A rant - Jallikkattu

I come from a family which is right leaning (although my father would never agree) and has always had great respect for the Judiciary in India. 
(I also have my own theories on why right leaning or why the Judiciary was so respected but this not the time and place for it so may be later.)

May be even due to this very reason, I never possessed any interest in Politics or current affairs unless it came close to my heart in some form, touched a nerve and/or I was simply too bored and purused the news.

The last few rulings (or not) and events though - I must say they have been a bit of a shocker!

Marital rape not covered under the act against Rape and Violence
---oh well, because that is an age old traditional institution that cannot be questioned or disrespected with such suspicions?!
---I came to know about this with all the debate around the Nirbhaya case.

Homosexuality is against the law as part of the unnatural offences
---oh, that!  That's because although it has always been around in our culture, it was never accepted as the "norm" (unlike marital rape)?!  So we will just uphold that as is, won't we?

No action against the Breweries and Soft drinks companies from using up our water resources to make their drinks even while many parts of the country suffer from draught!
because we just cannot halt production of organisations that keep the economy going?!
---The Maharashtra draught and all the articles around that - I think someone raised a question about the breweries at the time in one of the articles and it continues to be a constant nag at the back of my mind!!

Note: I do know that the Judiciary can only act when someone raises the case with them and I am not informed if 3) above was ever raised as one.

What is really up with us here in India?

We are in a chaotically beautiful phase here.  In the middle of a decade of transformation, of an identity crisis, where the "so called western/modern way of life" is heckling at all our present cultural and traditional practices.

A phase where people are constantly choosing what from our cultural and traditional past still is relevant to our newer way of life.

I myself live a life of an hypocrite sometimes, where even though I do not believe in so many practices but still end up being participating for various reasons. 
But that said I am very clear of what I do believe in, and what I don't. 

I have just evolved to know the difference in people - where and when I think my protests or confrontation would pay and where it would simply cause harm and pain achieving absolutely no gain for either parties involved.

This "knowing the difference" has brought me so much peace at the cost of not explaining my true beliefs or pretending to go through a few mins of some practice that I may not believe in.

This may not work for everyone and but has for me and I am glad for it.

I have strayed away a bit from the main point I wanted to discuss!!  On that note, this ban on Jallikattu has caught my attention due to having people around me that are passionately involved in protecting this tradition and voicing their protest!

"Neeya Naana" on Vijay TV once, quite a few months ago, had this very topic and brought in all the experts (Senapathy is a name that I do remember) that are actively involved in the case today, to talk about Jallikattu... and boy was I blown away!? 

The idea of "Madumeikkira payala!" was utterly crumpled and tossed out; I saw so many educated young and old, expertly explaining agricultural and socio-economic details that left me totally bought to the cause.

I recommend watching this show if anyone is interested. 

Now this and a few articles I shared on FB are just GEMS!  The most striking of this one for me is the evidence from Sangam literature, the Indus Valley seal and the description of the Event from the "Durai Kaalam".

https://thewire.in/19157/banning-jallikattu-will-decimate-indias-indigenous-cattle-breeds/

I wish we could see the arguments presented on both sides in the Supreme court.  My strongly instilled belief in Indian Judiciary tells me that if anything like these articles were presented as arguments in the court there would certainly not be a ban but only a Regulation for this sport!  Wonder what really went on in there.

To think about the real cause for this case - There are hordes of sports out loose that actually cause harm!  What about them?  Why this sport specifically is being scrutinized?  And the other question that nags me is why would they target Tamil Native breeds?  Given that UP and MP are much higher with their cattle and milk production ratios, have they been taken over yet?

Update:  I learnt from one of the videos that they indeed have been.  TN is one of the few states that still have a majority of the native breeds.

These questions are more of trying to prove if there is really an alternate motive to this Ban with the MNC's and taking over the world of cattle conspiracy in mind?  What is the argument for the other really?  I would love to get my hands on the court evidence and argumenbts if they are public!

An FB page had someone posting a wonderful summary with a reference to A1 and A2 milk and the background studies.  A quick search gave me this.  I am sure we can find much more detailed papers on these.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3475924/

There was one specific comment from one of the FB forum/conversations where the statistics provided (or not provided) was being questioned and that was simply intelligent questions that did not have answers.

The simple way to stop this protest and put sens einto the protesters would be to distribute this report and evidence is it not. They could seek the court's permission(if required) to make this documenbt public and make the protesters read those arguments?  So called ëducating the masses". 

If you truly care about the animals then reach out to the people that want to "cause harm" and give them your arguments, no....!!?    Not go door to door just publish your arguments online or in one of the national papers.  Nope! 

There are more and more articles, videos and recordings releasing day by day that simply educate why Jallikattu is important and what it stands for.  No wonder I support Jallikattu and the preserving of native breeds. 

If one were to suggest a better way to keep this going without the "harm"I am sure people would welcome it but that is c onspicuously absent from the arguments on the other side!

Musings on FANDOM and the much expected journey...

My recent visit to Hobbiton- the icing on the cake of the little visits to LOTR book and movie places of NZ- prompted some thoughts... 

Hobbiton is obviously a "the destination" once in NZ if one is an LOTR fan.

And so it was, for us too.  LOTR was introduced to me by my brother when I was 15 when a bunch of us went to watch the movie "Fellowship of the Ring".  Of course I fell in love with Aragorn (and Viggo Mortensen) and he was the definition of "the man of my life" for my 15 year old self (and I fought over him with two other cousins of my age at the time).  I did not like Viggo Mortensen as anything outside of the role/looks of Aragorn, not even as himself when I googled him. :( oh and Gollum! I used to (still do sometimes) imitate/enact Gollum.  When Suresh gifted me the One Ring, I surprised and even spooked him with a "my precious... Gollum gollum" in Gollum vocals... :D a quite plump Gollum that made me though, he he!

The book is a different story for me... The first time I tried reading it was a #fail; not being able to go past the first 100 pages! This was back in 2007 and I was still in university.

I read it again much later, probably in the heights of joblessness of 2008 June - Sept break.

Having always been a fantasy fan, it was no surprise that I liked LOTR.  But I was not a fan in the traditional sense.  I never was - for anything - for that matter. 

I realised it when discussing Harry Potter books - which I read over and over again - with a dear friend (Lakshmi Ponnuswamy) and realised what a "fan" means.  I decided I would never be a "fan" of anything in that traditional sense where you remember and recall every minutiae of a book/movie.

But that is not to say I can't remember the events, characters and details quite well.  I just don't bother to remember them all and do not think it a sin if I forget something.

Fantasy and especially such a detailed and multi-layered epic such as the LOTR family of books, holds a very special place in my heart.  I too have had, no less than Elven dreams, trying to speak the tongues, (of course also trying to invent my own) when I was still smitten with the first read.

Visiting the WETA, (the studio that created many favourites such as LOTR, Avatar, District 9), the statues of the Kings, Gollum and Smog at WELLINGTON Airport.
Visiting some of the places where various scenes from The Hobbit were shot were quite an experience in that it would probably take another post to, if not for each spot. Oh and Avatar!  Can't wait for sequel(s)...!

Coming back to my experience in and at Hobbiton, it reminded me of..... how I was not a FAN. So many fans were feeling special just by being in the place that created Hobbiton for everyone, almost as well as how JRR would have wanted it envisioned.  For me though... it made me feel sad. 

Let me explain here, it is one thing to look at Mount Doom up close or go to the WETA studio and look at the gear or the graphic aids used, to look at the life size replica of your favourite characters.  It brings just JOY.  

But HOBBITON is just different (Atleast for me).  It's this perfect, peaceful and beautiful place, filled with happy people.  It's not hard to imagine but the movie did good by expanding on that dream with wonderful details and capturing the essence of it all.  And to go to the actual place to see where they brought it to life is a memory I will cherish, an experience I will remember. 

But that being said, here I was, looking at Bag End with no backend!!
Nothing except the door and the frame really.  That sort of killed me.  I could, in that moment, empathise with those kids that go through their "Santa is your mom" moment.  It was this bunch of highly skilled people working in a dedicated team effort and mounds of creativity, imagination; and I am sure immense FANDOM, that created this absolutely brilliant place that was only in the imagination of all those LOTR Fans and JRR's epic words till then.

And there, for me, was hard physical evidence of the fact that it was all NOT REAL.  It was NOT TRUE.   Of course I knew it all before.  But in that moment to actually see it all as a SET and be explained the details of how they painstakingly put together the magnificent piece of work-art, was this feeling of sadness that dampened and dripped on the feathers of the wings of joy and made it just float half heartedly instead of soar into the sky.

On the one hand, I was there, with one part of me being excited about being here at HOBBITON!  And the other half of me quietly withdrawing within myself into a deep corner with accusing teenager eyes. 

So instead of writing a piece of review on TripAdvisor - I am sure there are gazillion reviews already so one less is not going to affect people's decision if they already are looking for "reviews" to decide to go to Hobbiton - here I am lamenting a slight fraying in my dream fabric.  A must see if you are strong (fan) hearted unlike me.

No Blogger App on iOS App Store

Yes, this disappointment gave me more than good enough reason for me to pick the pen sorry phone sorry the good old laptop to express my horror at finding this out this morning!

I had deleted the Blogger App to make space for some music, assuming I could always download it again, as I usually do with several apps, to overcome the "16 GB woes" of my dear little iPhone 5, a gift, I have no mind to part with. 

Oh on that note check out this one if you don't already know - http://www.mophie.com/ - which is now available through the Apple website as well.

This morning having the initial symptoms of a writing urge (thanks to some inspiring writings such as http://www.sindhusankar.blogspot.com and http://www.raudri.blogspot.com that I read and re-read after a long time) I cleared up other clutter from my phone and went looking for the Blogger App via the Search on the App store.

Not finding it there I was confused and tried to find it in my "Purchased Apps ----> Not on this Phone section" list. I drew a blank when I could not find it there either and re-tried both ways before it stuck me as worryingly odd.

Googling the problem, actually brought this link up - https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/DHXxVoEzMPU;context-place=topicsearchin/blogger/category$3Aios%7Csort:relevance%7Cspell:false

Apparently it's been out since Feb this year and I had not noticed it! (roll eyes: of course since I obviously did not look for an App that I already had).  I would have appreciated some form of notification via email or such from their users list!! (Ya I know I am traditional like that, expecting email notifications!!!)

There are NO GOOD FREE BLOGGER APPS on the iOS at the moment.  A big gap in the market and I am surprised there was no official announcement.  I understand the blogger user base, mostly personal bloggers, has waned and IS quite small in the face of worthy competitors such as Wordpress but it's always hard to face the truth as a nasty surprise!! (I could hear google and Apple going "You belong to a group of people that is so small that it is negligible.")

THIS got me back to the predicament of moving away from BLOGGER and even the whole argument of how (Personal) Blogging is dead, now that everyone prefers to go back to FB to like or comment where every blogpost is auto-shared to begin with, announcing to their "readers"!! 

Having successfully avoided or not seeing any new value in the Tycoons of the new age of always connected world, has contributed to me being a Tumblr (really any social network other than FB) retard and somehow denying the existence of the well established Wordpress!! 

I know! I know! I have considered Wordpress several times in the last so many years since BLOGGER started its slow decay but what can I say, the loyalist in me always reproached me into quietude!  Not really the AdSense loyalist, mind you, for I have made, not a single dollar from it yet, in all of my almost 7 years with it!  Ha! Beat that! :)

I even tried GHOST a few months ago and somehow did not think I blog enough to be paying for a blogspace.  May be I will make the move to Wordpress or a new Blog space.  Or not at all, coming across some new way to write/post that is not Blogging. No I am not talking about the microblogging platforms made for short attention spanns and word misers,  I am quite (unbearably sometimes) generous and find it hard as it is to cut short, thank you!

What do you think, have you found any other new ways of doing things around here? What BLOGGER Apps do you use on your iOS devices?









 

Just some thoughts

Sometimes we won't understand if someone spoke to us this way because there are a myriad of other things in play when we speak to one another such as our facial expressions, tones, body language etc., that only add fuel to fire or makes things go on an unnecessary and/or damaging tangent.

When written down there is only our own assumptions of tone so we can pause to think about if they truly meant it that way! 

So I hope everyone reading this takes a minute to review themselves and also pause before they think or speak next time.

People are so often so full of judgement and prejudices but do not pause to even consider the possibility of being so.

Sometimes they are so naive about it that it baffles the hell out of me as to how they can assume such things and be unaware of the fact that they are only "assuming" and it is not the truth.

Other times they are so adamant or arrogant about it or at the very least confident about their assumed facts that I am left amused and angry at the same time.

Get out of your heads people and pause before you speak or act!! Really!!

The other thing I find annoying is the fact that people can't let their younger ones make their own mistakes and learn.

They must "correct/help" them... But please! The best parent is the one that stays around, watches you make mistakes & learn from those but doesn't say "I told you so"!

The one that gives a pat on the back and says I learnt it the hard way too, you are only so much stronger for it now! 

Of course it all comes down to individuals but most mature young ones expect this treatment and the more you treat them this way from earlier on, the more they learn to be on their own and evolve to learn from their mistakes, isn't it?

Young people need others to have faith and confidence in them!  Give them that and they will be thankful to you for it forever.

I am learning of such mistakes I made myself too - of assumptions, judgement and handholding - that I did to a lot of people that had the misfortune of being "under" me or "younger" than me, and I just want to say sorry for being an ASS :)