Just another year!

The mobile is beeping since midnight. Wishes everywhere – Smses, e-mails, cards, diaries, phone calls, and such. Blog post about New Year is the new addition for me this year; for I can see around 10 posts on my dashboard about New Year and the resolutions. Resolutions doing round on Facebook and Twitter too!

People deciding to give up few things and start few things. Like rules, resolutions are meant to be broken too for most of them! Purpose behind those resolutions – no idea. Why to wait for a particular day to decide something? Well I am yet to find out the answer for the same. I guess it is a trend to have a New Year resolution; and I am too old fashioned to understand it!

And the review of my last year – it passed by pretty soon for me; with a lot of things on my plate which i would rather not mention here!

So all you wonderful people out there; wish you a very happy New Year! Hope you all have a wonderful year ahead.

Well what about my new year Resolution? why to waste my thinking powers behind something Im not going to keep.

P.S: I Haven't watch the movie "The Notebook" and I promised myself not to watch it, Never in My life, - This is my New years Resolution Since 2004.. Yayy I'm good at keeping Promises, I guess.. :P

Do what You Feel is Right

Decisions are always so much easier to make when they don’t affect you directly. I had to make a difficult choice recently and after a lot of careful thought I went with what my heart said – something I think I knew from the beginning. Different people gave different advice – some vehemently, some gently. But if there’s one thing I have learnt in life, it is this – always listen to others but eventually do what you feel is right.

Nobody and I mean nobody, not your closest friend or your family, can take your place in life. What this means is that they can never completely feel your happiness, your pain, your confusion, your angst as much as you do. They cannot live for you. They will always be one step removed from the real thing – you. The sooner one realizes this, the easier it becomes to stop relying on others. However much you take opinions about how to run the race, eventually you will be the one running it. That is not to say that the advice doesn’t help or guidance or sympathy or some kind of empathy doesn’t help. Of course it helps. It goes some way in fine-tuning the ideas that are already present in your head. It gives you solace. It shows you a different way of looking at things sometimes.

But the thing to remember is – your life is yours only. You will have to fight your own battles. You should be solely responsible for whatever decisions you make. And there is comfort to be drawn from that. And courage in owning up to it.

Another thing I realized is how you have to figure out what works for you. In other words, one man’s meat may be another man’s poison. What sounds like a great opportunity to one person need not seem that way to another. It is all a question of priorities. And it is important to be sure of one’s priorities in life. There are so many things we compromise upon in life. Too often, it is too easy to get drawn into something that goes against what you once believed in. It is essential to be aware of the non-negotiables. To realize that no matter what, this is something you are not going to give up on. It is important to take a stance and stick to it because otherwise you will fall for anything and everything the world throws at you.

It is important to realize that you don’t need to, and more importantly, can’t, please everybody all the time. It is impossible. This is one of those realizations that are guaranteed to bring about a lot of satisfaction in the long run. It is hard to avoid the temptation to be a crowd-pleaser. And it is also not necessary that you have to rebel against everything. Just learn to live with the fact that everyone may not like you. And that’s cool because you don’t like everyone either.

So… a lot of the heavy stuff today but that’s another side to me.

Office Politics

"There are no friends at  workplace, only Colleagues or co-workers" -  (The best advice I've ever received.)

It’s true that life comes with surprises for which you just have to keep your fingers crossed. But for those things that are predictable, you can always choose your way. After years of stress-less living, stepping into workplace can be quite a transformation to come to terms that you have to take up responsibilities that can tire you out, which you’d rather not think about in your wildest dreams.
And if this is not enough to drain you off, you have these weird and wonderful creatures called colleagues. Colleagues can be a real blessing if they had a little bit of the uncommon thing called common sense

Not having mature work mates can be a major turn off. At workplace, things turn out to be mega competitive because there is money involved. Money and power always invite contest. Not everybody you meet really wants the best to happen to you though they may seem extremely genuine about their intentions.

There is a section of people at workplace who are real pests. They come with a package of three.
1. Plotting ideas to put down the fellow mates to get appraisal.
2. Pretending to be the boss around.
3. Backbiting, one of the oldest forms of weapons used to stain the fellow mates’ impression.
Yes, it is difficult. You just want to run away or kill that blood sucker beside you. No, you can’t because you shouldn’t.

However irritating a colleague is, you just have to deal with it. It’s all about accepting that different things in life need to be handled in a fairly different way.

Having control over oneself is an important trait one should develop while at work place. Keeping yourself occupied in work is a hug tipoff to keep away from colleagues who enjoy wasting your time. People can try to be too sneaky to know what is happening in your life. Never trust a person too much that you give that person a chance to put you in trouble. Keep your fears and strengths within you and only you.

Develop patience especially when it is very difficult which could be the need of the situation. Refrain from discussing personal life with colleagues which could be an interesting subject for gossip. Never be the one who demands attention or throws tantrums occasionally. It is better not be the center of attraction because if you risk it, you will also have to maintain the impression like forever.
If you happen to be the receiver of gossip, ensure that you are only the listener and nothing more to it. Passing around gossip may sound fun but it really isn’t professional and not worth landing your job into risk.

Deal with injustice right away. Remember, your hard work should pay only you, not your fellow mate. Helping a person and letting that person take advantage of your help are two different things.
Dealing with male and female colleagues are always not the same. While being a girl, it is important to retain composure so that you don’t pass the wrong signal to your colleague. Getting emotionally involved should be handled delicately as workplaces can be very strenuous if you’re working with a person with whom terms have been spoilt.

Always be a person who is in charge of his/her emotions. Losing temper in workplaces will only land you in unfavorable situations. Talking politely should be the only weapon to be used at any time inside the office.

Steer away from people who are dominating as much as possible. They could try to take you in their control to get things done. Learn to speak up for yourself where your integrity is questioned.

It is important to realize that it takes all kinds of people to make this world. It is obvious to expect people with different characters and nature. It is vital to build a rapport with all people at workplace without getting involved into office politics.

At the end of the day, it is for money that people are working for. Hence, it is important to do whatever it takes to not to have unguarded situations.

Men don't gossip?

Sometimes a belief created in a lifetime, just tumbles down in a moment and that moment of realization is really like a hard slap in the face. I once believed that "Men don't gossip" the belief that got stronger and stronger because of the men I met in my life.. because of the people I got along with, until one day the devil showed its face.. and God! its not pleasant..

When I say gossips I don’t mean the real information that goes around, that is news.. what I mean is about this stuff someone invents in their head and sets on fire by running it into another person’s ears.. Shall I ask..  if they are so good in spinning the yard and creating stories who not publish a book? Or let me give an easier solution.. start a blog.. and become fictitious.. and stop poking their nose and all other unwanted stuffs into others life.

Right from the olden days we associate gossips to women. So is it unmanly to gossip? Or is there something missing in them that makes them behave so? Of late I am seeing some men who are shameless and gutless that they walk around inventing stories about women who has nothing to do with them.. Women who talk their mind, have always been the target for these gossips. My rational mind does not give me a reason as of why they do this.. nor do I get reply from my emotional half..

A silly casual talk in a group of men like, “she is fast” or “I saw her with that guy yesterday” or more than anything pointing to a girl standing harmlessly at the far end and raising the eye brows and shrinking the nose and nodding head left and right, that little gesture is enough to kill her reputation. I am not saying that every women should care about these filthy talks and sit in a corner and cry.. I am just annoyed at how such men enjoy doing it.. slaying someone’s credibility in a second and spreading it like wildfire.. If any one comes and tells me that

"Say it to a women and it will never remain a secret" or "It is the girls that spread the rumor" then I wouldn’t think twice before swearing.

As long as a human (be it a man or women) has eyes, ears, mouth and a shameless character they can spin a story about anybody anytime.

What concerns me more is, why? why to invent stories? why to spread it actively? Why to call a women whose husband stays oversees with names? Why to think that a widowed or divorced woman an easy catch? why to call a twenty eight + unmarried women as slut or gay? Even if she is one.. why to care about it? Don’t we have handful of responsibilities and dreams and ambitions and life of our own?  Why to spoil it by spoiling others life? Is it really that hard to just mind one’s own business??

Escalation of Commitment - In Love -

Falling in love is such a heady, euphoric feeling. Can anything feel better than the rush of adrenaline that hits you each time you set your eyes upon "the one", the way your heart alternates between racing and skipping a beat, and those tiny explosions of excitement in the pit of your tummy? Rarely does anything else make life seem so beautiful. You're more cheerful, more positive, more energetic, and some studies say that love can even lessen physical pain. Sounds like the perfect  Remedy.

All's great about love, except for one thing. It tends to erode one's ability to think rationally. Often, people get so carried away with the positive rush they're experiencing, that they forget to pay timely heed to red flags. Ignoring these evident warning signs in the initial stages of a relationship can lead to trouble later on.

You might argue that relationships are all about compromise, about give and take. They are. But what if you're the only one giving, and not getting in return? That's when your senses need to alert you, and you need to wake up and move out. Because being in a relationship with someone who is unable or unwilling to offer you fulfillment can really play havoc with your happiness and peace of mind.

There are certain kinds of folks you should steer clear of the minute you find out what they're like. For example, unavailable people who are rarely there for you when it matters (commitment phobes, mama's boys, attached people, extreme workaholics, etc.); manipulative, controlling or abusive people; indecisive and irresponsible people who find it hard to take a stand; habitual liars; promiscuous people; chronic whiners and pessimists; people who lack foresight and good judgment... the list goes on. It is also wise to steer clear of people whose thinking and outlook are quite different from yours; they might be very nice, but you are unlikely to be compatible together.

A well wisher will always advise you keep your eyes wide open so you can spot potentially problematic traits in time, but it is also said that love makes people blind. Thinking rationally when you're overcome with emotions is always easier said than done. Of course, it would be ideal if you could detach yourself and move away the moment you see red flags starting to pop up. But that doesn't usually happen because infatuation erodes logic, and so people find themselves knee deep in a quagmire of negativity and disappointment, unable to make up their minds as to whether to leave or stay.

That's where the concept of "Escalation of Commitment" comes in. A common business management term, it refers to the compulsion to continue investing money, time and resources in a losing proposition, because you've already invested so much in it and all that investment will go to waste if you give up now. So you keep on investing more and more in the hope that the next bit you put in will turn the proposition into a winning one!

Read the definition carefully, does it not strike you that the same concept can also apply to relationships? Have you not seen this happening to so many people in less-than-happy relationships, who are constantly grappling with the big question "Should I stay or should I go?", but are unable to let go because they've already invested so much of their precious time, energy, and emotion in that relationship?

When we spend a considerable amount of time with someone who isn't making us happy, it becomes hard to let go and easy to rationalize the lack of fulfillment. We remain in denial and are afraid to let go, to give up something that we've put so much effort into. It's human nature to not want to waste. We keep thinking that if we invest just a bit more, we can turn the situation around; but if we give up, we end up losing all that we invested. Starting from scratch is a frightening thought; what if we fail again? And that thought makes us hold on and want to try a little more before giving up, which can then turn into a vicious cycle.

Is it wise to keep hoping that a relationship which rarely (if ever) gives you any fulfillment will turn into a happy and loving one someday? How long should one go on hoping? When it comes to something as abstract as love, there are no set rules by which we can live. Unfortunately, the only thing to do is to let go, to realize that some things are beyond your control, because it is extremely difficult to change another person's behavior unless that person is willing to make a conscious effort to do so. And in such chronically un-fulfilling relationships, chances are that the other person already knows that they are not doing you any good, but has shown no signs of wanting to change that even now. Where is the hope then?

Is it not better to be happy and at peace for the balance of your life, as compared to always feeling shortchanged? Sometimes the only thing to do is to cut your losses and move on while you can, because every negative experience takes away a bit of you with it. Letting go won't be easy, but trust me when I say that you will thank yourself for taking a hard decision in good time. Remember the saying "today's pain is tomorrow's gain"?

Nevertheless, moving on is always easier said than done. In spite of realizing that it is the sensible thing to do, many people still stay on in a losing situation in the hope of making things better, letting life pass them by.

It does seem then, that for some things, experience is probably the only (and the toughest) teacher!

Crazy Little thing Called ....

What is the one thing that is hardest to get, easiest to lose, and is usually never retrieved whole once lost? That which is highly coveted by all but impossible to ask for, buy, steal or obtain by force; which can only be given to you by someone when he or she decides you are deserving enough.

How many times have you had the phrase "trust me" thrown at you, without reason or logic? Trust is a tricky little thing; it takes a while to build and mere moments to destroy. Even so, people are quick to use the word and ask others for it, without realizing what it implies. They ask others to trust them, but when are they going to understand that one cannot simply demand it?
Asking for trust is pointless, you can only get it through consistent behavior in the right direction, over time. It's makes no sense to ask someone to trust you when your actions prove otherwise, because they simply won't be able to. You will have to prove yourself worthy first.

What's more, once you win somebody's trust, you can't take it for granted. You will have to be consistently honest with that person in order to keep it alive. This calls for some effort on your part. It takes only a single instance to destroy trust, one wrong move and it's gone. And after that, even if you try hard to get it back, it is unlikely to ever be the same again. You can liken it to a broken mirror; you may stick the pieces back together, but the cracks will never go.

Of course, this doesn't mean we should start eyeing everyone we come across with suspicion, but it's wise to not get carried away or wear horse-blinders when it comes to judging others. It isn't always possible to immediately classify people into either of the two subsets "innocent until proven guilty" or "guilty until proven innocent", but we can start by giving them the benefit of doubt while keeping our wits about us. Giving people a chance to prove their good intentions is the right thing to do; letting them abuse that chance is not.

Now there are going to be be a fair number of people who will abuse that chance, but still demand that you trust them. So the next time one of them insists that you learn to trust, look them straight in the eye and insist that they first earn it!

Sweet and simple... or is it?

Just Suicide!

Your life sucks? The one you love is fucking someone else? You hate yourself? Your job sucks? Your boss is a Doof and your co-workers are back-stabbing motherfuckers? The whole world is out to get you?

Chill.

We have just the thing you need, fates have guided you to the right blog post, because what you need is a Suicide!

Yes!

Kill Yourself! but [[[How?]]] you ask. The world is full of un-imaginative idiots who have made suicide look like something bad and idiotic, it’s time you took control of your life and the way it should end.It's time You took suicide to a higher level. No stupid cutting, jumping, ropes, guns or poisons involved, this is suicide like you have never heard before. This is what imagination does to you.

Let's not delay the inevitable and move on to the three top slow and steady FUBAR ways to cash in your chips, go west to meet the maker! [why slow and steady you ask? cuz that makes sure you win the race ;)]

Fall In Love--- Love, as they say, is the slowest form of suicide. Once in it, you ARE going to DIE. The road to Happily Never After is littered with evil intentions and broken hearts, you walk a mile in a three legged race of love and the road forks. Sweet. Either you succeed and have a "happy ending" [Ending is the keyword here] or you fail and die bit by bit inside. Very interesting and novel way to die, of course half the world is doing it without even realizing it. That is what makes this fun.

Chase a Dream-- Dreams are nothing but remains of a bad night's sleep. If you go chasing dreams on mountains of hope, your dreams will turn around and bite you in the face. Then they will jump off the mountain and start flying, while your face will be headed on a super-fast Hello to Mr Ground of Reality. That can break a man or a woman, from inside and when you die there, no glue or doctor can join you back again. Chasing dreams is a risky method and a complex one, slow and simple, but sure.

Time Travel!- Now, just as you read time travel, 95% of you would get thinking on the Grandfather lines. Well, get original, grab a time machine from the nearby supermarket and zip back to tomorrow and meet yourself. BOOM the universe will explode, tearing apart the trousers of time and there! the most original suicide in the history of the world. Literally!

[and as a bonus method]

Read A Story A Day - Congrats, you are already on your way to the pearly gates pits of hell. Word by word these sentences will crawl in your brain through your eyes and push your brain through your ears till there is no more space left in your head for anything but this fucked up blog. A slow, and a very painful death.

Yup that's all folks! But [there is always a but] I shall leave you with a poem by the great Dorothy Parker!

"Razors pain you, rivers are damp,
Acid stains you, drugs cause cramp,
Guns aren't lawful, nooses give,
Gas smells awful, you might as well live"

-=-=-=-

Suicide is Self Expression. Hope it all helps.

Things I Hate About Twitter

Yeah it may seem a bit strange that I'm about to tell you some of things I hate about Twitter, when I happen to spend most of my time on it. Yes...I love Twitter, but sometimes it all gets a bit much and I find myself running to hide in a dark corner somewhere.

In no certain order, here I go.

1) Unclear tweets.
2) Incomprehensible jargon.
3) hahahaha tweets.
4) Pests who tweet @ you ALL the time.
5) Trolls.
6) Ugly people.
7) People with two, three people in display pic.
8) People who tweet only motivational shit.
9) Flag bearers for causes.
10) Beat the same drum ALL the fucking time.
11) People who swear too fucking much, un-fucking-necessarily.
12) People who ALWAYS tweet in their regional language.
13) They twitpic everything they eat.
14) Foursquare check-ins.
15) Always chatting with people.
16) Multiple exclamation marks!!!!!
17) They ask for a follow-back. They announce now following to all..
18) You Manually RT Tweets of others, and most importantly You Also Add Your Opinion to it  "Oh yeah, I'm retweeting this from somebody else to show my individuality to the world"; shut up, you are clearly an idiot, and  it just plain irritates the hell out of me.
19) They talk to celebs all day like they give a fuck about them.
20) They're mentally disturbed and somehow have a net connection.
21) Political tweets.
22) Sad all the time.
23) DP Changing Syndrome (DPCS)
24) Only talk to girls & Flirts with all the other girls.
25)  Tweets protected. Please! what the Hell are you trying to PROTECT?
26) Guys faking a girl's profile and vice versa.
27) Append a fuck lotta tweets with TWHS TWSS.
28) 140 character long #tags.
29) Music Marathon Madness.
30) Misery machines who want sympathy.
31) People who crash conversations.
32) Fights with people ALL the time.
33) Online 24/7
34) When you updated your bio and you saw everyone has a blog so you made one to be cool, but never updated your blog, or lets say you have no idea what blogging is?
35) Tweets with just links without any accompanying text.
36) You've an i appending your handle, probably stands for idiot?
37) You've a number in your name, like 69, (how mature!)
38) Check DM and #FF Tweets.
39) Excessive blog pimping.
40) Hate petrol price hike, make ur fucking own petrol.
41) Suicide threats.
42) Extremely open about relationship on twitter (No one's interested)
43) Change Handle Every two weeks.
44) Have an animated display pic.
45) You take drugs and tweet about them. & You fake accidents.
46) “My first tweet”, “hello world”, “still trying to figure this one out”, “can someone follow me?” and then pffft, gone with the wind.
47) Miserable poetry.
48) Stand up comedians.
49) Photographers.
50) Over-excited Mothers.
51) Non-native RT
52) Complaining for sympathy.
53) Fat people who are not doing something about it, except eating more.
54) You lie constantly about stuff that no one cares about.
55) Excited hamster syndrome.
56) Movie Reviewers.
57) People who try to show that they're superior by trolling others.
58) Sexual tweets, some of us are trying to eat food.
59) Pointless debates/arguments.
60) Anagram Assholes.
61) Your baby is not that cute, all babies look the same.
62) Always complains about Word limit - 140 characters - If you expect more than this please leave us alone and leave twitter, there are many options available than just blabbering about it..
63) Blog Whore - because blogging is dead n all.
64) Bollywood & Hollywood Bitches.
65) Your handle is sexual, your tweets are equally boring.
66) You copy tweets from funny foreigners.
67) People talking like "Only 3 followers left for 5000" or People tweeting that they’ve achieved 300 followers in 24 hours, like it's an achievement.
68) Overtly patriotic.
69) Disrespectful towards women with wife beating/kitchen jokes.
70) People with egg DP following thousand or more and got Zero tweets. What da faq? you dunno How to type?
71) You RT blood requests without checking.
72) You RT your own praise.
73) You praise others just to get an RT and a follow.
74) You ask celebs for RTs.
75) Using a celebrity name to attract gullible fans.
76) You have the name of a beverage in your handle, coffee, coke, water etc.
77) You tweet shit at customer care accounts, just cuz they can't be rude to you.
78) You're always traffucked.
79) You've a good life, but you whine like a bitch.
80) Disrespectful towards elders on twitter.
81) You give movie reviews, 9/10 or whatever.
82) People giving each other hugs and <3 and="and" kisses.="kisses." p="p">83) You think every sly tweet is about you. or Everyone sly tweets about you. or You sly tweet about everyone.
84) Bios that read something like “Author, motivational speaker, web 2.0 wizard, fitness coach, CEO, marathon runner, Dad to 5 kids, Scout Leader.” Really?
85) Those horrendous “Let’s spread some love today, everyone!” type of Tweets
86) You tweet about facebook.
87) You are on twitter with hopes of getting laid.
88) You've an online girlfriend/boyfriend whom you've never met.
89) You tweet about time.
90) 11.11
91) Your jokes are shit.
92) You ask people for simple decisions in your life.
93) You write open letters.
94) You hold celebs/politicians directly responsible for your misery.
95) You arrange tweetups.
96) People talking about neighbors, babies, unknown music.
97) Too many followers. Life was better with lesser number of followers. Then people start following and take everything you say so seriously.
98) Supreme Idiocy.
99) Fucked up reasoning for causes.
100) Weather tweets.
101) You correct grammar of others.
102) Football freaks.
103) People who add URGENT to every other tweet.
104) People who tweet only after a certain time and make a big deal out of it.
105) The retarded group good morning, good afternoon etc tweets. Sucks even more when the each person tagged in the tweet responds.

Okay, done for today. All these points were written in a humorous tone, but if you have a problem with any of these, feel free to bug me on twitter @datsdawayitz

Got any favs? Hate any particular number? Leave a comment! Nice way to let other readers know your view!

Cheers!

Are we a Wasted Generation?

The United Nation’s definition of youth defines youth as those who are between the age of 15 to 24. By definition, then those who are below the age of 14 are considered children. However the Article I of the United Nations’ convention on the rights of the child defines children as persons up to the age of 18. Some countries define youth at the age at which a person is given equal rights under the law, which is often referred to as the “age of majority” and in many countries age of majority is 18. Once a person passes this age he or she is considered an adult. There is also a noticeable division between teen agers (13-19) and young adults (20-24). Approximately 1 billion youth live in the world today; 18% of the world population. This means that one person out of five is in the age of 15- 24. Interestingly this is the first time in the world history that the world witnesses such a high concentration of youth on its surface. The majority, 85%, of the youth live in the developing countries with 60% living in Asia alone and a remaining 23% in African countries. It is calculated that by 2025 this 85% would augment in to 89.5%. But what is most important to comprehend is that the notion of youth is subjected to different socio-cultural, political, economic and ideological variables and it is these factors that determines who is a youth despite of all the definitions provided by any institution.

Now let us take a look at the Maldives definition of youth. In general perspective the youth fall in to the age category of  18 to 35. However the intriguing aspect of defining the youth in Maldives is to touch on the ideological perception of them by the masses. To put this in to simple language, what comes in to your mind with the utterance of youth? For most, youth is the icon of trouble. Youth is defined as an unemployed, druggies, restless minority constantly struggling along with violence to achieve their rights. Youth is also defined in terms of school dropouts and this population is one of the overtly representative fractions of the youth in Maldives. With all the hullabaloos that have been continued by this lot in the history of Maldives, the general pessimistic perception of the Youth by the masses can be justified.

With all these in mind, I base this article on a discussion we had few weeks ago. Are we a wasted generation? The question was quite shocking; something which we have not contemplated ever before but gave away few fascinating point of views of different genres.  Half of the people stated that we are a wasted generation and a few justified that we are not but most interestingly some were neutral of which the reasons and threats will be discussed later on.

One of the major arguments dragged in to justify that we are a wasted generation is that we have nothing to gain by a struggle; political achievement, and struggle obviously does not mean a physical one. Most of the young people do believe that there is no prospect for a major political revolution in the world per se. No opportunity to revolutionize the whole system as Karl Marx or Lenin did. Thus this political opportunity absence has convinced them to believe that youth has no important role to play in the political arena. But what is tragic and ironical here is that they do not grasp the importance of rightful, adequate and substantial political involvement by youth which is indispensable right now to Maldives.

The free market economy is explicitly a dominant feature of our lives. It is not exaggerating to state that we do not decide for ourselves any more but it is the free market economy which decides for us. My argument at a first glance would appear intimidating. But the explanation to this phenomenon is as follows. The term “free market” designates the fact that it is “free” and the consumer has the power to control the market by “demand”. Yet what we do not perceive is that our demand is conditioned by the “supply” it self and therefore our scope of independence in the free market is limited. Thus the supply decides what we should consume. On the other and most sophisticatedly the free market uses advertising to condition our decisions. The conditional psychological techniques executed by the advertisers unconsciously decide for us in all most all aspects of our lives. Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist once did a research using a dog to investigate how external factors contribute to the gastric function of a dog and results in salving. He rang a bell before giving the food to the dog and eventually the dog started salving to the sound of the bell even without the food which is now known as “ring a bell“theory. This simply means how external factors condition a beings internal urges. The free market economy advertisers use the same theory. For instance they show us a guy using a perfume and then get a hot a girl. The condition of this phenomenon is that “the perfume” is necessary to get the hot girl and therefore urges the viewers to purchase it in order to get the “hot girl”. Thus the desire of the Other becomes the desire of us. Therefore some of the youth believe that we are denied the right to free decision making by the unconscious conditioned deciding factors of the free market and thus we are, in fact all of us are, a wasted generation.

Another cliché tic argument of the youth to justify that we are a wasted generation is the unemployment experience by the youth and the less opportunity to “higher” education especially in Maldives due to various reasons. It is on one hand a fair argument to produce because of the high rate of unemployment among the youth of the country. However this has been discussed enough and I do not wish to explain it further.

And now let us contemplate on whether we are actually a wasted generation. In my personal opinion why do we have to struggle to prove that we are not a wasted generation? Is “struggle” and indispensable part of youth? It is this ideology and discourse of youth being a noticeably a radical group that has lead us to this conclusion. Yet there are enough opportunities for us to struggle in this country. There are hundreds of political injustices and human rights violations taking place but how many of us do notice them. It is here that we again come across the irony of our youth. Most of us are blind to the ongoing political discourse or are not rational enough to analyze the political situation here, not just political but our society’s concerns. Most of us are neutral to socio-political happenings of the country and then complain that we need a revolution. Thus isn’t it our fault that we are wasted?

But now let me entertain you in the most crucial part of this article. It is the first and the only time in the world history that we witness such a vast concentration of youth on the surface of the planet earth. More than three fourths of that population lives in the developing countries and more than half of that population lives in Asia. This on one hand is a very unique and on the other hand extremely risky situation. The high concentration of youth in Asia can be translated in to so many controversial problems starting from augmenting the present unemployment rate.

However I would like to concentrate on socio-cultural perspective of this massive phenomenon. The high concentrate of youth, without doubt, predetermines a series of socio-cultural issues not necessarily pessimistic. One of the main points pointed out by the UN is that this new generation is highly sexually active. This means that there will be a high birth rate in the future which will lead to a massive apocalypse of human population and therefore the means of full filling the basic needs of this next generation should also be given a thought. Furthermore this high sexual activeness would invariably lead to unwanted pregnancies which will result in a high rate of abortions. This will also lead to the spreading of HIV/AIDS epidemic and other STIs among the youth which will lead to a desperate destruction of the youth generation. Thus as the youth, there is a struggle for us to initiate. It is time for us to contemplate on the possible solutions for the expected issues. Our youth do lack the basic sex education. Even though a diminutive syllabus is included in the education system the lessons are either not taught or loosely dealt and consequently the lack of sex education has lead to many unsafe sex practices which is even apparent right now. Thus we need to find methods to extend the sex education among the youth. Furthermore awareness of HIV/AIDS and other STIs should be given in order to decrease the high rate of epidemic infection. We would also be responsible to find solutions to feed a massive young population in the near future about all this and drugs. Following this issue there will appear other problems such as housing, health, infrastructure, education etc when accommodating a massive population.

Thus we have to question again and again, are we a wasted generation. It is as important as this to analyze the arguments of those who claim that we are a wasted generation. But above all the personal perception of this issue by the youth itself matters overtly in examining this phenomenon. The majority of this young population lives in developing countries and in Asia. Thus the responsibility that we as youth have to share is enormous. The solutions for upcoming problems must be predetermined in excess and strategies must be implemented in advance. Thus calling us a wasted generation for not having apparent struggles or simply because of the consequences of free market is highly problematic and illogical without contemplating on the future issues of the young generation. The old school theories should be dealt with proper integration so that they would not influence us pessimistically to look forward to the future. Finally, children will become young one day and young will become old and it is our duty right now to get prepared to accommodate all on the surface of planet earth despite our intensely self occupied prejudices.

Cont: Kids lost their childhood?

Ps: Im not a parent nor I look after kids or what so ever!! but i live in this world where everything happens right infront of me, and I cant just Shut up and let it happen..

I sometimes fear that far from feeling carefree like butterflies and enjoying their childhood, our kids might actually be glad to leave their childhood behind them, considering how many of them are being pushed to excel by today’s parents!

Compared to the carefree times of my childhood, today’s children are living under constant stress: the stress of carrying on their slender shoulders the aspirations and lofty ambitions of their parents; the expectations of their teachers; and the incredible load of curriculum. They are living in a world where learning is always equated with competition; activities are all about winning a prize; and classes are joined not based on the kid’s skills or interests but on their snob value. Add to this the tough school schedule, loads of homework, projects and tuition, and the poor child just keeps getting pushed deeper and deeper in the vortex of stress and struggles to cope.

Welcome to the world of ‘helicopter parents’ —  those super-informed, super-involved, on-the-move parents, shuttling their kids from one class to another with the ease of a skilled acrobat! These are the parents that hover around their kids in a colony contest, desperately prompting the child, with a camera in tow elbowing out anyone who comes between them and their super achiever kid. These are the parents that worry about every germ that the child encounters and run after the poor kid with sanitizer in one hand and low-fat, high-protein smoothie in the other. They fill every second of their child’s existence with ‘constructive’ activities.

But if they really do have their child’s best interests at heart, they should stop obsessing over their kindergartener’s handwriting and micromanaging their lives in general. Else, the poor, mortified child would end up a super dependent adult, always seeking approval and unable to make even the smallest decision in life.

I really mean it; lay off parents! Give your child some fresh air to breathe and some space to thrive. Children are so creative and intelligent, they will surprise you with what they can do. If anything is holding back your children, it is your obsessive involvement and not their limitation! Set them free!

Isn’t it a matter of concern that children as young as five are falling prey to depression? There is a very fine line between stimulation and exertion; motivation and pressure. And most parents in my generation are going overboard. What is the need to keep the child ‘occupied’ at all times? Does it truly lead to all-round development? More importantly, how many parents even care?

For, we also have a breed of parents that is the opposite of helicopter parents: the under involved parents! All they want is for the kids to be somehow taken care of by someone because they are struggling to fit in too many things in their own lives.

For these parents kids need to be kept engaged because they do not have the time or inclination to provide them the attention they need. It has nothing to do with both the parents working. I see stay-at-home moms lounging in front of television sets or engrossed in their own social activities, even staying online for hours. In effect, they are unavailable, uninterested and even irritable when the child comes home. They have no time to spare for the child. So, they push the child to go for tuition even at a very young age when they can very well teach the child at home. In addition to this, there are the sundry classes like piano, art and music.

Did the parents once find out what the child wanted? Is she happy doing this or does she have the talent or attitude to cope? Is the child too tired? Can’t she play with friends or engage in a favorite hobby like gardening that is more fun?

And, then we complain that kids are growing up brash and disrespectful and don’t bond with us. Did we spend the time to nurture the bond? Were we there to guide the child, to console her when she needed it, to hug her and tell her that it is okay to lose as long as she tried hard enough, that we love her for being her and not because she won a medal, and that we are always there for her no matter what! The question is, do parents have a couple of hours in their day that they can dedicate to their child without being distracted by their mobile or computer or TV? Do they take time out to talk and laugh together? What has happened to family interaction? Do the tired parents and tired children have time to share their lives, ask for guidance or discuss their fears and aspirations?

I hope each parent pauses for a second and thinks: What kind of a parent am I? Am I taking away the ‘child’ from their childhood?

We can earn all the money we want and do other ‘important’ things, but the time and love lost are gone forever. I wish that parents would not have kids if they did not understand the magnitude of the responsibility that the task of raising them entails. The damage cannot be undone once they are older. It is not possible to rebuild the relationship in their teenage years. There is no greater joy than to raise a well-mannered, loving child, who need not necessarily be a genius.

Let us make the change while we still can!

Kids lost their childhood?

I don't see any kid jumping over the compound walls, playing running around, and catching butterflies with street sweeper Illoshifathi, playing hide and seek, see-saw or anything like this now a days. I don't see them running from the neighbor’s house after playing with friends;  kids go out, but to their tuition classes. They don't climb palm trees, not even a ladder, do they?  Not in my locality. We used to race in our bicycles, these days the kids ride bicycles, but only in beach or maybe on Lonuziyaarai kolhu plat form. Come on!

Whenever I see a kid they carry a big bag, big enough to create a hunch as they grow up coz they bend so much due to the weight. They are either stuck to the frigging television or the stupid PSP, iPad. When I ask a 6 year old kid what he does during his free time. He lines up a bunch of classes he attends and I start feeling sick.  I think the parents of our generation are getting over protective, they don't play in the sand; don't eat roadside food, like you never ate when you were a kid! Carry a sanitizer with you. Duh! Years back we didn't even know such a thing existed; they were a thing at hospital used by doctors. I used to have so many wound marks on my knees and arms. I love to use “Rai beys” all over, I used to be very proud of them and my parents they never cared about it, and they don't panic like I had broken my limb, if I had a little scratch. When I see my relatives now, even if the kid is about to fall they are going through a stress attack, really! I am not exaggerating. Few kids are really huge, they are obese. Don't tell me its puppy fat for God's sake! The parents buy them all the junk foods to keep them shut and they gain weight because there is no way they are burning that fat they gain, you push them into some abacus class or music class where they sit and sit and sit. 

Before making further accusations, (I felt that will be the right word) I am not a very old lady complaining about the parenthood of this generation. But I really find it so funny! Why are we being so cruel with those little ones? Don’t force your so-called luxury and disciplined lifestyle (bwahaha) into that kid. Can’t you see they are suffocating!

Please know that you are responsible for your kid losing his/her childhood. When he/she grows up to be an adult they will have no childhood memories, what do you expect them to say? When I was 5 years old I would come back from school and get ready ASAP to go to the tuitions, after tuitions I come back home and finish my home works by the time I would be very tired so I would go to sleep. Over the weekends, I had a bunch of other classes to attend training, vocal, concert practice, koya, literature club, netball and then I would go to the beach but will not play in the water because it used to be extremely dirty contagious you see, so I just watch others play and come back.  I read lots and lots of books that I started hating even the story books. How exciting does that sound? But this is how your kids will answer.

I am not saying that they shouldn't go to classes or not read books or not study at all but come on! don't take their childhood away from them by laying stupid protocols like when you go to beach ,"don't go to the water, stay within the mat" why at all take them to a beach then? Lay a mat at home and have fun! All you want is to sit in the mat. Please don’t introduce them to the computer. Say a BIG no to mobile phone usage and playing PSP. Over the weekends ask your kids to get out of the house at around 3.30 PM and tell them that you will not let them in until it's 6 PM. Let them socialize! Teach them the games you played when you were a kid not the indoor games or the games like scrabble, chess, word building and carom that would improve their IQ and logical thinking. You can please have that for the latter part of their life. Teach them the crazy games like running and catching, hitting the ball, hide and seek, yell, sing, blindfold. I think a kid is more cute only if he is dirty and if he plays in the mud, eats ice corn and the roadside foods, let them go crazy, talk to them a lot about the crazy things you did in life and inspire them, let the neighbors complain about them and just say, ‘What would you expect from a kid?’ And if you hadn't done anything crazy please give them an opportunity to tell their kids about the crazy things they did as a child. Let them catch up fever, cold it’s OK they are not dreadful diseases, trust me, they will get immune. 

Don't take away their childhood from them. Stop burdening them. I know this is a competitive world but don't kill the beautiful phase of their life, "childhood". 

Afterall, tomorrow is just a myth! Let them go crazy, they should know how to "live" life!

"Eff-word, "Ess-Word? Say It.. Just Say It..!!

No! No! No! It is not porn. Don’t get the wrong idea just because I used the word ‘fuck’ and because I didn’t take the trouble to substitute the middle letters with fancy characters. (Please guys don’t expect stars in this, we are not kids we know what the stars stands for no inhibitions here people) I was not expecting children for readers and I firmly believe all who came up here are mature enough to distinguish fuck from ‘fuck’. So anyhow if it’s getting too uncomfortable, If anybody did drop by expecting sleazy stuff then I do request them kindly to go somewhere else, not because I don’t want them to read my article in fact I would like from you to read it all and leave a comment and have a nice time. But I do not want to disappoint anyone so I may as well give a heads-up.

Once I was insanely irritated, so I Tweeted “What the fuck” and it turned out to be a really big deal for some people they started criticizing. Anyway I’m not here to please anyone or live up to other people’s expectations.
Later that day I met someone who knows me personally and who knows my family and so on, and this person ended up telling me how gross it’s of me to use “such” words in a social network like that.  “LOL” was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I still want to laugh about it, seriously! “Well, dude it sounded horrible for you when I say WTF, and it was exactly the way I was feeling, so congrats! You may say its filthy mouth! I don’t mind, now listen, don’t you dare tell me what I should and shouldn’t use when I talk!” What is the big deal, people? If you don’t like something you don’t use it, I won’t stop it just because you don’t like it.
And just because someone uses it in every other sentence does not make him/her a 'bad' person and I would refrain from judging or slinging it back. End of the Story!

There you go: According to Osho, 'fuck' is the most enriched word in English Language.

Here is a transcript of one of his speeches:

“Fuck is one of the most beautiful words. English language should be proud of it….

“I don’t think any other language has any such beautiful word.

“One Tom from California has done great research on it. I think he must be the famous Tom. Of Tom, Dick, Harry fame…

“He says one of the most interesting words in the English language today is the word Fuck. It is a magical word. Just by its sound it can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love.

“In language, it falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive—John fucked Mary—and intransitive—Mary was fucked by John. And as a noun: Mary is a fine fuck!

“It can be used as an adjective. Mary is fucking beautiful. As you can see, there are not many words with the versatility of the word fuck! Besides the sexual meaning, there are also the following uses.

“Fraud: I got fucked at the used car lot!

“Ignorance: Fuck if I knew!

“Trouble: I guess I’m fucked now!

“Aggression: Fuck you!

“Displeasure: What the fuck is going on here!

“Difficulty: I can’t understand this fucking job!

“Incompetence: He is a fuck off!

“Suspicion: What the fuck are you doing!

“Enjoyment: I had a fucking time!

“Request: Get the fuck out of here!

“Hostility: I’m going to knock your fucking head off!

“Greeting: How the fuck are you!

“Apathy: Who gives a fuck?

“Innovation: Get a bigger fucking hammer!

“Surprise: Fuck, you scared the shit out of me!

“Anxiety: Today is really fucked!"

And it is very healthy too. If every morning you do it as a transcendental meditation.  just when you get up… the first thing… repeat the mantra, fuck you, five times… it clears the throat… that’s how I keep my throat clear… (:p) enough for today!

PS: It is not like saying 'God' ten times makes a person saintly!

Diva-fication

Waiting my turn at the community microwave at work a few days ago, I leafed through the pages of an old Newsweek. A line in an article on the pre-mature diva-fication of little girls made me pause. The author quotes a mother  :

"My daughter is 8, and she's like, so into this stuff it's unbelievable," says Anna Solomon, a Brooklyn social worker. "From the clothes to the hair to the nails, school is like No. 10 on the list of priorities."

No matter how hard you try to pin the blame on media and society at large , the problem clearly lies with the parent and not with the child who has placed education number 10 in their list of priorities.I know mothers who take their kindergartners out to get pedicures and manicure to say nothing of professional hair styling on a regular basis. The kids are not begging their parents for any of this. They are quite happy being kids. It is the parent that is not allowing them to do so.

It seems that it is the vanity of the parents (and maybe their own lack of satisfaction with their physical appearance and/or social status) that nudges them toward diva-fication of their children. Over time the situation spins out of control. A few years down the line, the kid will throw a fit if their hair is not styled right and their French manicure is lacking in quality - they are merely being creatures of habit. If the parent had taken a detour from the diva route and got the child interested in other things - education, art, sports, music - come to mind but a slew of other wholesome options exist as well, they would have ended up having entirely different set of priorities. 

It is a pity that authors of such articles don't take the trouble to make the responsible party feel like they have a big part in the problem and have the ability to fix it even as the tween pageants dominate prime time television. Instead we have this ludicrous hand-wringing on behalf of parents who don't deserve any of the commiseration.

So While a lot can and is attributed to the portrayal of girls and women in their air-brushed perfection, parents play an equal if more greater role in allowing girls to become fashion victims while they are so young and impressionable. If a woman has a positive body image and is at peace with herself, chances are that she will be able to pass on that confidence on to her daughter.

There are plenty of little girls who look and act their age even though they are exposed to the same kind of baleful media influences as those who strive for the impossibly perfect look with the tacit consent of their parents.

These are challenging times in that media is as intrusive as it is ubiquitous - if you live in society you cannot escape what it is relentlessly projecting. However, that does not make it inherently impossible for parents to have their own guard rails or set an alternative standard or example that their children can follow.

Want Of Good Life

Life is the strangest thing I have ever come across. A few years of existence on this planet. An existence so strange. In these few years, we go through so much, born as little infants, to being young kids and then teens and later matured youths to an understanding adult and then comes parenting, grandparenting, growing old. After all these, all of a sudden this life stops, its like a fullstop to your existence. Death. The weird unsolved mystery.

 There have been people who have quoted about living a good life and experiencing a good death. Strangely, its absurd to accept the fact that, after living such a beautiful life, we are bestowed with death! Frankly we have no idea what death could be. Maybe death is the transfer of our soul from one individual body to the other, maybe death is a never ending beautiful dream, o maybe death could be a freedom from all earthly attractions and worries. it could be all what a human mind can imagine.

After death what happens to our identity is a thought we often think about? Would people remember us? What would they say about us? Have I lived a worthful life? Why not find an answer to these thoughts?

Spending quality time with your heart and brain shall give you the answers you require.

When we were born as small infants, we were born without thoughts, motivations and relations, Its the growing period of life that made us aware of all these pleasures. Your thoughts and nature are the qualities which decide your stand in the human race! So purer your emotions, more the number of people shall desire your existence. The gifted life, where we are presented to go through various developments, and going to through different relations has to be cherished. Make sure atleast one person sheds a tear of true love when you reach the graveyard!

I am sure God never gave us the negative vibes, greed, lust, jealousy factors. They are man made. If man can create a thing, a Man can surely demolish it too. Think over this, why make enemies when we can make friends? Love and be loved.

This life was not given to us to create negative feelings with other humans, destroy lives and make living a difficult job! This life was given to us to see the beautiful nature and experience its million emotions.
The amount of negative changes a man is accepting, the day aint near when there shall be no pure relations, no true friends and no feelings of faith and trust. Start mending before its late to reap.

Be the change. Think good. Forgive the wrong. Appreciate the talent. Encourage the ones who have lost their path. Be human with the less blessed souls. Spread the humanity.

Every day millions of people are born and millions die. In the past 1000 years so many people have lived and died, yet only a few are remembered. The good ones who brought a change have always been respected. Role model them and try doing something fruitful in your life. Possible that your actions may not get noticed today, but years later sooner or later, it shall have a recognization. Maybe the future generations shall heart your name with all the due respect.

Careless much??

We, always complain about how dirty roads of  Male' are when compared to the other Islands but when it comes to doing our bit, we do nothing. We throw wastes anywhere and everywhere we feel like-be it pavement or on our neighbor’s doorsteps. And when somebody complains about our wrongdoings, we ignore them by saying that they are just trying to be righteous, instead we could ponder upon our actions.

Let’s exclude not-so-learned men and also women for awhile. It’s really painful to watch well educated people throwing wastes out of their homes and keeping it on the road surface, or just throwing empty Jugo cups anywhere they feel like. Would it hurt them to dump the wastes in the right place “dustbin” instead of throwing it out, carelessly? Don’t they realize that it could make a rider lose his vehicle’s balance and meet with an accident, if the waste falls on him out of blue? Is it alright to risk others’ lives just because we are too lazy and careless? Do they even care the bad smell that comes out of it?

We don’t have to carry broomsticks on our backs and clean the city but we can always avoid dirtying it more. 

Walking on the pavement and following traffic rules, throwing wastes in dustbins, being humane towards weaker beings-these little things make huge difference if practiced regularly. We never know who’s watching us. People might pick up our good habits and then that might lead to a greater good.

Let’s be responsible.

Dear X. I still have Feelings for You, but...

2(3x – 7) 4 (3 x 2) = 6 (5 x 9 ) 3

Solve for x.

Poor x. Alone in this world, with no identity. Shunned by the other numbers, because he does not know who he is. X cannot fit in the fives, or the eights. He isn’t even really a number. X is misunderstood. A mystery, who must be solved.

Fear not X! I am your savior. I will find out your worth x! I will assign you a value! Soon you will stand among your numbered comrades, no longer nameless, but with a numerical worth. You may fear that you will fall on the end of the scale, as a fraction, or worse, a negative. Do not worry little x. That’s what they made absolute values for.

Time to start our journey together X. I fear it will not be an easy one, as it seems you have surrounded yourself with a bad crowd. You are locked in a parenthesis prison with a 3 and a -7, and a 2 outside of you, guarding the gate. It looks like you are pretty tangled up x. You are busy on both sides of the equation. That hanging 3 looks suspicious. “Add me at the end!” it seems to shout. No, 3, you will not fool me. I will subtract you.

Actually I don’t know where to subtract you from 3, so you can stay there. This is really hard. Things are not looking good for you x. You’ve really got yourself in a situation.

You know what, x. It is not my fault that you fell into this bad crowd. Surrounding yourself with all those other numbers, confusing people. I wanted to help you x. And maybe I could’ve if you didn’t get stuck in those parenthesis. I don’t know how to get you out of those, x.

X, I have failed you. I will never be able to help you figure out who you are now. You will remain nameless, undefined, the variable. I hope that you will find others like you X, maybe an a-squared or a p. Maybe if I had found you at an early stage things would’ve been different ,like when you were just X-3 = 6. Your life has become too complicated for me to help you with now x. It looks like you’ll have to solve yourself. Good luck, x.

PS: I have no idea why they came up with this thing called Algebra!! Seriously, they made my life a living hell.... daah.. >.<

Today's Corporate World

I often wonder when the “easy” days are coming. Challenges come in many shapes, sizes, and danger levels. Attitude often determines whether people face these crises successfully or crumble under the pressure. No one wants to exist in crisis management mode forever. This attitude often generates the wrong results when find a job, earn some money for living, becomes the challenge on the table.

With the rise of Globalization, Economics and economists view reality through the lens of money.  Everything has its price, they believe, from rain forests to human labor to the air we breathe.

Our country is in the process of being built on various fronts like education, healthcare, tourism, fishing and agriculture, and industrialization … As for the society, it was in a flux.  Except for rich resort owners and those who held high posts in the government agencies and the bureaucracy, or public sector undertakings, everyone more or less is economically at par.

There are thousands of people in the corporate world who worked for a better future, but the general fervor that pervaded the very atmosphere then is somehow absent today. If we had been working together to better lives then, it is more of a ‘benefactor -beneficiary’ exercise today.

Activist literature colored our thoughts or rather robbed them of color. Everything had to be in two shades – black and white. If your freedom is curbed, fight and then bolt. Bad work environment? What are you still doing there? Walk out! Boss being mean and you feel discriminated? Just slap him and resign from the job!   Black and White – that was life. Where was the need to complicate it?

It took a while to realize that while issues could be in black and white. Problems have hundreds of shades and unless we can see them, we would be the losers in the end.

(And strangely today, things seem to have come as a full circle here too, but with a twist. It is now to do with individualism tinged with radicalism. Corporate world is junked as being political, with the danger of throwing out the workers with their position itself, compromise is considered weakness and a blow to one’s self-respect (or ego?) at work environment.

Back to the past: one thing had changed for us though; we wanted answers to a lot of questions that were baffling at the work place – Employment Act and beliefs including employment Tribunal and the place of a worker in the Corporate Ladder, starting with the basic rights has been created and became vital. Even though very few supported their colleague in their quest for answers and sometimes didn’t even understand what the noise was all about. It even upset the policy makers that the people were asking questions about things that had been accepted hitherto meekly. As our minds had been opened and we began thinking about the rights of an employee and other things that affected our lives.

Changing lifestyles and increasing incomes, rise in inflation; saw another phenomenon at the work environment and job market. Employees are reportedly being discriminated against for their gender, disabilities, religion and even in retaliation for a multitude of different reasons. Sometimes, the discrimination can be so subtle, that it goes unnoticed and unreported.  Despite all the awareness created, statistics from government organizations upholding the country’s employment act shows that still the Workplace discrimination and harassment  occurs, during the process of selection of staff for the job, Training and type of training being offered, Being considered for a transfer, promotion or sacking, and by setting Work place conditions at larger scale.

Political changes and the dilemma in the name of democracy have also created a new job market. Sacking people when ever they needed and giving jobs to the ones they chose without even thinking about their position and qualifications, earning extra money made the difference between eating one meal and starving for the poor. Erstwhile employer and employee and the change was cleaving the once near homogeneous fabric of society that they didn’t see anything wrong in sending their kids to work instead of to school or provide them with higher education. Some were sent to work in companies as child laborer.. If poverty had bound people, development drew them asunder. It was a sad thing that the very same benefits which were intended for everyone in the society were slowly being appropriated by the privileged few.

Slowly and almost imperceptibly the concerns of the discrimination began changing and then completely diverge. And while we were finding our feet and even sprouting wings, they were still floundering on the filthy earth.

The divide that began in the past has widened today to an unbridgeable chasm, with no apparent meeting ground of the two in sight. Even with so many women at top positions in government agencies and political corridors today, the status of the poor nonetheless is still the same. A large part of our working population, whether urban or rural is still in the grip of insecurity, ignorance, violence, exploitation and discrimination at work on top of everything else. The worst ignominy for this working population of the nation is that we have no job security; we have no proper guidelines to follow, even with the so called Employment act which is  just a structure that has no base in it. So what kind of development have we achieved in the last half century?

And the Activists, or who raised their voice against discrimination? Well, they groped their way through, fought, argued, questioned and sometimes found answers, but often didn’t. But they had the advantage of a better social and financial standing when compared to low income group and they were resourceful… but that’s not the end I guess, even for them!!

People change?

I've always wondered how brilliant minds fall prey to ills and evils ? How a person with high credentials and intellect slips deep down in their moral behavior? How our leaders and executives and all other people with great power and much greater responsibility go past their standards and do some heavy nasty things. 

Corruption, bribe, cheating are just the popular ones there are so many holes in their armors that it seems impossible to imagine that sometimes back, they used to hold one. How this transformation of good into bad takes place ? Is it an instant process or gradual ?

Men and women with great passion and hard-work pave their ways to high places. They turn their day n night in studying and creating a personality which segregates them from general mass. They are seen with respect, are tagged with wisdom, knowledge and discretion. Then how this well-informed, educated and trained mind gets distracted ?

Nobody is born bad. Initially we all are same delicate, childlike, spotless innocent creatures. Than what makes us good n bad ? Is it the genetic make-up, deeds we do, things we say or the people around us ? Is there no way of knowing, detecting and sensing this braniac pollution? When and how its going to attack ? Its symptoms or side-effects ?

Questions are many and so are the answers. But none helps. This monster is growing, and its growing with speed higher than ever. Some are resistant, some are resilient. But for how long ? We all know how great technologies which we proud today, helping us in building our nation, uniting it and controlling it, can be used disastrously if got in wrong hands. How some people bend rules. How the laws and rights are misused ? How the data [which we believe to be encrypted and super-safe] collected in the name of protection and benefits and fast and easy transactions holds the capability of stalking and monitoring our each and every move ?

How the things/rules/laws and people which were once good turn into some friendly monsters. Those who are fighting against it, how long before they fail to abstain ?

Our next Generation - STUPIDITY GALORE !

I firmly believe that intelligence in this country is going downhill more rapidly than anything. For I fear the kids today - little morons in their tweens and teens - are becoming stupid-er day by day. I know every generation says the same thing about the next upcoming one but this time, i have got some bloody logical reasons!

First of all, every darn kid has become a bad Western clone. An overdose of stupid sitcoms such as 'Friends' (Trust me, 'Seinfeld' , 'Two and a half men' etc are way more intelligent and better) has furthered the decline. Kids today - esp 12 to 20 batch - behave like little pricks. They talk about "relationships" without even knowing how to spell the damn word. They are always looking to be "cool" without understanding that coolness aint worth it without brains.

Teen boys have become little horns who are forever looking to fuck. While teen girls have become little showpiece dolls - going for expensive beauty treatments, forever wanting to look all decked up and what not. I mean, 1000 bucks for getting your hair straightened and terming the entire episode, 'rebonding'- beats me!! And thats at teenage. Talk about innocence lost.

For them, sense of humor doesnt mean intelligent comedy but making fun of others. These brats have become so insecure and 'Wannabees' that they have lost sense of their individuality. A person can only rise if he balances the world and his individual self , if he keeps his emotions in check and never does anything in the influence of others, OK sometimes under the influence, but basically charts his own course. This generation is totally opposite of this. They dont have a check on their emotions and commit suicide over the stupidest of things. They are weak in their minds and souls.

Its sad. Real sad. For these kids. Their parents - who are originally responsible for not talking sense into their kids. And most importantly - for our nation. Who the hell says spanking is bad. It keeps the children straight (Literally and figuratively).

God save our souls.

THE LATEST SHITTY FACEBOOK STATUS MESSAGE

Alright. Facebook and many of its dimwit users are at it again - Destroying intelligence as we know it!

The latest special FB "special" status message goes something like this:

"

When I was a Kid, I did not have a Xbox or a Wii. I had a bicycle, a tea pot, I played with my friends OUTSIDE, not ONLINE. My mother did not call me on my cell phone, she just yelled my name out of the window. Post this on your wall if you have drunk water out of the tap, come home with scraped hands & knees after climbing walls & trees, played 'Hide & Seek' and playing in the rain:-) I miss those days. :(

"

Let me get this. You are sad, depressed etc etc because you miss your days of outside fun. And yet, you are here.. inside.. posting this shit on FB. Can stupidity & hypocrisy reach any higher? Even Uday Chopra has learnt to be sensible and has decided to quit acting. But these people?

Also, all those silly 'cryptic' status messages.. whats with those?

Isnt it funny as hell when people write cryptic status messages like - "It finally happened!" or "A new beginning" etc? When you ask them what the hell does it mean or why have you written this James Bond type message, they say that its only for some special people to understand. Really douchebags? And you write this on a public forum? Do you think we are in some 'Mission Impossible' movie where you write this "code" for some secret agent to decipher?

I pray to God for some sanity !

Amen !

Why not celebrate Men's day eh??

On one of the rare occasions on FB chat last week, I was pinged by a friend of mine. An artist, a writer and gentleman to boot! After some initial chit chat, he says, "Let me ask a direct question. Will you be open to the idea of a one night stand?" I was shocked and told him in no uncertain terms that I was offended. I also told him clearly, that I don't believe in one night stands. At the same time I have nothing against those who might believe in it. Each to his own, different people different circumstances, I am no one to judge anybody. He understood I was miffed and promptly told me that the question is for a survey he is doing for writing a piece! He adds, "It takes a lot of guts to say what you did, because I might have expected such an answer from someone else, not a pretty active and open-minded woman like you." I smile and sign out. The fact that I haven't screamed or beat him black & blue is only a sign of so called maturity and diplomacy as well as acceptance of the fact that many women face this on a day to day basis. A reaction I'm not proud of.

More shocking and humiliating to me than the question itself is the fact that, the so called gentlemen of our society think that they can make stupid, sly passes & get away with it. Not all but men with such mentalities seem to have weird classification for women. If a woman speaks her mind she is termed as something of a Feminist (Do they know who a feminist is?) As far as some men are concerned there are only two types of women. The woman who wear veil, drapes herself in a 9 yard, becomes fat after marriage and cannot do anything on their own beyond the kitchen or lets say without husbands approval, such a woman is not approachable because she is truly married (In their mind vis-a vis the others who are not truly married?). The other kind of woman wears what she wants, is liberated (What is liberation, wearing pants?), speaks her mind. You get the picture (for every man who can) this category is the 'Available' category, whether the woman thinks the same is of course immaterial. Don't such categories exist with men? The one who grow tummies and have far lesser brains that any woman in the house? Why should 'Fat & Foolish' be something reserved only for women and post marriage?

I read an article in the papers in the morning about how women should be grateful for the men in her life for liberating her (makes me smile) , till 8^th march, morning I have read so many posts on Face Book/ Twitter about celebrating International Women's day. Some men are even offended that there is no Men's day and there’s too much noise about women's day. True perhaps except for the fact that International Women's day is hardly about the Urban Chick woman, targeted by discounts on sleeveless dresses, Salons or the discounted chocolate, ice cream for Ladies in some shops. The day is meant to highlight the cause of so many millions of women, who are till today uneducated because the men in their homes will not allow it. It is for those women, who face sexual harassment on an everyday basis from so called gentlemen not in an open way but in nasty hints that they think no one will notice. It is for those women, who have no voice to even speak of, with the confidence that I am speaking, for those women who don't even know that they have a right to be treated at par with men. Women's day, National or International OR any day for that matter is not about women being better than men. It is about highlighting the fact that, there are many such unfortunate women, who seek the basic dignity of being a human anything else is a marketing gimmick.

The ones who choose not to...

A recently released UN report on world health, states that there will be an estimated 4% increase in the number of children suffering from malnutrition in the African continent by 2014. Not only that, due to global warming and other environmental hazards, the climate will continue to be unpredictable and food production will considerably lessen in the coming years.

It is nothing out of the ordinary to be greeted with bad news early in the morning these days, but the thought of starving infants in some corner of the world, forces you to eye your breakfast with a sense of profound guilt. Just when you and me are busy planning another vacation in somewhere around the world or thinking of getting some elite club membership, there are people out there who are fighting for a morsel of food in unimaginably adverse conditions.

This led me to wonder. Why do parents bring children into the world they cannot feed?

Why is the population of the world growing at an exponential rate when we are running out of valuable resources at an equally alarming rate? Why do people still make a big deal out of a woman who doesn't have a child?

Since the dawn of civilization, we've been entrusted with the task of devising ways to carry our races forward and ensure the survival of our species.

Get married. Have kids. And when your kids grow up, make it your first and foremost duty to pester them into getting married and have kids in turn.

I don't know if I'm venturing into uncharted territory by questioning accepted social institutions, but shouldn't marriage be an individual choice and not a compulsion? Shouldn't the question of having children, also be given a lot of thought?

I remember a teacher from my school, who had a perfectly blissful marital life. She was above 35 at the time I was in the 7th grade and still childless. She was also glamorous and accomplished.

We came to know much later that she and her husband had mutually decided that they would not have any children. Now I don't understand why others (like the opinionated parents of many of my classmates) had to worry their heads over the whys and why-nots of this or concoct cock-and-bull stories about my teacher's 'infertility'. Can't remaining childless be a conscious decision on someone's part?

Quite recently I came across the information that a child born to parents who have both crossed the age of 35 is at a higher risk of having Down's Syndrome. It's not like I'm judging those who become parents at an older age than most. But do people ever pause to think about the repercussions of raising a child who may not have the same cognitive abilities as the rest, who maybe at the receiving end of everyone's sympathy for the rest of his/her life?

I have no idea whatsoever about how parenthood might feel like, but when I think about it from a rational point of view and observe so many people around me, I realize not everyone is made out to be a good father or a good mother. Giving birth to a healthy, normal baby may keep gossiping neighbors and nagging parents/in-laws at bay and end your fears of dying childless. But then it also marks the beginning of a perilous new journey fraught with more difficult hurdles. Bringing up a child is not the same as raising a Labrador puppy.

That is why we need to think a million times before judging a couple who do not have a child. Or a person who has not married or is reluctant to start a family.

More important than just adding one more to the ever-expanding sea of humans, is to inculcate good values in your young one, so that one day he/she can contribute positively towards building a better world and a society where dichotomous opinions may co-exist in harmony, where people learn to take responsibility for their own actions and those who choose to defy established norms are not frowned upon by the rest.

And you might also not like but still have a look for the sake of humanity..: http://datsdawayitz.blogspot.com/2011/12/fing-yay.html