Showing posts with label reflections/opinions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reflections/opinions. Show all posts
Jan 25, 2009
പഠിക്കാം പഠിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കാം
മഴ പെയ്യാനും പെയ്യത്രിക്കാനും സാധ്യത ഉണ്ട് ! ജീവിതം കാലാവസ്ഥയോ,നിരീഷ്ണമോ,പരീഷ്ണമോ അതോ പഠനമോ ,പതനമോ ,പാതയോ ,പറയാന് പറ്റാത്ത പുതിയോരെടോ ..................
Jan 16, 2009
Kerala Kaumudi gets it; when is our turn?
Even as Joe Sir taught us about legal proprietaries that media persons had to worry about, there comes the Kerala Kaumudi case. Yeah, everyone else do it, so I can do it too – we think. But Joe Sir was right when he said you maybe the unlucky one who gets caught and has to face the penalties, when others may while away and drink their coffees. Ok he didnt say about drinking coffee, thats my addition. But thats what happens isnt it?
All papers have been carrying various stories about Abhaya case for the past few months. Unfortunately for Kerala Kaumudi, one of their articles was read by someone at the High Court, and bang came the court case. I dont mean to justify them. I was just wondering how coincidental it was that this happened right after that class we had.
And so many of us just take pictures from the net without a second thought. Imagine having to enter a court for that – years after years! Problem is if something like what happened to our teacher occurs – well whats the guarantee we will even realize something was wrong – I mean an advertisement on the page carrying a wrong map! Who'd think about it anyway? Journalism is a tricky profession I tell you. From outside it looks all daring, a journalist can do anything, go anywhere. Yeah - do court sessions and go to prison!
All papers have been carrying various stories about Abhaya case for the past few months. Unfortunately for Kerala Kaumudi, one of their articles was read by someone at the High Court, and bang came the court case. I dont mean to justify them. I was just wondering how coincidental it was that this happened right after that class we had.
And so many of us just take pictures from the net without a second thought. Imagine having to enter a court for that – years after years! Problem is if something like what happened to our teacher occurs – well whats the guarantee we will even realize something was wrong – I mean an advertisement on the page carrying a wrong map! Who'd think about it anyway? Journalism is a tricky profession I tell you. From outside it looks all daring, a journalist can do anything, go anywhere. Yeah - do court sessions and go to prison!
Jan 9, 2009
The day of reckoning …WE NEED A WAR
Even while power hungry politicians are screaming for strong action against Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, social workers and the media have been cautioning against escalating the tension that could lead to war. But the fact is…we need a war!! No this is not anti-Pakistan or anti-Islam sentiment speaking, but my crystal-clear, rational mind. For heavens sake we need a war. Look around you, the corrupt politicians, the lazy bureaucrats – I tell you we need a war. If not against Pakistan, then we could fight America or bomb China or maybe even Scotland (I hear they are fierce warriors). We need a violent shake up. The strongest empires are those that were built on violence and washed with centuries of blood.
“Those who make peaceful changes impossible make bloody revolutions imperative”
Israel is bombing Palestine; in Sri Lanka the lions are fighting the tigers. What is the use of standing mutely? I mean the terrorists, from Pakistan, keep hitting us at regular intervals and all we do is express anguish, pain, protest, renounce, threaten, etc, etc. and then we get hit again. It’s not going to stop. So will a war bring peace? Maybe not. But then what difference will it make. Let everyone take up arms – let’s fight, lets spill some blood and guts. Maybe we will win and maybe we will lose. Its not about winning or losing. Its about living, and dying, with honour.
Remember “Permanent peace is never possible.”
“Those who make peaceful changes impossible make bloody revolutions imperative”
Israel is bombing Palestine; in Sri Lanka the lions are fighting the tigers. What is the use of standing mutely? I mean the terrorists, from Pakistan, keep hitting us at regular intervals and all we do is express anguish, pain, protest, renounce, threaten, etc, etc. and then we get hit again. It’s not going to stop. So will a war bring peace? Maybe not. But then what difference will it make. Let everyone take up arms – let’s fight, lets spill some blood and guts. Maybe we will win and maybe we will lose. Its not about winning or losing. Its about living, and dying, with honour.
Remember “Permanent peace is never possible.”
Dec 18, 2008
About divorces
(This is a slightly long post and lifted from personal blog)
Hmm this should be hard. But I have wanted to write about it for sometime. To put it in one question – Is it a wrong act?
A generation back, divorce must have been the last thing thought of when a marriage fails and unless dire scenarios came up, people chose to stick with the marriage. There might have been exceptions. But today, divorces are not that rare and doesn’t always tell the story of “another man or woman”, or a lunatic-spouse deal. A divorced couple may give the reason “cause we didn’t get along well” or “it just didn’t work out, there was no love”
But was it as easy as that? No, no and no. Divorce is still heard of as a condemned word. “Divorce? Are you crazy? No way am I letting you. You are living with him/her no matter what” – the typical responses of a parent/a relative/friends.
Agreed, marriage calls for a lot of adjustments and understanding – you cant expect two different individuals to agree upon every deal on earth. But that’s not what I am talking about. When a marriage goes to a level where you find yourself unhappy all day and night long, when you realize beyond doubt you can never work it out –what was the point in clinging on? Why was it so important that you had to stick with the person till end of life no matter what? Wasn’t marriage all about making your life happier by spending it with someone you love and care about? When that love and care is not there, why would you choose to ignore it and go on with your lives unhappily?
Cause divorce was still “evil”, unheard of and a shame to kith and kin. People choose to make their own lives unhappy to have the world around them believe they are happy. An idea that always goes above my head.
The argument against this was that young people didn’t really need a reason anymore to divorce, they separate for the silliest reasons heard of. Why I am against this argument was that – whatever silly reason called it for, would they have gone ahead with the separation if there was love in the marriage? Wouldn’t they be the ones who should hate the idea of a divorce more than anyone else if they still cared for each other? Why was this so hard to understand? It was not the silly fights or reasons that was important – it was their decision – they wouldn’t be able to take it if they didn’t really want it! And they wouldn’t be able to proceed if they didn’t want it! Divorce was not a momentary deal! It gives you months to rethink, to reconsider – if all those months didn’t make them want to come back together, it simply means one thing – there is no love!
And then of course the most-fought-upon subject – what about kids? “Cant you live together for their sake?”
What do people think about kids who see their parents fight all day and night? Would kids be happy watching that or would they rather have their parents away and happy with each other? There need not be any pretense about this – kids who watch their parents fight each other shut themselves off in rooms and never find happiness at home. They seek comfort in friends and school and in worse cases, bad influences.
I know a girl who saw a psychiatrist as part of her parents having problems – the first thing the doctor asked her was “do you have an affair?”. The stunned girl said no and wondered why he should ask her this when the problem was with the parents. The doctor explained “Usually kids who face such problems at home end up having boyfriends/girlfriends at a very young age”
I know, no business of his, but well it showed that doctors expect kids to go “in the wrong direction” (since he obviously considered an affair wrong for a 17 year old) when their parents were having trouble with each other.
I strongly believe that kids would be much happier if parents who fought each other stayed away and still managed to spend enough time with them individually.
Divorce is not really a hard deal to understand. Cause what reason prompted it was not all that important unless it’s a case of serious misunderstanding – even then if there is love in the marriage, things sort out. But if there is no love, please don’t live frustrated lives forever – you had a choice. If you wanted to avoid divorce, take a lot of care on whom you marry – that’s where your decision really matters. But then humans make mistakes and a mistake may be hard to avoid, but not so hard to correct.
Hmm this should be hard. But I have wanted to write about it for sometime. To put it in one question – Is it a wrong act?
A generation back, divorce must have been the last thing thought of when a marriage fails and unless dire scenarios came up, people chose to stick with the marriage. There might have been exceptions. But today, divorces are not that rare and doesn’t always tell the story of “another man or woman”, or a lunatic-spouse deal. A divorced couple may give the reason “cause we didn’t get along well” or “it just didn’t work out, there was no love”
But was it as easy as that? No, no and no. Divorce is still heard of as a condemned word. “Divorce? Are you crazy? No way am I letting you. You are living with him/her no matter what” – the typical responses of a parent/a relative/friends.
Agreed, marriage calls for a lot of adjustments and understanding – you cant expect two different individuals to agree upon every deal on earth. But that’s not what I am talking about. When a marriage goes to a level where you find yourself unhappy all day and night long, when you realize beyond doubt you can never work it out –what was the point in clinging on? Why was it so important that you had to stick with the person till end of life no matter what? Wasn’t marriage all about making your life happier by spending it with someone you love and care about? When that love and care is not there, why would you choose to ignore it and go on with your lives unhappily?
Cause divorce was still “evil”, unheard of and a shame to kith and kin. People choose to make their own lives unhappy to have the world around them believe they are happy. An idea that always goes above my head.
The argument against this was that young people didn’t really need a reason anymore to divorce, they separate for the silliest reasons heard of. Why I am against this argument was that – whatever silly reason called it for, would they have gone ahead with the separation if there was love in the marriage? Wouldn’t they be the ones who should hate the idea of a divorce more than anyone else if they still cared for each other? Why was this so hard to understand? It was not the silly fights or reasons that was important – it was their decision – they wouldn’t be able to take it if they didn’t really want it! And they wouldn’t be able to proceed if they didn’t want it! Divorce was not a momentary deal! It gives you months to rethink, to reconsider – if all those months didn’t make them want to come back together, it simply means one thing – there is no love!
And then of course the most-fought-upon subject – what about kids? “Cant you live together for their sake?”
What do people think about kids who see their parents fight all day and night? Would kids be happy watching that or would they rather have their parents away and happy with each other? There need not be any pretense about this – kids who watch their parents fight each other shut themselves off in rooms and never find happiness at home. They seek comfort in friends and school and in worse cases, bad influences.
I know a girl who saw a psychiatrist as part of her parents having problems – the first thing the doctor asked her was “do you have an affair?”. The stunned girl said no and wondered why he should ask her this when the problem was with the parents. The doctor explained “Usually kids who face such problems at home end up having boyfriends/girlfriends at a very young age”
I know, no business of his, but well it showed that doctors expect kids to go “in the wrong direction” (since he obviously considered an affair wrong for a 17 year old) when their parents were having trouble with each other.
I strongly believe that kids would be much happier if parents who fought each other stayed away and still managed to spend enough time with them individually.
Divorce is not really a hard deal to understand. Cause what reason prompted it was not all that important unless it’s a case of serious misunderstanding – even then if there is love in the marriage, things sort out. But if there is no love, please don’t live frustrated lives forever – you had a choice. If you wanted to avoid divorce, take a lot of care on whom you marry – that’s where your decision really matters. But then humans make mistakes and a mistake may be hard to avoid, but not so hard to correct.
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