Comrade Chakra

Weekly wrap up: Well it has been an eventful week. The Indian cricket team finally lived up to expectations and lost lamely the Lords' one-day. Britain is much closer to its complete retreat from Iraq (offcourse retreat is hardly a word you’ll hear them use). President Bush visited Iraq and the Apec summit. At the summit he displayed his usual grip on international affairs by thanking the Opec (he forgot this was the Apec) and acknowledging Austria’s (a country which had nothing to do with the US’s Iraq occupation) contribution to the war effort ( Australian President John Howard took some-time to figure that one out). Hey what kind of stupid weekly wrap up is this? Where is the sex and violence??? Ok, here goes:- Osama Bin Laden’s new video surfaces. Now this is ironic, in the new video Osama seems to be a totally changed man. And it is not just his fitter look and dyed beard. It is his scholarly approach and reasoned discussion that I am referring to. He addresses prim...

“In a bizarre act, two churches here have banned a group from conducting yoga classes, saying the ancient practice was allegedly "un-Christian". See full report. I could not agree more. The churches have got it right. Certainly yoga is un-Christian . It originates in India and is closely associated with a religion or rather a group of religions with similar origins collectively referred to as Hinduism (the name of the religion itself is one given by foreigners referring more to a geographical location than a philosophy). Christianity , unlike Hinduism is a missionary religion. Their missionaries have, over centuries, spread the word of the Lord far and wide and ofcourse have done a few mean things along the way. However, the contribution of Christianity to the progress of civilisation as we know it today is undeniable. Yet it is a little surprising that these churches should feel threatened by yoga, which, even if one links it to Hinduism is pretty harmless as Hinduism is ...

I am too short. I had always known this. In school my class-mates soon out-grew me. My clothes lasted longer than my friends and it took me sometime to reconcile myself with my short-height. However, reconcile I did. And have been at peace with myself for quite sometime. Yet over the past few years it has come back to haunt me. There is this chart that gives you body-mass-index (BMI). And for the past few years when ever I have looked at it, it shouted back at me “You are too bloody short”. I looked at it again on Friday last and I realised that I have become shorter still. Now how did that happen? Earlier I was short by a few inches, but now I am short by almost a foot. The chart declares that for a man my weight I should be some 6ft+ tall. Till a couple of years back it told me that I should be 5’10’’ and now it has raised the bar. I am 5ft 6 inches and have been so for sometime, then how did I become shorter? And then it dawned on me, I do not have a height problem, I have a weight ...

The week before last was eventful. Now that the dust has settled let’s step back and examine exactly what went on. Well, three women Presidents of India made the news . Ok, so I made it up, but I am not that off really. I am thinking ahead. Only one of the women became the President of India, but the other two, mark my words, are solid President material and will be in the chair in a few years. Pratibha Patil: A great choice for a President. A Congress loyalist, enough skeletons in the cup-board (well not so much in the cup-board anymore) to keep her from doing anything rash like dismissing a Congress run State Govt and a veritable no-body. She is corrupt, unimpressive and obedient. I really cannot think of a better choice for President of India (if I put myself in Sonia Gandhi’s shoes). What was really heart-warming was to see how it was tom-tommed as a watershed event in empowerment of women in this country. The significance is not lost when you consider the giant strides we have al...

Yes. Kissing is overrated. Think about it. There is just about too much brouhaha (wow….finally I got to use the word)… about kissing these days….and to think that people have been kissing for ages. What is it about kissing that gives rise to so many controversies? So I have tried to do some research (which really means I googled a bit) and have tried to understand some of the kisses that come readily to mind…:- Judas Kissing Jesus:- Legend has it that Judas, to finger Jesus to the Roman soldiers, kissed Jesus on the cheek. Its strange bordering on yickee… Either people were really weird those days or someone made this up later. I mean, think about it, if you wanted to finger out a person you would probably ...well..use your finger and point at him…or maybe if you wanted to be discreet just make that meaningful movement of your eyes….or if you really hated him…throw a stone…but kiss him…who would do that? Now moving 2 thousand years forward:-- Gere-Shetty : So much have been said and w...

Pretty dull …that was what my college days started out like. And for those of you who think that by the end of this post, you’ll realise how interesting it finally turned out to be….well, it depends really… it depends on how dull your college days were or are, or will be. Let’s face it, our opinion of ourselves, is really shaped by what those around us think of themselves.. Sounds strange…but think about it, it is true. If I am in the company of people who all think they have done well in life, I invariably feel…man, what have I done with mine!!! Let me explain. Say I am talking about my college days to Bill Gates , you know, the computer guy who dropped out of college and set up a jillion dollar enterprise…so the conversation would probably go like… Self : You know Bill, I had the most interesting of college days. Bill : Oh really…what’s your name again…I have the top 10 in the Forbes list memorised. Self : Man…this coffee is too strong…let me go get another cup. Or, maybe I am talki...

I have arrived at my new law of life . This is the longest break between two subsequent posts that I have had since I started this blog. Last week I told myself…I better write a post this week since I have made an unwritten rule that I shall be making one post a week. But hang on, I write blogs because its fun , but then when I start trying to live up to rules it suddenly makes it seem like a job . Ok, I know it is remotely possible there may be a couple of more who read this blog beside me (certainly not more than that)… and I can flatter myself into thinking that they will be, well disappointed! Hey come of it…they’ll survive! So I have now not written for two whole weeks. I am writing now because…well because I want to. Not because I feel I should. In other words, if I do not write now, it will seem like my job is to not write posts to my blog. So the rule going forward is, if you already have a job, stop doing everything else that feels like a job . (I am assuming you need that on...