' The Spirit of Mumbai.' 'Pray for Mumbai.' 'Today we are all Mumbaikars.' 'This is an attack on India's sovreignity.' 'A fitting and hard-hitting reply will be given.' 'Zero-tolerance.' 'Candlenight vigil.' 'Wear black for Mumbai.' 'Pray for our democracy.' 'Don't let the terrorists win.' .'Show them our way of life is resilient' . . . Enough with the recycled platitudes. Is there no one who wants to actually do something ??? Solve the damn problem so that no one else dies ?
What the hell was Narendra Modi (Gujarat CM) doing at the Oberoi ? And why the f$#% was he attacking the PM ? Doesn't he have the common sense to realize that he was disrupting a war-zone with his damn political game ? Why did he try to buy the good-will of India with a one crore donation to Hemant Karkare's family ? This is the same police officer who was threatened, villified and damned by him and his right-wing party two weeks ago for suggesting the existence of Hindu extremists.
Why the hell were Mumbai's police officers armed with 303s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Enfield). What hope did they have against the SMGs and grenades that that the terrorists had ? Why didn't the NSG have Thermal mapping hardware to locate human beings in the buildings ? Jingoistic cries of ' Jai Hind' drown out any pragmatism. Forget the questions that need to be asked and answered, lets revel in the 'Spirit of Mumbai' and the 'Bravery of our Commandos/Armed Forces/Police Force.' Honing our praying/chanting skills so that we're better at recovering every single time. What the hell happened to being pro-active and preventing these attacks ? Or responding better next time ? SHUT UP !We're so busy feeling sorry for ourselves . . .
There's a rash of excessive jingoism,meaningless platitudes, tears and prayers in India today. Populist Pakistan bashing has found another avenue . . . hyper-nationalism and flag waving is the sad response to a systemic security failure. What India needs is a pragmatic and determined purging and replacement of a failed security and intelligence apparatus, what it gets is a few long weeks where it allows itself to wallow in self pity.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai . . .
It's now 7:55 AM in Mumbai 11/29 - 9:26 PM Eastern 11/28. Approximately 40 hours since Mumbai's nightmare began. Massive plumes of smoke have started to spew from the Taj Palace hotel. Ominous black smoke distorts the view of the dome of century old icon. CNN-IBN has just cut to pictures of the last rites of ATS head Hemant Karkare and I honestly can't take it anymore. It's probably the 5th time in the last 3 days that i've tried to exit the video stream on ibnlive.com and the 2nd time since the attacks began that I would like to succumb to the comfort of tears. The last time I resorted to muting the video and immersing myself in bharat-rakshak.com where I read about the awesome National Security Guards ('Black Cat Commandos') comforting myself that they would soon end this nightmare. This time I'm just going to pour it all out on this blog which I revisited for the first time in two months.
Accusations and theories reek the airwaves. Familiar names like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan's CIA) have been interspersed in between the live reports of gunshots, grenade explosions and deaths of India's finest policemen and commandos. The anger is obvious and apparent on the faces of everyone, every human being deserving of being called one is shocked and angry. ' We will fight back' is a common phrase along with ' The Spirit of Mumbai shall prevail.' Politicians talk about a strong response, stringent laws, experts and analysts predict dire consequences in foreign policy . . . the common man wonders if his or her loved ones will be next . . .
Those with religious convictions 'offer condolences and pray for the victims.' 'Pray' my friends, 'pray'. . . will you pray to the same God who these terrorists swear will give them 72 virgins in heaven for their 'martyrdom' ? For Whose jihad they kill us infidels ? Of course not, your religion (interpretation of religion) is peaceful and does not condone violence in any form. ' Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Sikh . . . we are all together in condemning this attack.' Very well . . . who am I to argue with God's will, Allah's command, Karma, Fate, Destiny, the Circle of Life, edicts of Yahweh, the arrangment of the Stars, Kismet. . . you seem so sure what that means . . .
BREAKING NEWS - 8:46 AM Indian time. 10:17 PM EST on the previous day. The Director-General of the NSG announces that 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj Palace Hotel. ' Our prayers are answered'. . . The only problem is so are theirs. . .
The fidayeen got what they wanted. More than 120 infidels died over the last 3 days. Mumbai was brought to it's knees, a sense of hopelessness prevails and perhaps India and Pakistan will assume the usual posturing and arguments about definitions of Attacks on the Innocent or Retaliation, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters, Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir . . .
Whose prayers will be answered next . . . and which Divine Being gets to be hold our species hostage tomorrow ? What platitudes will we use to describe the next tragedies ? Tune in ladies and gentlemen, this show will only end when there is no one left to watch. Better yet, why don't you pray for us all . . . prayers are always answered . . . one way or the other
Accusations and theories reek the airwaves. Familiar names like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan's CIA) have been interspersed in between the live reports of gunshots, grenade explosions and deaths of India's finest policemen and commandos. The anger is obvious and apparent on the faces of everyone, every human being deserving of being called one is shocked and angry. ' We will fight back' is a common phrase along with ' The Spirit of Mumbai shall prevail.' Politicians talk about a strong response, stringent laws, experts and analysts predict dire consequences in foreign policy . . . the common man wonders if his or her loved ones will be next . . .
Those with religious convictions 'offer condolences and pray for the victims.' 'Pray' my friends, 'pray'. . . will you pray to the same God who these terrorists swear will give them 72 virgins in heaven for their 'martyrdom' ? For Whose jihad they kill us infidels ? Of course not, your religion (interpretation of religion) is peaceful and does not condone violence in any form. ' Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Sikh . . . we are all together in condemning this attack.' Very well . . . who am I to argue with God's will, Allah's command, Karma, Fate, Destiny, the Circle of Life, edicts of Yahweh, the arrangment of the Stars, Kismet. . . you seem so sure what that means . . .
BREAKING NEWS - 8:46 AM Indian time. 10:17 PM EST on the previous day. The Director-General of the NSG announces that 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj Palace Hotel. ' Our prayers are answered'. . . The only problem is so are theirs. . .
The fidayeen got what they wanted. More than 120 infidels died over the last 3 days. Mumbai was brought to it's knees, a sense of hopelessness prevails and perhaps India and Pakistan will assume the usual posturing and arguments about definitions of Attacks on the Innocent or Retaliation, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters, Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir . . .
Whose prayers will be answered next . . . and which Divine Being gets to be hold our species hostage tomorrow ? What platitudes will we use to describe the next tragedies ? Tune in ladies and gentlemen, this show will only end when there is no one left to watch. Better yet, why don't you pray for us all . . . prayers are always answered . . . one way or the other
Friday, August 29, 2008
Spark People
If you ever wanted to make losing / tracking your weight fun, informative and accurate. Then I suggest you go to
www.sparkpeople.com
You won't be disappointed.
www.sparkpeople.com
You won't be disappointed.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Exams...
Here I am. With nothing to do 6 hours before another damn mid-term that I haven't studied for and that I am not going to. Far from actualizing my innate curiosity about the world, university has turned into a semester long marathon that keeps me from doing things that actually improve my abilities. Weekly mid-terms, homework and reading assignments just abase any sense of wonder I had about formal education.
I still love engineering but I honestly hate engineering education. It's the only major that can take bright, creative minds and turn us into formula referring zombies. Creativity dies an undignified death in between "Signals and Systems" and "Electromagnetics."
Back to Oppenheim pg 358 "Signals and Systems" second edition
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Measles of Mankind
Communists called it the 'opium of the masses.' The devout call it 'salvation.' I call it a mass delusion. Its a divisive, sectarian, exclusive, unreasonable,antiquated dogmatic doctrine that offers fairy tales as explanations for our existence. By now I'm sure my readers (i.e. the two of you who accidentally clicked on this blog) have all realized I'm talking about religion.
If you're religious you're probably shocked and pointing towards all the good that religion does like charities and homeless shelters and relief packages etc. But ask yourself ? Does all that need religion ? Do you only do good things because you want your karma count to be positive when either your next life form is decided or if you prefer - when you are judged to go to heaven or hell ? Isn't that fundamentally selfish ? A sin in itself ? Good people should do good because its right, because thousands of years of cultural evolution has shown that for survival we need to conform to societal norms. Do good because it's right not cause you want your own stairway to heaven.
With all the infant deaths and poverty and global disasters and . It disgusts me that people view disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis as God's warning or God's punishment. What a load of crap. What did all the children killed in those disasters do ? What did those poor orphaned children do to have their childhood wrenched away from them. Karma is a load of crap, every human interaction is so complex and so subjective, how do you attach a karmic value to it ? Don't tell me God or his lackeys have these incredible measuring devices that can translate all your actions into units of karma.
If you still argue that human beings are special and the 'appointed' rulers of the animal kingdom then you have to open a Biology textbook. We're only superior because of natural selection. Not random mutation, not luck, not serendipity, just natural selection. A process that took millions of years of evolutionary pressure that we managed to use to gain intellectual self-awareness. If it sounds incredible you should know that it is. But incredible doesn't need a God. It just needs time. Remember what the Biologist JBS Haldane said - 'If God exists then He must be inordinately fond of beetles,' as a response to his observation of a myriad of beetle sub-species. The multitudes of bacteria and their hardiness as compared to human beings speaks volumes about which species is more comfortable with nature and in fact dominates it. Mankind is special because we evolved into a species with massive cerebral lobes, no more no less.
Remember what Stephen Weinberg said - 'In a world without religion you would have good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things. But for good people to do bad things...that takes religion.' For too long have we been apathetic to these ideas. At the dawn of the 21st Century we have had these people in charge of our governments. Imagine a world where the people in charge of nuclear weapons believe that Armageddon is inevitable in the next 50 years or that they will get 72 virgins in heaven if they blow up the infidels i.e. anyone who doesn't agree with them whether atheist, agnostic or worshiper of some other God.
It is my sober opinion that religion is in humanity's list of possible extinction threats. Right after Asteroids and just before Global Warming. The problem is all the other problems can be mitigated by extraordinary feats of engineering and mass action. The problem with religion is that it is held outside the boundaries of reason and constructive criticism. As a species we have overcome threats from nature, wild animals, plagues, wars and vacillations of our complex ecosystem. The next threat to our survival surely comes from our most ancient relic. Its time to fight the demons within and amongst us, using Science, as the great Carl Sagan wrote about - 'as a candle in the dark.'
For the record my personal doctrine is rationalist agnosticism. I treat every event on rational merit and accept that our feeble and limited human minds will never truly comprehend what created the universe. I know that science has not and may never explain everything but that doesn't matter. The beauty of science is that it keeps trying allowing everyone a chance to come up with their own reasonable explanation , filters those that are incongrous with reality and improves on those that are closer to it. Religion from any angle exudes pure arrogance claiming to know it all. As if the reality of the quantum world or the mysteries of life could ever be understood by these dogmatic and inflexible doctrines. If you think that you can't bear believing in something or the other then remember the words of Douglas Adams - ' isn't it enough to say that a garden is beautiful with out believing that there are fairies at the bottom ?'
If you're religious you're probably shocked and pointing towards all the good that religion does like charities and homeless shelters and relief packages etc. But ask yourself ? Does all that need religion ? Do you only do good things because you want your karma count to be positive when either your next life form is decided or if you prefer - when you are judged to go to heaven or hell ? Isn't that fundamentally selfish ? A sin in itself ? Good people should do good because its right, because thousands of years of cultural evolution has shown that for survival we need to conform to societal norms. Do good because it's right not cause you want your own stairway to heaven.
With all the infant deaths and poverty and global disasters and . It disgusts me that people view disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis as God's warning or God's punishment. What a load of crap. What did all the children killed in those disasters do ? What did those poor orphaned children do to have their childhood wrenched away from them. Karma is a load of crap, every human interaction is so complex and so subjective, how do you attach a karmic value to it ? Don't tell me God or his lackeys have these incredible measuring devices that can translate all your actions into units of karma.
If you still argue that human beings are special and the 'appointed' rulers of the animal kingdom then you have to open a Biology textbook. We're only superior because of natural selection. Not random mutation, not luck, not serendipity, just natural selection. A process that took millions of years of evolutionary pressure that we managed to use to gain intellectual self-awareness. If it sounds incredible you should know that it is. But incredible doesn't need a God. It just needs time. Remember what the Biologist JBS Haldane said - 'If God exists then He must be inordinately fond of beetles,' as a response to his observation of a myriad of beetle sub-species. The multitudes of bacteria and their hardiness as compared to human beings speaks volumes about which species is more comfortable with nature and in fact dominates it. Mankind is special because we evolved into a species with massive cerebral lobes, no more no less.
Remember what Stephen Weinberg said - 'In a world without religion you would have good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things. But for good people to do bad things...that takes religion.' For too long have we been apathetic to these ideas. At the dawn of the 21st Century we have had these people in charge of our governments. Imagine a world where the people in charge of nuclear weapons believe that Armageddon is inevitable in the next 50 years or that they will get 72 virgins in heaven if they blow up the infidels i.e. anyone who doesn't agree with them whether atheist, agnostic or worshiper of some other God.
It is my sober opinion that religion is in humanity's list of possible extinction threats. Right after Asteroids and just before Global Warming. The problem is all the other problems can be mitigated by extraordinary feats of engineering and mass action. The problem with religion is that it is held outside the boundaries of reason and constructive criticism. As a species we have overcome threats from nature, wild animals, plagues, wars and vacillations of our complex ecosystem. The next threat to our survival surely comes from our most ancient relic. Its time to fight the demons within and amongst us, using Science, as the great Carl Sagan wrote about - 'as a candle in the dark.'
For the record my personal doctrine is rationalist agnosticism. I treat every event on rational merit and accept that our feeble and limited human minds will never truly comprehend what created the universe. I know that science has not and may never explain everything but that doesn't matter. The beauty of science is that it keeps trying allowing everyone a chance to come up with their own reasonable explanation , filters those that are incongrous with reality and improves on those that are closer to it. Religion from any angle exudes pure arrogance claiming to know it all. As if the reality of the quantum world or the mysteries of life could ever be understood by these dogmatic and inflexible doctrines. If you think that you can't bear believing in something or the other then remember the words of Douglas Adams - ' isn't it enough to say that a garden is beautiful with out believing that there are fairies at the bottom ?'
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Update
Not a post just an update on the last one.
On Dec 16th 07, at the fag end of an arduous semester that hazed my GPA I was finally on my way home to Dubai. Not before a bunch of mishaps though. Lets rewind a bit.
2 weeks before my flight I got an email saying my flight was cancellled. This was good - I thought. It didn't happen at the airport this time. The downside was my updated ticket would now have 4 flights just to get to New York with 15 - 20 min stop overs in between. Even a normal person would screw up somewhere and as for me I may as well just stay back at Purdue since I would be lucky to reach NY by Christmas.
So feeling adventurous I decided to go to NY from Chicago. A few keyboard strokes later and a couple of hundred dollars spent and my ticket was secure..........Apparently not.
Back to the present - After staying up two nights in a row and fretting over the snowstorm during a 3 hour bus ride I made it to O'Hare on the 16th right on time for my scheduled flight. I arrived at the Jet Blue terminal with uncharacteristic confidence suppressing my indefatigable sense of utter doom that now accompanies me whenever I travel . Confidence was quickly handed its ass back to it by the attendant - " Going to NY ? Im awfully sorry your flight has been cancelled. " Due to repeated bombardment by such incredibly shocking statements I'm a seasoned pro at these situations - a quick nod of the head and a marathon across three terminals asking/begging/pleading for a ticket got me one 25 min before an alternate flight with United Airways. The last move against me from the airline industry in 2007 had been overcome !
PS. my return in 2008 was actually fairly smooth. Flight to NY was perfect. I had a 3 hour delay to get to O'Hare which made me miss my bus from Chicago but after a 4 hour wait I did actually get a seat on the blessed Express Air Coach to Purdue. Is 2008 the beginning of a new era or are the airlines going to make up for this reprieve.....only time will tell. WATCH THIS SPACE
On Dec 16th 07, at the fag end of an arduous semester that hazed my GPA I was finally on my way home to Dubai. Not before a bunch of mishaps though. Lets rewind a bit.
2 weeks before my flight I got an email saying my flight was cancellled. This was good - I thought. It didn't happen at the airport this time. The downside was my updated ticket would now have 4 flights just to get to New York with 15 - 20 min stop overs in between. Even a normal person would screw up somewhere and as for me I may as well just stay back at Purdue since I would be lucky to reach NY by Christmas.
So feeling adventurous I decided to go to NY from Chicago. A few keyboard strokes later and a couple of hundred dollars spent and my ticket was secure..........Apparently not.
Back to the present - After staying up two nights in a row and fretting over the snowstorm during a 3 hour bus ride I made it to O'Hare on the 16th right on time for my scheduled flight. I arrived at the Jet Blue terminal with uncharacteristic confidence suppressing my indefatigable sense of utter doom that now accompanies me whenever I travel . Confidence was quickly handed its ass back to it by the attendant - " Going to NY ? Im awfully sorry your flight has been cancelled. " Due to repeated bombardment by such incredibly shocking statements I'm a seasoned pro at these situations - a quick nod of the head and a marathon across three terminals asking/begging/pleading for a ticket got me one 25 min before an alternate flight with United Airways. The last move against me from the airline industry in 2007 had been overcome !
PS. my return in 2008 was actually fairly smooth. Flight to NY was perfect. I had a 3 hour delay to get to O'Hare which made me miss my bus from Chicago but after a 4 hour wait I did actually get a seat on the blessed Express Air Coach to Purdue. Is 2008 the beginning of a new era or are the airlines going to make up for this reprieve.....only time will tell. WATCH THIS SPACE
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