Pirates at bay..

I'm sure that you've heard the recent news about Indian Navy's INS Tabar that took down the pirate ship holding an Indian cargo ship for ransom. Some thoughts that kept ticking away in that pea-sized brain of mine-

What?
An Indian merchant ship was attacked by Somali pirates on the 11 Nov.2008. The ship called for help from the navy. The INS Tabar, which was about 25 nautical miles away at the time of the distress call, rushed a Chetak helicopter carrying a team of MARCOS (Indian Navy Marine Commandos) personnel to the location of the ship. The team successfully thwarted the hijack attempt. The same day,they also thwarted another attempt on a Saudi based cargo ship. Kudos to the Indian Navy!

Why?
There are a number of reasons for this. Poverty is rampant in Somalia and it has been without an effective central government since 1991. Also, it lies close to the strategically important Gulf of Aden, which is used to ship a significant percentage of the world's oil reserves and,not to forget,many of India's main trade routes.

As you can see from the pic here,most of them are 20 somethings. Tormented by the poverty in their homeland,inability to provide for their families have forced them to take drastic measures. Millions of Somalis depend on food aid and in 2008, according to the World Bank, as much as 73% of the population lived on a daily income below $2.Precise data on the economical situation in Somalia is scarce but with an estimated per capita GDP of $600/year(!), it remains one of the world's poorest countries. With conditions like this,if lucrative offers of piracy lead them on,it is no surprise that they are going about it as if they were campus placements.

Effects?
There has been some change back home for these pirates who have been able to provide for their families and enable them to build houses,get good clothes,food and even spend a little on luxuries. Shops have now installed generators enabling 24 hour power supply,previously a dream in these regions. People are spending more and somehow there is growth in the economy. If nothing else,at least they have enough for subsistence.

Is it right?
People like us,who have nestled into our comfortable,complacent livelihoods cannot judge their actions as right or wrong. When none of the countries try to improve countries like Somalia in their weak economic conditions,communal forces will take over. Islamic forces have been providing for the initial funding for the weapons and ammo. And I'm of the opinion that a chunk of also goes to fund terrorist activities elsewhere as well.

Taking out ships with force and forming alliances for such purposes does not seem to be the ideal solution. Yes,they can be suppressed for some time,but eventually they will surface again with something else. Why are "Big daddy" countries like US not interfering here? Because there are no oil reserves or other attractive sources here?
Hypocrites!

Solutions??
Establishing order has to be tantamount. That can happen when we take power out of the communal,instigative forces and help establish a stable government there. This can happen in about 5-10 years. Meanwhile,economic and food aid has to be provided. This is their bargaining power,Hunger--what has driven youngsters to this. Take it away from the forces and people will have someone to trust. The aid has to be abundant and periodic, and not sporadic efforts as they are being done now.

Unless countries of the world join hands in undoing this mess now,many other forces will rise in other small economies as well. Communal forces will play with their lives using hunger and money as pawns. And if,and when this happens, no sea battles will suffice to restore order again.

As W.B.Yeats once said

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity!

P.S: A new update on this has been that the vessel that INS Tabar sank was actually a Thai trawler,which was kidnapped by the Somali pirates. 14 members of the crew of this trawler are still missing,1 dead,1 still fighting for life. There is a Maritime Force that monitors activities in these seas. They say since India is not a part of the force,they should have at least sought info before making any attacks.
Since our external affairs minister does not have any "solid" info yet,he hasn't said anything. Let's wait and watch...

A recipe for disaster....

"Here’s a recipe for global economic meltdown. Just add greed, political instability, stir in incompetence, corporate malfeasance, sociopathic tendencies, add more greed and then wait several years for a crust of deception to rise."
I wish those were my lines,but they're not... Picked 'em up from a "friend's" blog...

I'm not an economic expert not have I done any course even remotely related to understanding the effects of the global economic situation on our little worlds. But when they start hiking the prices of eatables,vegetables and everything that 'money can buy',it pisses me off!

Some things that strike me as amazing about our current global situation are--

• We don't have sufficient funds anywhere,there's a shortage of dollar,dinar,pound and rupee,yet the U.S just spent $5.3 billion for their presidential elections. That includes the $2.4 billion spent just for the Presidential race.


• We have the world's best business 'experts',trade analysts,not to forget,an incredibly large number of billionaires and co. Yet one crisis like this could not be predicted and corrected on time. I'm engulfed by a large feeling of futility in pursuing any higher studies,considering the effect it will have (or rather not have) on making the world better.


• While a financial crunch is gripping our b**ls,we're sending a bloody expensive Chandrayaan mission to the moon to do God-know-what. Our consolation being that compared to the moon missions of other countries,our mission was most economical. It's like a bachelor purchasing a set of nighties because they were at a 50% discount! Being economical does not justify the purpose of the mission itself. What is the use of this mission anyway? and many other such global missions(exclude satellites) to find intelligent life in the Universe when there's a clear absence of it on our own planet..

• Forget the niceties of the global whatever. We've got 'smart' traders messing with the stock market all the time! Akin to poking at a beehive and then doing it again when it didn't give you a painful answer. :) Starting at 9.55 in the morning,when houses go buzz with the opening bell of the market, to the end of the day's trade, this tampering keeps going on. The genuine traders are trying to balance the Bull-Bear tussle,while the illegitimate ones are making moolah out of the tampering. Foreign investors are pumping in cash only to be raked in by bad decisions by the people at the helm.



• Vegetable rates have started soaring to astronomical figures(figuratively!). While the middle-class and the upper strata can afford to still fill their bellies, the poor may find it difficult to even afford 2 meals a day. We talk of progress and 10,20 year plans which are mere hog-wash considering that food has become a luxury.
• and the privileged ones are callous about being the privileged lot! It has become a taken-for-granted situation where we let out a few sighs on reading about inflation and then flip the page nonchalantly.

• Jobs have become so insecure that senior employees are knocking knees at the prospect of losing their jobs,not to forget,the under grads who're itching to know if their jobs will be there by the time they're done with gruelling years in completing their degrees.

• Crude oil rates per barrel have gone down considerably,but there is no proportionate decrease in the rates of petrol/diesel for consumers. Of course,no measures can be taken without active involvement of the government. IOCL, an erstwhile profitable company has recorded losses of Rs.7047 crore this quarter,its first loss in 9 quarters. It has been attributed to inventory valuation losses and increase in interest expenditure due to high interest rates. Why is the global reduction in prices not affecting us positively, when the global economic crisis has been devastating? Who's to blame for not letting the good oil trickle down to ease up the economic machinery of our country?


It may seem futile at our age to give such things undue importance,but it's good to know what instability we're stepping into. These changes have not been abrupt ones,it has taken years of piling up of the deck to finally cause this unstable house of cards that personifies the debacle our economy resembles. I don't know what my parting words will be,knowing that they may not make much of an impact anyway. But what I know for sure is that it is going to take an immense amount of talent and discipline to get us back on track.

Let's just hope that this time,we can find the right balance of ingredients-

A healthy mix of astuteness and precocity combined with morality. The addition of quality corporate ethics,patriots with an ounce of greed less than the next guy and visionary leaders into a country-first political bowl. Add a little yeast of youth. And humbly watch the dough of global stability rise.

Eggs-periments of a wannabe cook..

A clear Sunday morning. My parents ditch me and go to Singapore. No,actually,I'm the saintly person who refused to go! Anyways,I've got 10 days at hand,a relatively empty fridge,a low stock of snacks,and a recently acquired large appetite. How does one get through 10 days of this condition? Well,I did. And I live to write about it too..





Day 1: Relatively good,since there was some sambhar from the previous day,lunch would be easy. Hmmm..Breakfast...Managed to make chapatis that are fairly round,though it has taken me years of prior practice with the belan to get them right. Hang on... Nothing to go along with chapati.. And I hate stuff like jam with it. And to my rescue comes- tadaa.... EGG! I make a sabzi with onions,tomatoes, coriander,chillies,and cheese. Quite sumptuous. Had the same combination for dinner too,having enjoyed the breakfast and all! :p


Day 3: Bored of having chapatis for 2 days. Tried my hand at a special uppittu. I don't know what got into me. Poured water like a madman,and ended up eating something that resembled porridge minus the good taste. And if I can call porridge tasty, this must've been quite a dish! hmmm..Lunch.. Again comes to the rescue-EGG! Made egg-fried rice that tasted quite good,and another meal accomplished!!



Day 5: Too bored of having to cook for 4 days now,I decided to have breakfast out. So nothing special there. Usual Mylari's masala dosa to the rescue.

Day 8: Several failed dishes later,I suddenly realised that there's a lot of milk left in the fridge. Hmm...Breakfast..!! :) I tried my hand at an old Mom recipe for French toast or something that resembles it. Used up the milk,but the reason I brought this up was because there my saviour was again.. EGG! A dough-like mix of milk,eggs and honey was concocted and bread slices dipped and sauted in oil. I pat myself for a job well done.

Day 10 (today): Bought Mushrooms yesterday as a pre-planned move. Today I made a mushroom omelette, diced mushrooms,tomatoes,chillies, coriander,cheese,soya sauce,and the all important ingredient- EGGS! Met a friend and shopped for vegetables with her.(Work done and roaming accomplished too! :) )
Since my parents are arriving tomorrow and all,I thought I'd make an impression on how I've been slicing and dicing all week. So I picked up a recipe for my most ambitious vegetarian task yet- Carrot halwa! Rich ingredient list-khoya(khova),milk, dry fruits,ghee and not to forget several hours of toil stirring it up. After what seems like an eternity to grate the carrots,the cooking begins. (I did not use eggs in this one,but it was a lotta effort,so I'll put it up anyways!) An hour or so later,the finished product is good. Not halwa really. Ended up more like a carrot kheer,considering I'd been genreous with khova and milk! But tastes yummy... Ahh...Relief... :)

Tomorrow will be the end of my 10-day boot camp on cooking,and life returns to normal. With my parents,I'm going to pretend that I intended to make carrot kheer and not halwa! After what seems like a month long exercise,I've survived my own cooking and have laid the stage for experimenting it on my parents too. I think I'll remember this diwali the most... Missing distant friends,grating carrots while neighbors were bursting crackers,playing around with ideas of starting a food-chain based on eggs(!),and several other random thoughts.

As I smack my lips on the last remains of kheer on my plate,I tell myself “There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes”. Kudos to the guy who said it first! :)

It's all about the money...Honey!

After a long hiatus,I finally found some heart to start up on an article...I thought my 'comeback' article must be awe-inspiring,must really bring out tears in readers (by being moved positively,of course!).. But then that's not me! :p

So here it is... The high funda, low on ideals thingie that makes the world go round.. MONEY..

With my buddies starting off their jobs and all,it's kinda nice to see independence seep into them within a month of work... At least financial independence...People who would once hesitate to have a By-2 tea at a kaaka's petty shop have suddenly developed benevolence towards corporate scum.. Not only are they spending money for things that are totally unnecessary,they seem to do a favour by letting you in the cash flow as well... As a mark of their solidarity in the friendship of course.. And I mean this in the nicest way possible...Nice being what I'd describe the Addams family to be...

It's kinda funny to see such a rapid transformation of normal sane people into zombies that moonlight as spendthrifts on weekends... I guess money does that to people.. :) What's funnier still is the fact that they make no qualms about the fact that they've changed...

Hmmm... I first perceived my own post as a bitter rant of a budding employee who's awaiting his long extended joining date.. :p But I guess that's about only a quarter of the picture.. It's quite hard to remain unchanged (God knows I'd love to!) when people around you, people you knew well once, are gradually changing themselves to 'fit in'.. I'm quite happy for having this opportunity to rethink aspects of my work life before I begin work..

As one of my good friends put it,"Sometimes putting a humongous amount of effort to achieve something is what brings you down".. An effort to fit in with our co-workers sometimes will take a toll on the person we ought to be... We let our thoughts, our selves to be swept away by this new wave that's sweeping batches of fellow-graduates to unknown shores... Wake up now friends..!!

In all probability I'll join you sometime soon,but for what it's worth, I know I've given it a serious thought as to what I intend to make of myself (as a person,not a professional!) at my job..

P.S: I don't intend to target this post to any friend of mine in particular...It's just an observation.. Feel free to express what you think of this...I mean the inactive readers as well.. :')

Parting thoughts....

Well...we've almost come to the end of our lives as engineering students... A lots of thoughts and memories have been building up to provide a strong environment for our separation... A separation of two souls that co-existed and even nurtured each other for 4 years... NIE and AlumNIE...

These are the days my friend.... When every nostalgic song... (Happy days, I'm gonna miss my college days, Pal, yaaron dosti badi haseen hai...and so on...!!) simply makes u feel that these past 4 years weren't really long enough....! Or were they?

A motion is in progress...We're heading towards serious responsibilities.. What could sometimes be passed off for more fun work now will become a liability if neglected.. The coming year is going to herald an era of exponential growth... Where the skills that we've acquired these years (if any!) will but put to the test.. While it all seems real and unavoidable,it still feels like we're losing something valuable..

But we've felt this feeling before... When we left school and moved on to PU,and again,from PU to Engineering,when you gradually lose contact with close friends who once defined your life.. It's all like an erosion of life itself...slowly,but steadily eating away at our childhood...

The dawn of this new era is not going to be easy... There are changes to be made..LOTS OF THEM... Sacrifices.. Unfortunately,we're going to lose some friends again...The way I see it,we already have...

It seems trivial sometimes to talk about this,cause everyone faces this at some point of time...So deal!! This is probably the first major compromise we learn to make with life.. (I call it selling our souls....!!) We're trading in the most fun years of life for more serious ones...So how do we choose to make the best of this moment? To make sure,we fill our memories to the brim before the gushing torrents of fun dry up before our very eyes...?

The choice again is simple... You make a choice!!

We are only what we choose to be... The way we speak,the way we think, our behaviour with people.. It's all due to choices that we've made... We've chosen to walk this path and have treaded it so far.. Each critical phase brings us to new crossroads... And now,we have a path to take..We tread the paths we choose... Some with hesitation,some with denial,some wit ignorance of the path,and very rarely,we tread some paths with utmost self-belief... Yet,the choice is inevitable...

Suddenly, everything is getting clear...Unresolved issues are getting resolved... People I know are really becoming(or rather have become) the kinda person they will be for the next couple of years.. Truth is coming out into the open, people who would tolerate each other for the sake of some unseen,unfelt bond are now losing it's value...And probably coming to their senses... All the pain that the past few years have brought upon us has been put to a standstill...

So are we ready for the life that stares at us right now? This moment... The next... The coming month...Year... How will we end up? I honestly don't care.... Today is our day... Let's take it on by it's horns... and let tomorrow bring upon a new challenge...!! We're ready.... Am I right??? (say ahoo.... 300 style!)

All the best to all you guys... Hope you've enjoyed every moment of these four years as I have... and here's wishing you many more wonderful years ahead... God bless..! :)

Adding on to " How to choose the one?"

Had initially posted this as a comment, but am putting it up here as a post as suggested by author..

Hmmmmm.. and hmmmm again.. that sure was quite an intensive one.. and I must appreciate the analysis that must have gone into its making!! Well, I toatlly agree with the line "I don't know how a person can CHOOSE a girl to love...the whole idea seems opposite to the notion of love.."
Well, I live under this huge assumption ( atleast that is what I have always felt) that "love" gets way too mechanical (for want of a better word) when you go around looking for people who have the tags attached. What I mean to say is, no doubt it helps to have someone who understands you, whom you are comfy with, who is compassionate and has all the goody adjectives but then, literally "looking" for someone who fills in the slot by fulfilling the criteria is more like finding a life partner(whom you may not really love at all), but is that love? Call me impractical and insane but then isn't love all about getting to know a person and love him/her for what she/he is ( maybe the traits match your list) and inturn accept that person as your soulmate and your everything? Or is it just another of those pre-prepared lists of "what-I -look-for" that you carry about on invisible placards and view people as to whether they have them too? Would it be be love or just another quest for a partner? Agreed, that you will like ( love??) your partner but where is all that magic of oving when you have chosen the person based on what you felt makes you happy. I see it more as a self-appeasing drive. I mean, all you are doing is ensuring yourself some joy. Maybe I am making it sound bad, but then, I don't really think very highly of it ..love to me is what a mother shares with her child. Pure, simple with absolutely no prerequisites or constraints at all.Unconditional. A mother doesn't look for any trait. Maybe, you'd say that "that" is a different kind of love. But then, love isn't love when start categorizing it right? Ultimately the feeling is the same. You would do anything for the person you love. If love is what you feel when you meet people possessing most of the charateristics you are looking for, how does it explain failed "love marriages".. I mean, you were supposed to have "loved" the person, right? I don't know whether I have actually made any sense. Coz' I am like filled with words all at once :P We do hear the popular " Be practical.You think this is going to work?" and then you know it isn't exactly a very good question. You hardly think of all this when you fall in love. I agree that you have analysed and listed traits that usually have resulted in love but what I am trying to opine is that people don't necessarily rule out features in love. I mean, you just love a person. Every little thingy that goes in to their making, maybe. At times, you have people of totally opposite nature loving each other and staying content. And at times, you have people of very similar interests staying super happy with each other and still share the same love for each other. Love, I guess can never be defined. So much for all the above banter that made no sense, you'd say. And I still can't help loving these lines..

If I could have just one wish,
I would wish to wake up everyday
to the sound of your breath on my neck,
the warmth of your lips on my cheek,
the touch of your fingers on my skin,
and the feel of your heart beating with mine...
Knowing that I could never find that feeling
with anyone other than you.


Love , I guess, is like that..

How do I choose 'The One'?.... Part I

Well,this was a thread that started spooling in my head quite some time back in one of my earlier posts....
How does one know if she's 'the one'? What should I look for? How does one differentiate between a crush and love?

I've been pondering over these things for quite sometime now.... (I've nothing better to do!)... A friend of mine approached me with this problem of his.... Usually,I've got an advice for everything...! Pathetic, I know....! But his questions silenced me.... How does one find out if a girl he's been thinking about is worth the thought or not? If yes,what should he do about it?

Well... I don't know how a person can CHOOSE a girl to love...the whole idea seems opposite to the notion of love... But what I can try is set up parameters by which one can filter out the ones that he does not love...and the rest I think will automatically fall in place...

I maybe naive when I say this....but what a guy expects out of a girl is pretty much the same everywhere... At least among the people I know,I've found that their notions about an ideal mate is similar to each other... So here is a general idea...Do not sue me if I'm wrong....!

What does a guy expect out of a girl? A girl that he is attracted to....Physically,mentally, emotionally,spiritually(??).....two or more of the above criteria must hold....Only one? Then please forget it and move on...

Well I've kinda come up with a list...It's not exhaustive,but I guess it's sufficient.. Here's what a typical boy would expect from his would-be gal-

• She must continue to challenge him (Physically,mentally, emotionally,spiritually(??))... By this I mean that there are some qualities that he liked in her,these should hold for some time...
• She must make it comfortable for him to talk about personal issues without any awkwardness..
• She must be a likable person,not only for her close friends but her acquaintances as well... (This seems trivial but trust me it's important!)
• She must be ambitious to the extent of having a good life,for herself and her family... (call me chauvinistic,but guys aren't really drawn to overly ambitious girls...at least normal guys aren't) [I asked around...this was the general outlook]
  
• She must have a general happy approach to life and people... (This one's tricky coz I've never seen a gal who can hold on to this for long)
• She must have interests that are somewhat similar if not the same with those of the boy..
  

Some other qualities that can be found admirable in some but not all people are--

• Faith- Religious enough to respect necessary rituals
• Compassion- Not necessarily one who goes 'awww...!' on seeing a puppy on the road..
• Conversation- It get boring to talk to some people for even 5 mins... but some others can hold your rapt attention for hours.. Kinda helps in your old age if can have a low decibel conversation sometimes..
• Street smart/Worldly(as you'd like to put it!)- There must be a fair amount of understanding of the way the world functions.. It's kinda hard to live with one who has a 'rose-glasses' vision to everything..

It seems queer to me sometimes that I'm writing posts like these... Why? why? why? And then a counter question... Why not?? After all,this isn't something that hasn't crossed someone else's mind.... I'd bet that a lot of people do wonder about these issues... Of course there are some remarkably rare, exceptional people who can keep themselves aloof from such issues concerning love..

What I would like from you is...(Yes YOU!.. the one who's reading this now...) a feedback in the form of a comment or another post by the co-authors.. Anything to augment this view of soul-mate searching... Although the post here was a restricted view with only a guy's perspective,it would really be awesome if I could get a girls point of view on this post and also, on the qualities they seek in their ideal mate...

hmm...and like i said this list isn't exhaustive... I wrote a large portion of this post a long time back... Then I made some omissions,some changes from my observations in the recent past and also, some helpful feedback from my friends... Thanks for sparing the time to read this...

How do I choose 'The One'?.... Part II

I found this article while looking for a different view of my article... It's simple but quite satisfactory...

"My Ideal Mate"

I could come up with a very long list of qualities and attributes that I would like for my ideal mate to possess. First of all, I would like for him to have a great personality and sense of humor. He should be kind, loyal, honest, loving, sincere, affectionate, and caring.

He should also possess the qualities of maturity, integrity, and generosity. He must have good morals and values and be a non-smoker and non-drinker.

I would like for my ideal man to be handsome and attractive in his appearance. He would need to be open to the ideas of commitment, marriage, and starting a family someday, because that is very important to me.

My ideal mate would be a wonderful husband and father. He should be able to openly communicate his thoughts and feelings and share everything that is important to him with me. I would like for our relationship to be the kind of loving, trusting relationship that everyone aspires to have. He and I will share many common interests and aspire to achieve the same goals in life together.
We will have such a strong bond that nothing will ever be able to tear us apart.

Finally, what is most important to me is that my ideal mate will be a man who loves me for who I am completely and unconditionally. I will also love him with all of my heart and be completely devoted to him. He and I will share a lifetime of happiness together.

Also, one of my friends has posted her views on this topic in her blog... It was a really interesting read and I thought it would make for a complete roundup of this topic if others could read that as well....

This link will direct you there:

Rachana's blog post

The Pretenders_A Guest article

piyu said...

Hmmmm....that's a neat flow of thoughts and you've certainly made your point out there!
well, this is just what I feel about pretense. Honestly, some find it to be foolishly optimistic ( yea, they use that term) though I agree to totally disagree. Why not see it this way? An act of pretense or even a veil that hides your personality is exciting at times and makes life lively. I am making a very controversial statament but I still am hoping you'd see what I mean.
For starters, like you said, none of us have any right to talk of someon else being a pretender coz' each of us is one. We never ever really show our true self at all points.Or do we? Coz' if we did so, I cannot imagine the consequences. Going by the definition of the wword "pretence/pretense" , I'd just add " an act a human does every single day" in the dictionary. How many times do we follow rules and regulations without wanting to, thus portraying an unreal-we though we are busy muttering something else all along?
Pretense/ce is what we show in our daily life. Maybe coz' we are humans.And since this is trite, we tend to pass of these and cling onto those acts which seem to have affected us only.Human again,maybe.
And isn't it a wonderful mask we have? The human-mask.Any blunder we commit is followed by a realization, a sheepish grin with that much cliched "I'm only human". Maybe we need to use this when we are pointing at others too.And then , we even assign degrees to pretense/ce where a few are within forgivable limits and some not. It is like this perception of good/bad , you know. All subjective out there and none knows what's really right. Phew! I'm right now amidts an ocean of thoughts and am afraid of putting up a post here.
Am still amazed as to why we never really get an image of "we" when we talk of pretense/ce and busily rummage thru' the persons-in-my-life list. Human, maybe. But sure makes life interesting :)
Too long a comment. Apologies. Am human, after all :P