How do you know this picture was taken by a man?

This picture was posted on Ebay to sell a table. Can you make out why this picture was clicked by a man? Try. If you cannot find out, click the image for a larger version.

Monkey/Lemur taunting tiger cubs

This is funny :-). The monkey has totally irritated the tiger cubs in this video.

Technorati Tags: monkey taunting tigers, monkey taunting tiger cubs, tigers, cubs, monkeys

Infinite infinitesimality: attosecond

It takes an electron 150 attoseconds to circle the nucleus of an atom (source). How do you measure an attosecond? The comparison, at least to an average person, is astonishing: an attosecond to a second is like a second to the age of the universe. It is 10^-18 of a second (10 divided by 1 followed by 18 zeros).

That is why we are so small in the universe. And so big. It depends on where we are placed. The entire lifetime of the earth is nothing compared to the age of the universe. One rotation of an electron seems nothing compared to our own age, forget about the earth’s age. But science has to think beyond our frontiers of consciousness.

For instance, the link mentioned above says the scientists have been able to photograph an electron. This means the camera captured the image of the electron during those 150 attoseconds. It means it did something in a time span of perhaps less than 1 attosecond. And some of us spend our lives thinking we are the big shots. At this instant I’m feeling so humbled by the age of the universe and the attosecond.

Whenever you have an ego problem, think of the universe, think of the attosecond. An image to give you a better perspective. See the entire gif animation.

A few thoughts

Mob justice in Bihar

Watching a crowd of people practically killing a prisoner was shocking. They had smashed the guy’s face and the news channel had to blur that part of the body. Barbarindian says that the secular news channels over-hype every kind of big and small mob violence occurring in the non-Congress states and very conveniently overlook whatever happens in the Congress-ruled states. Although this is true it does not mitigate the gravity of the situation. I won’t jump to a conclusion and brand the people of a particular region barbaric and subhuman; this is all an indication of utter lawlessness in the country. Such incidents of mob justice happen because people

• don’t have faith in the law of the land
• don’t have fear of the law of the land

This is not a Bihar-specific problem; mobs are running amok all over the country. See what is happening in Maharashtra where people are being threatened by goons and the police is claiming totally contradictory facts. Even in Delhi people openly flaunt laws and then brag about their deeds to their friends and family.

Such acts also manifest a deep sense of frustration and anger against the state of affairs. Very rarely things are right for the common man. Even affording food is becoming uphill by the day. This is all due to corruption. I read in the newspaper that although India is an agriculture-based economy, most of the food we eat is being imported. Our very own production rots in the go-downs. When there is no electricity, no food, no shelter, no health, no education, no clean drinking water, no justice and opportunity, and no means to live a decent life it comes out as mad anger, bordering savagery.

Raj Thackeray

The problem of Raj Thackeray is not social it is political. As Alok mentioned in the comment section of a previous post that it is all being done to break the Shiv Sena and the greatest beneficiary of this anti-north Indian wave is going to be Sharad Pawar because his is the only party who has little stake currently. If the Shiv Sena keeps mum Raj Thackeray will become the hero of the Marathi population. If it joins cause with him it will have to antagonize the BJP because the BJP understandably has national aspirations. If the Congress supports Raj Thackeray it will help to bear the consequences all over India and if it tries to lock horns with him it antagonizes the Marathi votes. Actually it has become a political comedy (with due respect and sympathy to the people who are the targets).

Had the government been really serious about finding a solution it would have quietly dispatched this socio-political villain to some undisclosed location and would have kept him there for a few months until things had cooled down. But then who wants that?

Some are destroyers and some are saviors

This Royal Bengal pregnant tigress was saved from agitated and scared villagers in the Sundarbans, by the Forest Department personnel. The cat had inadvertently strayed into a West Bengal village. There perhaps she attacked the cattle and the villagers tried to stone her to death. It’s amazing how fast the Forest Department people reached the spot and rescued the traumatized animal.

Source

In The Pioneer (our newspaper) there was scathing editorial terming the villagers as barbarians. Even the previous day there was a screaming headline on the first page. Although such news is sensational and encourages us to further stereotype the tribals and the villagers living around jungles I think they are the least responsible for the destruction of plants and animals the world over. Take for instance this case, if a tigress enters your village and attacks your cattle and your loved once are you going to worry about tiger conservation and animal cruelty at that time? Hardly. By all means you will try to kill the animal. Don’t we try to chase away and if that is not possible kill the insects that enter our houses lest they sting someone?

It’s people living in the cities who are actually responsible for the destruction of flora and fauna because they have least regard for the environment. They indiscriminately use products made of scarce natural resources and they pollute the air with their vehicles and other appliances. New settlements and colonies are constantly being set up on the areas cleared of jungles. The ever-increasing population puts constant pressure on the supply of food and consequently more forest area has to be cleared.

Anyway we are constantly criticizing the people working in the Forest Department. This time they showed an exemplary courage by saving the animal, getting it properly treated and then releasing it back into its original habitat. They deserve lots of praise.

Technorati Tags: royal bengal tiger, sundarbans, west bengal

100-year-old tortoise becomes mother to a baby hippo

Read the story here.

I have a complex now, please invite me

It so happened that yesterday I worked till 2:30 in the night and eventually when Alka and I settled down to have dinner I started surfing the channels to check whether we could watch something trashy (we have recently started watching Desperate Housewives, and Cheaters you see, gradually graduating from the Disney Channel stuff) while eating. We generally watch news but every news channel was showing that kidney king’s arrest and as usual, was overdoing it.

I found a channel that was showing some men’s program where they were talking about how to party, how to go to parties and how to organize parties. There was this the-king-of-cool-type guy who is very much “into the party scene” and he was enlightening the viewers with all his gayish gaiety about how to be a perfect host and a perfect guest.

Every aspect of the party should be rocking: music should be rocking, drinks should be rocking, food should be rocking, the place should be rocking, the neighborhood should be rocking, the hosts should be rocking and their pets should be rocking, and the guests should be rocking and if even one of these is not rocking it is very very shocking.

And what happens if one of these archetypal aspects are not rocking? Although it may leave the hosts with a lifelong trauma requiring long-term therapy to come to terms with the eventuality, he has no choice but to LEAVE the party. Just imagine how crushing it must be for the hosts, but so are the lives and ways of those who take the art of partying to unassailable heights.

He said that you should follow the dress code strictly — yes, many party invitations mention the dress code — and it is okay to be thrown out of a party if you don’t follow the dress code. Never arrive overdressed (something like wearing an overcoat, felt hat, dark big goggles, leather gloves and gumshoes) and never arrive underdressed (something like wearing just a thong or an underwear, or just a condom). But then he quickly added that no rules should be followed when you go to a party (this implies, we innocently used our meager, non-existent knowledge of the great partydom and hypothesized ourselves, that sometimes you can overdress and underdress). In between the interviewer advertised about a few music players (most of them cost more than Rs. 1,20,000) that can really make your party rocking.

He told the audience that it is not at all OK to be not to be invited to parties. One must be an active member of the city’s party circle, square, triangle, tetrahedron, and all sorts of geometric representations.  If it is not so, you are not happening, you practically don’t have a life, you better not think you exist and outrage the decent party-goers. Man, if you want to be a party person you must idealize this gentleman. Right now I cannot remember his name but it was something like Nandani or Chandani. He is quite well-known in Delhi’s party circuits.

Anyway, as with wide eyes and gaping mouths (although we were eating, in between we did manage that awestruck look without spilling out the chewed contents of our mouths) we were absorbing these ambrosia-like rare pearls of wisdom, he delivered the cul-de-sac judgement, and that was, if you party you go there (he pointed upwards, like a prophet) and if you don’t party you remain there (he pointed downwards, with great, well-meant disdain). I don’t know about Alka but by the time we got over with the program, and our food, I had been left totally crushed. I had a complex that I had never had.

All my life, if I can remember I must have gone to 4 parties and 3 of them were the lowly mohalla parties. By the party standards I have remained there (pointing downwards). The realization has hit me with an amplified clarity after watching that life-altering program, and no wonder I’m struggling all the time. All these years I have been toiling like an animal to achieve my goals and all I had to do was somehow wriggle my way into the cities party circles (or squares, triangles, etc.). Not that it is an easier fete; you have to be really privileged to join the elite class of partygoers, but still had it been revealed to me earlier I could have at least tried. All these years! dammit.

So hey party gods of NOIDA and Delhi (both cities will do)! Invite me to one of your glorious gatherings you call parties. Let me sip the heavenly cocktails and unleash my dormant spirits of greatness. Grace my booty by letting me shake it in your esteemed company and let me invoke deities of success. I’m waiting with expectant eyes and bated breath to be declared as a guy who has finally arrived (or crashed-in, whatever you deem fit to call).

Crass Regionalism of Raj Thackery

Whatever is happening in Mumbai is sad as well as shocking. If you can be attacked and bullied like this in your own country where are you safe then?  The recent violence against north Indians in Mumbai is nothing unique; it mostly happens against communities and now it is happening against people belonging to a different region. This whole mess was started by Bala Saheb Thakarey a few decades ago and this political minion called Raj Thackery is trying to re-ignite the old hatred against non-Maharashtrians. This happens when unjust, misguided political issues are not suppressed with brute legal force.

Many years ago immediately after the independence Sardar Vallabhai Patel consolidated various wayward states and helped build a unified India. Ever since then every Indian is free to go anywhere for the purpose of living and occupation and it is one of the fundamental rights given by our constitution. If a few Maharashtrians don’t like people from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or for that matter Punjab coming to Mumbai and settling down there, well too bad; nothing can stop them as long as Mumbai doesn’t become a part of some other country.

I read on the Internet that the entire Mumbai film industry was wallowing in financial doldrums and it was only Amitabh Bachchan who gave hits after hits and secured the jobs of so many technicians and other workers belonging to Maharastra. What has Raj Thackeray done for Maharastra except for instigating people to commit violence and destruction? His political career in Shiv Sena took a nosedive when he allegedly got involved in a political murder. So what has he done for the betterment of Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular? Whatever Mumbai is today it owes everything to people from all the states.

Actually, migration happens everywhere. People move from city to city, state to state, and even country to country to seek better prospects. He says that the states from where the migrants are coming should develop enough so that the migration is reduced. Whereas it is true that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar must develop, migration to other cities and states is a natural phenomena. There are certain commercial activities that only happen in Mumbai. For instance, if a person wants to work in movies, he or she will have to go to Mumbai because the film industry is there. All major companies have set up their offices in Mumbai and when they hire people from other states those people have to come to Mumbai. So it has got nothing to do with just development; there are many other factors involved. It’s like, there are many Maharashtrians who go to the USA and other countries.

How should Raj Thackeray be treated, we were discussing this at home and Alka rightly said that he shouldn’t be arrested because then he will needlessly become a “martyr” and this will give him political advantage. Rather he should be allowed to become obscure. Violence, of course should be controlled but it should be tackled as a law and order problem and not a political problem. Calling it a political problem will needlessly make the issue important.

Personally I would suggest that the people being targeted should get together and put up a joint front. Running and cowering will get them nowhere and it will only embolden the goons. Instead they should fight back. This will not result in more violence; the threat of retaliation often maintains peace. Communities are only targeted when they seem vulnerable. You won’t find Raj Thackeray coming to Delhi or Lucknow and giving inflammatory speeches against north Indians because he knows that there people will beat the shit out of him.

Apparently the people in Uttar Pradesh are retaliating in a very novel way; they check all the trains coming from Maharastra and when they find Maharashtrian passengers in the trains they garland them, hug them and offer them sweets.

Technorati Tags: mumbai violence, raj thakeray

Tools To Torture Kids

This blog appears on the first page of Google search results for this creepy expression. I was just going through my search engine traffic stats using 103bees, and somebody searched for this expression and found my blog on the first page. This is sad; I don’t want my blog to be found for such bloodcurdling terms.

My Sister’s Travails With Her TATA Indicom Net Connection

A few months ago I had written how Airtel was trying to fleece money out of me. Now my sister has been having umpteen problems with TATA Indicom whose Internet service she uses. I’m sure the management at the top level of these companies doesn’t intend to pursue such spurious measures (or maybe they do) and it all happens at the level of their incompetent staff but if this trend continues they’re going to leave lots of ripe ground for new, more efficient and sincere companies. Interestingly, more information can be found at the India Broadband Forum and it seems people even share their problems there with other users. This complaints board is a good option too.

Technorati Tags: tata indicom broadband problem