Carrying Forward

This has been long due, as I was tagged in this post, but did not get a chance to write it

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER: Ironman (was pretty good)

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING: XSLT: Programmer’s Reference, one about XML too lol!!! However, I am supposed to read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Pictionary, Monopoly….long time since i played any!

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE: Reader’s Digest

5. FAVORITE SMELLS: Scent from mud after first few droplets of rain, well cooked food, sandalwood

6. FAVORITE SOUND: Laughter, Temple Bells, Wind chimes, Koel

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: loss of a loved one, Betrayal

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING: What’s the time, am i late for work? + what day is it today?

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE? any place where they serve good pani puri!! there r some pretty good one’s in dwarka, delhi.

10. FUTURE CHILD’S NAME? We’ll cross the bridge when we reach it ……..Cyrus is under consideration…

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. “IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D…?” do too many things, the list is endless believe me! but few of them wud b to get everything for my loved ones, that they ever wished for n then ofcourse my list wud start

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST? not yet

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? nope, a body pillow

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY? as long as everything related with civilization is not flying away in air….they r pretty cool

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? don’t have yet, convertible with a sunroof is a strong contender

16. FAVORITE DRINK? milk, water, mango juice

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, “IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…..” the list is very looooong again!

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? NAYYYYYYYYYY

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? Red, tried streaks once, blonde was disaster but red was good….

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN. Delhi, Minneapolis, Redlands

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Used to be cricket

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU. the perfect guy a girl wishes for

23. WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BED? storage box

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? sure changing lil things here n thr

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL? Night owl

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP? What does this mean? you wanna know what kinda eggs i like??

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? home

28. FAVORITE PIE? none, i like indian sweets

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Butterscotch

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO’S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? I dunno, nobody knows abt my blog !!!! the only guy who does already sent me this…..

Why Blog?

I have been wondering why people write a blog, rather my question is why people write a public blog?

I had read somewhere that a blog is like a diary where people write their thoughts.

After pondering on this for while, I am still not very sure. Why do I need to share my personal diary with the whole web surfing junta of the world?????

However, today I realized that when you don’t know how to get your views to a larger audience, you can use a blog. However the chances are minimal depending on how much time they have. If the closest ones to you hadenough time maybe you wouldn’t feel like writing to the whole world.

But still why blog? can anyone tell?

Why are Indians insenitive?

Being an indian myself, it’s a bold statement. But I realized it lately that we are extremely insensitive as a nation and as a person. I must say that this realization kind of comes suddenly, if you can call 15 days a sudden time of frame, and that too because I have been staying in USA for last 2.5 yrs, I would talk about the significance of that little later. Last 2-3 weeks I’ve been observing “us”. Today 4 kids died because the van which was carrying them caught fire after the van’s CNG cylinder exploded. The kids were 5-6 yrs old……but websites of Times Of India and Rediff do not think it’s important enough news, as it does not feature on their main webpage. However all sorts of scandals find place in the headlines everyday. The media is not be blamed totally, they would show what sells….it’s the business rule after all. Even if they put the headline for sometime, what would happen……nothing….would anybody even twitch, would anybody’s mind even register that four “kids” barely 5-6 yr old have died, either exploded into pieces or burnt alive…those who came to this world just 5 yrs ago. I have a 3.5 yrs old niece and I shuddered at the news.

India rather indians pride themselves for the family culture we have, family stays together, you don’t move out of your house unless you have to go to other city or there’s a fight in the house. It’s not our “culture” to stay in the same city as our family and still stay in other house. Then how come the same indians do not relate to the news? Can’t they feel the pain of loosing a child? Afterall we are a nation who believe that children are god’s gift and if somebody decides not to have children is looked down upon, then why there is no pain even in the news readers voice?

Maybe because we have got so used to listening that 5 people died here and there, 10 soldiers died in Kashmir etc etc. Thats everyday story, it’s not a “news”. Has that made us so insensitive? We do not even react to our soldiers dying every single day.

2 women are molested publicly and nobody does anything, the news dies after few days. Jessica Lal is murdered in a party and it takes 7 to actually sentence the killer, that too after acquitting him once. Why are we so insensitive? Didn’t anybody think that it was sheer luck it wasn’t them who were the victims, they “just” survived.

Leaving the big issues, why are we so insensitive towards our own security? Seat belts, helmets, fire passage in a building etc are rules or laws that indians feel are thrust upon them by the government. I believe indians are smart people, then why can’t they understand that they are rules to “protect them” against harm? Insensitive towards own safety?

Last but not the least indians are insensitive towards their own family. Parents are insensitive towards the kids as pretty aptly shown by Taare Zameen Par, people are insensitive towards their relationships, everything is taken for granted. Why are indians insensitive towards their loved ones?

Talking about america, I haven’t seen a lot of it and I can’t say much about them, but I know that if 4 kids would have died like this over there, it would have been the top story of the day. When one american soldier is even injured in Iraq or Afganistan it is a top story. I don’t know whether they really care but atleast they show that they do and mostly the nation is united for such things.

What is wrong with us? What happened to us? We were not like this always…..why indians are so insensitive even towards themselves?

Halo World!

Hi,

I am yet another “different” soul in this usual world. I love traveling, music, reading, animated movies, garfield, speed, adventure sports, teddy bears n my family. I am finishing off graduate school from University of Minnesota, hopefully very soon.

Nishi Mishra