that really gave an idea about how much India actually cares about the polls. The statistics was – in the state of Bihar, the voter turnout was 45 per cent. Now that tells a lot.

Forty-six per cent voter turnout? What gives? A child knows that if even half the people had turned up to vote in the election, then this number would have been fifty per cent. And what is the number here? 46 per cent. What does this show? Does this mean that the remaining 54 per cent of the population were so busy caught up in their chores that they did not find the required time to go and cast a single vote? Or does it mean that this 54 per cent doesn’t care about who comes to power and just don’t give a damn about the entire thing? In either case, it is absolute nonsense.

We have had enough periods of remaining indifferent to the exercise of choosing our leaders(for whom it has become fashionable to have atleast a couple of court cases booked against them).  And what is the end result? We end up with these so-called leaders who seem to be incapable of putting the interests of the nation ahead of their own interests. This statement might be harsh, but it is a statement that generalizes most leaders. For the few that have had sense enough to put their nation ahead, my apologies.

I am going to list some of the incidents that took place in the past decade.  But before that, let me make a clear disclaimer that I am not trying to brainwash you to vote for any particular party. I am merely pointing out certain observations and am trying to get you stirred up enough to go and vote.

We have seen over the past decade, some of the worst atrocities committed against us Indians. We have seen blasts on trains, seen the whole country held to ransom by a bunch of absolute morons and have lost loads of our countrymen whose only fault seemed to have been that they were born Indian and were staying in India. We have seen some periods in which our stock markets have beat all expectations and reached new highs but something which helped to alleviate the suffering of the underprivileged. We have been happy about the success of movies that had India as its central theme, had an Indian composer at the helm who went on to win the Oscar awards. Yet never in the aftermath of the movie’s success was there ever a statement either by the concerned state government or the central government to improve the conditions of those people. Populist policies are made – removal of technology from day to day life, re-building of certain religious places as well as more and more reservation schemes for the so-called backward sections of the society. On an international stage we go about presenting evidence to each country in turn, asking them for their support in approving sanctions against certain governments when the whole time intelligence agencies from different countries have validated our claims. We have treated our own borders with indifference and sneered at the capabilities of our armed forces.  We have abused our lady-folk by dragging and molesting them on the streets for their so-called ‘anti Indian culture behaviours’ (Wonder if dragging and molesting on the middle of the road is considered part of Indian culture?)  And have had governments which have been too weak to nip such nonsense in its bud. We have had people of certain races from our country being brutally treated in some of the countries that are well-known to us. Yet we have chosen to maintain our silence. And in order to appease the masses, we ask them about once in a pink moon to treat their people properly. And we are considered to be the country which respects human-rights and believes in non-violence. Yeah right!

At the end of the day, nothing has been done for the masses. Half, nay, three-quarters of the tax-payers money is wasted on absolute nonsense. And in the end, we are still far far below when it comes to having good infrastructure. How many villages and towns have proper access to water, let alone electricity? Nothing ever gets done. Grand plans are made in the Planning Commission and that is what they remain as – plans.

It is time we expressed our voice out loud. Tell the leaders what we think by going out there and voting. Remember, if you remain indifferent, there are problems of far greater intensity which we will face in the future. At that point, it will be too late to turn back the clock. Act now. Or forever hold your peace. Your choice.

 

January 4, 2009

An Anecdote – The little boy

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 4:00 pm

The little boy boarded the bus in his little blue uniform. He was on his way to school, or rather on his way to his kindergarten. On his way to his kindergarten carrying his small school bag that had all the essentials that he needed, including a small pillow for the rest and relaxation session after lunch. All neatly packed by his mom into his neat little school bag.

The bus was neither full nor empty. It was nearing the morning rush hour, so to speak, but people still seemed to have just gotten up from their beds, having talked themselves into getting that extra bit of shut-eye before being enveloped in the madness that was known as work and employment. The bus driver too would probably have enjoyed having spent those extra minutes resting his eyes. But unfortunately, he belonged to the lot who had to coax themselves to rise long before the sun was scheduled to make its daily appearance. And as was usual, he let out a tired sigh when he stopped the bus at the bus-stop.

As was his custom, the bus driver observed everyone getting into the bus at the stop. Observed to ensure that everyone who wanted in, got in and everyone who wanted out, got out. He watched as the little boy in his little blue uniform got in, aided by his mother. And what happened next, came as a complete surprise to him.

The little boy looked at the bus driver, gave him his widest smile, a smile which coming from one of so young an age, was completely sincere was, no doubt, from the heart, and wished him a good morning. The bus driver acknowledged the greeting and reciprocated it, with as much warmth and sincerity he could muster. At the same time, he noticed how the whole bus had gone totally quiet when it had heard the little boy. It seemed to the bus driver that the rest of the bus had been put to shame by a simple act of the little boy. But once the little boy had gotten in and taken his seat with his mother, the previous chatter resumed. And the bus continued on its way.

The boy was by no means, the first to enter at the stop and nor was he the last. The others merely pretended to think that the bus was self-driven with no human interface and did not even glance in his direction. The driver was given a polite thank you and a cheerful goodbye, again from the little boy, when he had reached his destination. And although the occupants of the bus had been silenced once again by the little boy, the thank you and the goodbye from the little boy were all the greetings that the driver heard for the rest of his day. And it was this small gesture, which adults seemed incapable of giving, that the driver looked forward to for as long as he lived.

November 14, 2008

An interesting link

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 5:55 am

This happens to be a video that I like a lot. You might find others funnier, but this was the first one I saw atleast 2 years ago and have always liked it. Link is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4

P.S. For Indians, it also happens to be Children’s Day today. Although you are likely to argue that you are too old to be considered a child, there is no harm in letting loose laughter and smiles like one. Hence the date of the post is 14th November 2008. :-)

July 20, 2008

The right write

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 7:42 am

This is bad. Terrible in fact. What else can go wrong? Looks like Murphy’s Law is working its charm on me yet again. This was supposed to be a dream comeback. And yet. You are wondering what I am going on about? Well here it is.

I have lost the ability to write. Yup, you read that right (hey, that was a classic case of homonyms. Cool!). Every time I sit down and try to conjure an article out of thin air, scratch that, out of paper and pen(cil?), I fail miserably. What seems to be the problem you ask? Let me tell you.

I seem to have been struck down with a case of topicnondecidus. Yeah, that is a new epidemic that seems to be spreading around. It affects the person by making him unable to choose and decide the right topic the person wants to write about. Here is the classic case illustration of topicnondecidus:

Politics and current affairs? Nah. I daresay you are getting enough dose of it from the different media already. In which case, my opinions would hardly make a difference.

Cricket? Nope. Too limited a scope. I can only praise the amazing ability of the Indian cricket team to be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (yeah, you read that right too!)

Moral sciences? No way. I ain’t a moral sciences teacher and neither do I want to be seen as one. I simply don’t want to bore the pants off you by talking of ideal things, when they are just that – ideal – and not real.

Movies? Uh-huh. My sense of a movie is something where I simply lose myself in the manner in which the story is told. It doesn’t matter to me whether it is critically acclaimed or not. Of course, if the movie is a Harry Potter movie, then I suppose I am one of the most difficult people who would agree that the movie has been taken in the best possible manner.

Personal life? Negative. Nowhere else in the world, with the lone exception of the hibernation period of winter animals, would you find a life story as boring as mine.

So then, what do I do? Maybe the problem can be solved if I try another language. After all, in school, I did do a second language. Ah! That should do it, wouldn’t you think? Nay. I am barely able to string four sentences together in the other language, the reason being that I have not written in that language for the past four years. Sheesh! And add to that the fact that I wrote this article over four days (no, no! Not four days of research! I was too lazy to continue after the first day until today). Nothing seems to help my cause, does it?

So then, what do I write about? Well, till now, I have written about what I cannot write about. Maybe that is what I should do. Write about what I cannot write about. Or maybe you the doctor that I need to see to cure myself of topicnondecidus? What’s up doc? Any suggestions? The future of the world, oops that is carrying it a wee bit too far, the future of this blog, is now in your hands. And I am waiting.

April 11, 2008

Life…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 9:39 pm

Life. That wonderful yet disastrous path that lies between birth and death. That path which harbors all our dreams, aspirations, fears and nightmares. And in which we look only to succeed, never to fail at any cost.

 

When we were young, our parents would observe us and make mental guesses as to what path we would be taking. And when we grow older, we are often confronted by the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At the age of six or seven, when are still relatively new to the world, we fancy ourselves to be pilots, fire-fighters or even ice-cream sellers. Everyone around us give us indulgent smiles. They know how small we are. At that age we are probably too young to understand how cruel the real world actually is. And so we can be forgiven.

 

Forgiven for what? Let me explain as we proceed in this article. Now, a couple of years have passed and we are around 12 or 13 (yeah, it is actually three times a couple of years!). We are asked the question again, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And the answer this time is markedly different. Gone are the thoughts of becoming pilots, fire-fighters or ice-cream sellers. We now want to become engineers, scientists and doctors. Again, we neglect something. But this time also, it can be argued that one is effectively shielded from the cruelties of society and so we can be forgiven again.

 

Again fast forward. Move to the age of around 15 to 18 years when you are at the crossroads of choosing your future, your destiny and your livelihood. This time, we focus on more specific areas either within what we chose the last time around or something different from the previous. More often than not, it would be the former and not the latter. And in such cases, we decide what exactly it is that we aspire to do, wish to see ourselves in the future as. And then the choice is made. However, we no longer can claim innocence or being shielded from the harshness of society and reality. And so this time around we cannot be forgiven.

 

Probably by now your temper would have risen. What is this guy talking about? He goes on and on about being forgiven and not being forgiven and yet he never mentions is explicitly. Let me placate you. What I am talking about is the fact that at no stage do we say that we want to be good citizens, humane beings and gentlemen (or ladies, as applicable). Think about it. The question asked was not, “What profession do you want to take up when you grow up?” In such a case, our answers would be justified. But the question asked was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The attributes that have just been stated should have been said at some point of time. But it never was.

 

You could argue that those are basic qualities and would be present in any person. But you are mistaken. How would you know that the basics of the person are reinforced with such ideas? For all you know, the person could be a highly successful engineer or doctor or scientist, yet lacking in the three main basic qualities. In such a case, isn’t that person purely achieving success at the cost of the basic qualities?

 

What happens in the modern day, extremely fast-paced world is that we never stop to think about small details. What drives is money, success and anything that comes with both of these. Yet, every once in a while, we should take the time off to re-assess if we are living our lives with the three basic qualities. For if we don’t, we are of much lesser use to our family and to the rest of the society than the most despicable of creatures that roam the earth.

 

 

 

March 13, 2008

Repentance

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 6:13 pm

In case you happened to read the post here and gotten the wrong end of the line, let me clarify… I AM NOT OF SICK MIND. IT WAS MEANT AS A SOCIAL MESSAGE. BUT EVIDENTLY THE IMPRESSION IS THAT I AM OF SICK MIND. I REPEAT, I AM NOT. IT WAS MEANT IN ORDER TO HIGHLIGHT THE SITUATION W.R.T THE SCARLETT CASE IN GOA . In case you still feel I am, I am sorry that I cannot change your opinion of me.

For those who thought there was a post here, please be informed that based on feedback, it has been removed.

March 7, 2008

Freedom?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 4:10 pm

Freedom. The last words of William Wallace before he was executed. Among one of the many souls that lay down their lives for what they believed in, what they fought for. However, this isn’t about William Wallace. This isn’t even about those souls to which we are eternally grateful too. This is about freedom. Of course, I do need to add a warning here. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. If you care naught for them, then please don’t continue. Beware! You have been warned!

Now that you have decided to continue, let me start off. Ever wondered how the word ‘freedom’ came into existence? If you ask me (again, if you don’t, then you don’t have to continue reading!), I would say that the early speakers and inventors of the English language coined it from two other words – free and doom. Of course in such a case, it would have been freedoom and any layman of that time could have found out what the word was supposed to mean. So, those early speakers and inventors met up once again, in the dead of the night, at the local cemetery and threatened those who disagreed with the rest on removing one of the ‘o’ (if you understand Tamil, then you can think of this as ‘O Yedu’ instead of ‘O Podu’) from the word with blindfolded abandonment in the graveyard. Of course, that would have been spooky, but it would also guarantee that everyone agreed to the change. Voila! The word freedom was conjured. But those who had conjured this up also realized that they had to change its meaning. And yet, they had to satisfy that tiny nagging of the conscience that interferes with one’s peaceful sleep. And so, with a clever play of the words, both were achieved. And lo behold! Freedom was here to stay!

If you think I have lost my marbles, I haven’t. At least no yet. Take a look around you (a 360° rotation is not what I had in mind) and take a look at the past. Every time there is something to do freedom, it only results in anarchy, chaos and madness. And out of this inferno, some order is created which lasts till the next wave of chaos comes in. Right from most historical struggles to the present day ridiculous clashes based on freedom and human rights, everything has spelt doom in capitals. In a bid to satisfy or acquire what we think is freedom, we end up causing, always, more harm than good. And yet which is justified as being ‘all for the best’ in the long run? So isn’t what I have put forth to you so far, actually quite meaningful and valid?

If you think I am not for freedom, you are sorely mistaken. If I didn’t like freedom or didn’t support freedom, I wouldn’t have been able to write this article. What I am trying to present to you here is this – the next time you hear freedom somewhere, remember that doom is sure to follow. After all, freedom differs (In English and in Mathematics) from freedoom only by an ‘o’.

January 6, 2008

You have got mail, Mr. Ponting

Filed under: Uncategorized — Antimony @ 5:52 pm

Mr. Ponting and team,

In years to come, this day – and in case you have forgotten the date, it is 6th January 2008 – might go down in your history books as the day you equaled Steve Waugh’s record of 16 consecutive wins. But for the team that met your aggression with its own – and in case you have forgotten the opposition, it is India – it is a day when they mourn the death of sportsmanship and integrity of the game. Let me tell you why this victory cannot be yours, in the minds of conscientious and integral players of the game.

Your association with Indians has never been nice has it? You had no manners in the way your team celebrated the victory of the Champions Trophy that was held in India. You guys actually pushed the chief guest off the dais. And your team was talking of Indian celebration after the Twenty20 World Cup? Oh. That is so against your principles isn’t it?

Mr. Ponting, I am not a professional player. My activities are limited to simple 10-over matches with a group of my friends. And yet, where we play for the simple sake of having fun, the integrity my friends and I show is probably a hundred times more than what your entire team is worth. You speak of integrity, when you yourself where out at the score of 14 in the first innings and yet refused to walk? You speak of integrity, when you very plainly grounded a ‘chance’ offered by Dhoni? You speak of integrity, when your wicketkeeper claims a catch, that even a small infant watching the match knows has not touched the bat? You speak of integrity, when your understudy Michael Clarke refused to walk off, when he was very cleanly out? You speak of integrity, when Andrew Symonds, did not walk off the pitch, when he knew himself to be guilty? And the one time that an Indian in form of Ganguly stood his ground, you judged him out(and for your kind information Mr. Ponting, every time an Indian knew that he had nicked the ball and saw the catch taken without a shadow of a doubt, he walked! To keep up the spirit of the game. Rather than using desperate and unfair methods to continue playing!)? Surely you have got to be kidding me!

And racial abuse? Your team and your players, of all people in the world, are complaining of racial abuse. Surely you are joking, Mr. Ponting? What makes the joke even funnier is the fact that you seemed to have behaved in exactly a manner that a lawyer would expect you to behave in – bring a lot of false witnesses to stand up in court. You did believe the umpires during the course of the match did you not? The very same umpires clearly gave in writing, mind you, that they hadn’t noticed any racial abuse. And you are not going to take their word for it, this time? If you look closely, Mr. Ponting, I am quite sure that you would find yourself, plainly not in the picture during the verbal banter. Neither was Adam Gilchrist. Nor was Michael Clarke. Nor was Mathew Hayden. And you are all going to be witnesses? How you brilliantly stereotype the image of a bad lawyer’s clientele is totally beyond me. But here it is.

What the world saw you was as a pinnacle of success, a team that could overcome any odds. What the world now sees you, is as a team that is pathetic. A team that wants to win at any cost. A team that is so unsporting on the field. A team that is scared out its pants if an opposition stands up to them and fights back. A team whose captain is so afraid of one bowler, that the entire team makes a desperate and dangerous ploy to ensure that the bowler does not play the rest of the series. Well done Mr. Ponting! This is surely a record and an achievement that none of the previous captain have managed. Well done, Mr. Ponting! And may your team rot in peace!

Wishing you and your mates never win a test match during the rest of your lives,

An ardent and proud Indian cricket fan.

P.S. This is not sour grape. This is what you should expect when you go against the rules of the game, mate!

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