Religious Conversion

The issue of forced religious conversions is back. This time it is from Gujarat. Forcible conversions are already banned in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamilnadu. I doubt the effectiveness of such law in preventing the conversions.

I personally believe that all religious conversion should be banned. If pundits of all the religions claim that all religions are same, then logically the need for conversion does not arise. If they disagree on this, and start conversions, they might start the cycle of religious hatred.

Dont give Saddam martyrdom

Unverified reports have been suggesting that Saddam might have been a casualty of the heavy bombardment of Baghdad. Even if US troops kill Saddam, I believe they should never let the word out. The moment the US kills Saddam and makes a big news item of it, he will ensure his place in Arabic History books as a martyr for the Arabic cause.

With the shrewdness he has, he might have already recorded a video, to be broadcast in case of his death in war, portraying him to be a victim in the hands of the Cruel west. The West, who attacked his country and killed him, even when he didnt have any weapons of mass destruction. Importantly the video will stress on the arabic cause, to strike a chord in Arab hearts, by showing how he died defending his nation against Western crusaders.

World war III in making?

North Korea has started making headlines in the Eastern part of the world. The last thing we need now is a disturbance in that region, which could potentially lead to WWIII. The thought did occur to me, that if I was a North Korean leader, with the only ambition to take over South Korea, I would strike now. Particularly as the US forces and the world are concentrating on the Middle East. What a scary thought!

In other news, Turkey might send its troops into Northern Iraq apparently to prevent the influx of refugees. The main underlying aim of Turkey is not to get rid of Saddam, but to prevent a separate country of Kurds being born in the north of Iraq. An independant country of Kurds, might cause the huge population of Turkish Kurds rising for separatism. Definitely, some diplomatic len-den* has gone in before Turkey allowed US to use its airspace.

*len-den : Horse trading

India vs Australia

India is through to the finals of the World cup. I am sure men in blue will be giving the Aussies a really tough time. I want the winning streak of the Aussie team to be stopped by mighty Indian’s. India has improved quite a lot in recent years.

Nothing more to say. Just waiting anxiously for the sunday’s match.

A nuclear power in Middle East

The late night BBC correspondent program began with a series of questions. It was all related to a nuclear capable country in Middle East, which dont have any sanctions against it. The country turned out to be Israel.

Apparently Israel has its own nuclear programme, and it is estimated that they currently posses anywhere between 100-200 nuclear weapons. More than enought to wipe out the whole of Middle East. America apparently are supporting them, turning a blind eye towards these information.

Links:
Israeli Nuclear Weapons – Federation of American Scientists
Israeli Nuclear weapons programme
Dimona revealed
Vanunu nominated for Nobel Prize.

Two to go for World Cup

Australia are through to the finals. Though during the match, my Indian colleagues were supporting Sri Lanka, I wanted Australia to win and go to the finals. I think if India gets the World Cup, it should be by defeating the current cup holders – Australia – comprehensively.

Indeed it will be a tough match, but what a win it will be. But before that, the upcoming semi final will be tough for India. The Kenyans have improved quite a lot in their fielding and bowling department. Moreover its a day and night match. I am just waiting for Indians to tame the kenyans in the semis and maul the Australians in the final (hoping for too much, are we?).

A war in need

Regime change in Iraq is long overdue. If Tony Blair and Bush had to sideline United Nations for this, so be it. Something that needs to be done, needs to be done. Iraq has been playing truant since the last Gulf war, and the UN has been warning the Iraqi regime. But most importantly UN has failed to show that it means business, which the regime has been taking advantage of. It is high time that someone stepped in and do something about it.

Most of the anti-war protesters fail to see, that diplomacy that has been going on for 12+ years after the last Gulf war has failed. Time is ripe for a proper democracy to be installed in the Gulf region, and set as an example for other Gulf nations. If Saddam Hussein is interested in peace, he could leave the country with his honcho’s, and avoid a war.

With the military might of US and UK, its pretty much sure the war will be a short one. The only exception could be the war for Baghdad. US and UK can do better by not making Saddam a martyr. If Saddam has got Weapons of Mass Destruciton, Its logical that he will use it during this war to create regional instability and to prolong the war. Its a possibility that missiles might fly in the direction of Israel or Kuwait, probably laden with chemical or biological agents, which Iraq never had!

The most important issue concerning US and allies will be the post-war scenario. US having committed to rebuild Afghanistan, will have the added responsibility of rebuilding Iraq. How far they remain committed to it remains to be seen. They will have to set up a system, where by which, proper self-rule by the people of Iraq can be established in a short time.

New design New beginning

Whenever I change the look of my site, I feel like writing. But then it becomes hardwork to keep up the writing, so I again look to change the look of my site. This time, the design has been entirely by my better-half, and the Movable Type installation and adaptation was done by me (ok, the worst half). It took quite some time figuring out the functionalities I needed from Movable Type. I had to download all the previous entries from my Livejournal site. Unfortunately, I couldnt download the comments from my Livejournal posts.

The idea of the image pattern on the left, is based on the Harmonium design. I have a Harmonium at home, which I experiment with quite a lot. Though my finguring of the keys are still incorrect, I can produce some tunes without much trouble. More about my music experiments will reflect later in the blog as well.

The images used in the design are taken by us over a period of time. To my amazement, I found that the parts of images can be more interesting than the whole image itself. Maybe after some time, I can get the image album also online. But for the moment, let me start writing again.

The missing brick

There used to be a big frog community living in a well. A young frog named sotnas was among them in that well. For him the whole world was this well and there was no world bigger than his well. From childhood he had noticed that there was a brick in the well, which was missing. But since no one in the community talked to him about it, he found it to be normal, not to speak about the missing brick in the well. Time passed and our sotnas frog grew up, He was very hard-working and studious, and got into the leap-frog well university for higher education. Frogs from other families also came to the university for higher studies. Sotnas stood out of rest in the university with his academics and great ideas. “Like attracts like”, they say in frog-purana(holy book of the Frogs), sotnas too attracted some friends whom he cherished close to his heart. Days were going smoothly…

Till one day, one of his friends mentioned about the missing brick. Sotnas was shell shocked. He was hearing about the missing brick from one of his friends whom he respected most. He had always looked down on anyone who mentioned about the missing brick. He always thought who ever talked about the missing brick to be bad. But he couldnt look down on this friend, because he knew his friend was good. This threw his mind into utter confusion. This turned his world upside down. How could anyone speak about the missing brick so openly. He soon discovered to his astonishment that more people didnt have any reservation talking about the missing brick in the well. This caused him lot of worries, He started questioning everything he had learnt in his life. He was feeling as if his whole life was like a well with missing brick, which he considered imperfect.

Sotnas was slowly walking into depression. He spent a lot of time praying to the Frog-devta(God of the Frogs) for a solution. His mind was now scarred, and wanted any divine-frog to heal it for him. He was getting obsessed by the missing brick in the wall. How can “a well” be “a well”, with one brick missing. He used to raise all his doubts whenever he used to be with is friends. All of them advised him to look at the bigger picture. Afterall the world didnt just consist of a well. If he didnt want to speak about the missing brick, he doesnt have to. It was upto him. World had several rivers, oceans, mountains and more. Compared to them the well was nothing, and the missing brick was even miniscule. All of his friends beleived that sotnas the frog can do big things in life, for he had a wonderful mind, a sharp intellect and grace of Frog-devta. They all knew one day they will be proud to say to their kins that they were close friends of Sotnas-the Frog. They wanted him to climb to greater heights.

Sotnas was slowly slipping more and more to depression. he had finished his university studies, his state of mind affecting the results. But his intellect was sharp as ever. He took up job as a teacher in another frog-university, where his frog students loved his teaching. All of them wondered, why a teacher like sotnas, was still in obscurity with such brilliance. But sotnas was still worried about the hole in his well. This obsession was slowly eating his life away.

The story of Sotnas has at this stage has two possible endings. The synopsis of both are as follows. I dont know which ending did sotnas the frog choose. I am just a spectator, Sotnas was living it.

Ending 1: “nothing is permanent, and no change is abrupt” says the frog-purana.

Our dear Sotnas after a period of time realized his folly of tying his mind to just one thought. He slowly understood the mistake he was doing in limiting his own thoughts to the well. After all the “Frog-Devta” the all prevasive, who created the world, including the well-with-a-missing-brick, didnt create him to brood on this question. He slowly started to look out to the world. The brick was still missing, but his world was growing bigger, and the missing brick problem was diminishing in size. Eventually he was in a position, where his friends wanted him long time back. He was receiving the Frog-scientist-award in a huge ceremony. His friends were glued in front of the telly watching it, none of their eyes were dry.

Ending 2: “all frogs are born to croak, croak and croak. but it is those some frogs who utilise the talent I have given them other than croaking, that are close to me.” as told by frog-paramatma to ajjuna-the-frog-warrior. (from Frogaarata the epic)

Our poor Sotnas could not bear the thought of the missing brick. He was willing to try out all remedies, but his obsessiveness about the missing brick didnt allow him a cure. He continued teaching and croaking. He was silently pasing more into obscurity. Long time after this, his friends were narrating his story, about what could have been, about what sotnas missed out due to his undue attention to a brick. none of thier eyes were dry.

I dont know which ending did Sotnas-the-Frog choose.