Baraat Heads to Nagpur

 

Image courtesy

60 people. Destination Nagpur. Means of Transport: Train. Purpose Shaadi!

Now that’s an awesome recipe for total hungama. The fact that you happen to be on the Bride Groom’s side, helps too. After all in India, the groom’s side rules as far as enjoying a marriage goes. I have been on the other side three times now and I know that it’s nothing but work, work and more work. And then, some more work!

We will be travelling by the superfast AP Express which starts at 6.25 AM from Nampally station and reaches Nagpur by 3.30 PM. Only three stops in between. There’ll be dancing, singing, pranks, taunts and of course, lots of food!  Dress code will be traditional Kurta Pajamas for the Sreemant Pujan on Sunday evening and the Marriage on Monday morning. We come back on Tuesday morning and then prepare for a Reception on Wednesday evening.

All in all, it’s going to be a hectic few days for me but who’ll get tired of having fun at someone else’s expense? I know how you guys will feel when you slog away at work while have a kickass time. Can’t help it, no?

And for clarity’s sake, it’s my paternal cousin who’s getting married.

What if All the Ice Melts? Oh No!

Yeah really. What would happen if all the ice on the Earth were to melt? Wouldn’t the world drown? Would countries shrink? Hoards of people will be forced to move away from the coastal areas. Entire civilisations will be wiped out. Animal species will be extinct. Err, hold on. Let’s get views from someone who understands this better that Al Gore and co.

xntricpundits directed me to an article by Robert Johnston, a PhD student (physics) at the University of Dallas. Johnston has published loads of stuff on global warming, including this paper whose title I’ve borrowed in part for this post. So here’s what he has to say about the ice melting thingy:

While today’s balance between the icecaps and global sea level has been relatively steady since about 1000 B.C., it would be careless to assume that this is the Earth’s natural state and that it should always be this way.

[...]

…recent stories have periodically appeared concerning the potential receding of the Greenland ice cap. Two points may be made regarding current understanding here. First, there is considerable disagreement as to the current rate of net ice cap loss–or even if there is net loss versus net gain. Second, even with temperature increases far greater than the dubious predictions of the IPCC, models indicate that Greenland’s ice cap would take 2,000 to 10,000 years to disappear.

[...]

Both Greenland and Antarctica, free of ice, have areas that would be below sea level. However, with the weight of this ice removed, Greenland and Antarctica would rise higher–this phenomena is called isostatic rebound. This rebound lags behind the removal of the ice (by thousands of years). Eventually, most of Greenland would probably be above sea level. However, significant portions of Antarctica would remain underwater.

[...]

Today the Earth has 148 million sq. km of land area, of which 16 million sq. km is covered by glaciers. A sea level rise of 66 meters would flood about 13 million sq. km of land outside Antarctica. Without polar ice, Antarctica and Greenland would be ice free, although about half of Antarctica would be under water. Thus, ice-free land would be 128 million sq. km compared to 132 million sq. km today.

and finally…

this sort of change cannot be affected by modern human activity even given many centuries. It is sad that some youngsters think that burning of hydrocarbons could cause the ice caps to melt and drown cities; it is criminal when teachers don’t correct this nonsense. And it should tell you much of environmental groups like the Sierra Club when they use such myths to further an extremist political agenda.

Suffices to say, there’s loads of stuff that we do not know about the effects that global warming would have on our planet. Note that the fact that global warming is for real is not being denied. I remember reading a scientist saying, if the earth got warmer, fewer people will die of cold. Is that good or bad?

Sethusamudram – VHP is Going to War!

”We want to save the Ram Setu. We have waged a religious war. For that we need workers. From the October 12 to the 26th we will be inducting workers. We have recruited a lot of people during the Ram Lila and Durga Puja programmes,” said Venkatesh Abdeo, All India Joint Secretary, VHP.

What this essentially means is that we will be seeing more heart-wrenching stuff from the VHP sleuths in the next one year. That again translates into loads of entertainment for the political drama enthusiasts. So what if states lose crores of rupees due to the bandhs, rasta rokos and what not? The common man has long been forgotten. This is now a full-blown effort by the BJP and co. to get back to power; if not at the centre at least in the states. No other issue, however grave or politcally juicy it is, matters. Crores of rupees meant for the Tsunami victims have been siphoned away by government officials. But that is too small an issue.

A passing thought occurs: Ram’s vanar sena (monkey army) built the bridge and VHP’s monkey army is now going to ‘protect’ it. Andrew Symonds has been subjected to monkey chants by the Indian spectators. Delhi’s deputy mayor was killed while fighting monkeys two days back. This truly is turning out to be the year of the monkey for India!

Happy Dussehra!

Happy Dussehra everyone!

Image courtesy: 4to40

My routine tomorrow will be the usual: getting up early to perform the puja of our vehicles. Then go to the Venkateshwara temple at Chikkadpally. This is followed by a hearty breakfast.

At home mom will cook some tasty Shreekhand, Pulao, Poori and many more tasty items.In the evening, we visit the Durga temple at Troop Bazaar. Then it’s time to meet up with all the relatives and eat more sweets. Of course, I’ll be wearing the snazzy Yellow Chudidaar Kurta I bought yesterday.

Have a great time everyone!

Get a Haircut, Andrew

A lot has been said, written, discussed and debated about the so called racist remarks made by the crowds at Vadodra and Mumbai against Andrew Symonds. All this talk about Indians being racist is pure bull crap. Why would Indian’s use the word monkey if they wanted to be racist or insult someone?

But The Australian has an explanation to this:

Indians claim that monkey chanting is unknown as a racist slur in this country. But it’s commonly used in Europe and even Australia, where black English bowler Gladstone Small was once thrown a banana.

Soccer crowds are notorious for monkey chants to black players. Last year, Leipzig’s Nigerian midfielder Adebowale Ogungbure was called nigger and ape and subjected to monkey noises in Germany. It happened in April in Slovakia. It happens in Spain, Scotland, everywhere, apparently, but India. Rich and even lower middle-class Indians would know this. English soccer is a staple on television here. [My emphasis]

See, this is what happens when you speculate about people about whom you don’t know anything. With all due respects to Adebowale Ogungbure, how many Indians have ever heard of him? Middle-class Indians watching European Football so eagerly that they know about all the racist talk that happens in Europe? Woha!

Earlier, I asked fellow blogger Ottayan and he said that he too got a similar explanation. I am sure more than half of the crowd present at Mumbai and Vadodra had skin colour darker than Symonds’. Further, how many Indians know that Andrew Symonds has a ‘black’ lineage? Let’s dig deeper into it, how many West Indians have complained about such ‘monkey chants’ from Indians? I think you get what I am saying.

Therefore, it has led me to conclude that the only possible rational explanation to these monkey chants lies somewhere else. Something that the media–in Australia and India–has totally missed in its hurry to earn some TRP. Andrew Symonds’ haircut.

Images sourced from here and here

For all the pain and suffering that Symonds has been through at the hands of the Indian crowds there’s but one solution, get a haircut, Andrew! I can say this because I too had long hair till not so long ago. When I finally cut them short, people around me welcomed me back saying stuff like, “welcome back to the human kind”…you look a lot civilised now. Read more about it here.