Miscellanea [01 Oct. 2017 – 31 Dec. 2017]
4 Oct 17
#BJP AND POLARIZATION
Every so often when I muster the forbearance to warm up to conciliatory messages of the PM, the #BJP puts me off by its brazen anti-Muslim utterances. Watch its vulgarly polarized campaign in Kerala. Bengal & Tripura next.
6 Oct 17
What is the worst curse you can spell for a man? “May he be made a #Saree #salesman!”
7 Oct 17
#Age of #Love. Really?
- No. This is the age of hate, politically. 2. There is no limit to age for love, emotionally
16 Oct 17
Repulsion is what I feel whenever I read of a majority using its muscle to muzzle its junior. Mark of sheer cowardice and pre-civilizational barbarism.
24 Oct 17
RT @PopSci: Meet eight #species living on the brink, thanks to weather and climate change https://t.co/YlEv0F2CoI | #Extinction!
26 Oct 17
RT @CNN: Watch this man use party balloons filled with #helium to fly 15 miles over South Africa https://t.co/lU8MDQMTg7 | Some guts
30 Oct 17
If your foundation is strong, then your crazy, outlandish ideas executed with aplomb & gusto become high #fashion earning legions of fans
31 Oct 17
Human specie survived by #hunting. Bow & arrow gave us comp advantage over others. Now we milk, bleed, #kill slowly, ‘decently’.
31 Oct 17
The sensitive feel the same pain in plucking #vegetables & fruits as you do slaughtering the fish, #chicken or goat. Eat what?
31 Oct 17
You give up #beef, I quit goat, he chicken & she #fishes. But wait, where is so much veggie? So, let some sin some. How much?
31 Oct 17
I #prophesy something big is happening tomorrow. Next day I redefine some silly thing as potentially very big. Thus my prophethood survives.
7 Nov 17
Give a man some free #time, or extra #money & watch. If he uses it constructively give some more. If unproductively, #tax it
1 Nov 17
In principle I do not rule out capital punishment as a valid last course in some cases. However, in the case of rape it is unlikely to be as effective, since it seems too distant. The actual punishment cannot be awarded until the due process is exhausted. By this time years have lapsed since the day of the crime and, therefore, relating the punishment to the crime may become well nigh impossible. Now consider these: Punishment in order to be useful – and not merely vengeful or confining – ought to – be swift so as to register in the public mind – be demonstrative and visible – serve as deterrent to the potential rapists – participative, if possible, where society plays a part in punishing the guilty I propose that the rapist should be tried at a special criminal court where the judges are specially trained in the following: – the ability to encourage the victim to open up, without unduly losing her sense of dignity and privacy and to prove her case with less pain – the capacity to distinguish between consented sex and forced / coerced sex After the accused is held guilty he may prefer one appeal. After exhausting this appeal – perhaps at the Sessions – he should be shamed, circulated around the place of crime, and otherwise publicly humiliated. Almost a repeat of medieval style punishment. Now, humiliation – bad that it is – is more likely to be observed by the potential rapists, than hanging the guilty in a dark, almost invisible dungeon. It is the DETERRENCE that is more important for the society than punishing a particular rapist. But, then, as a lawyer, Nidhi Sharma, you would know better.
10 Nov 17
“If it all comes for free, then you are the #product!”
16 Nov 17
It is absolutely unjust to blame #Modi for today’s communal #polarization. He is merely a smart, ruthless beneficiary. This started way back, in #Cong rule, with TV serials like #Ramayana.. where people were fed on myths & faith, rather than on scientific #reasoning.
16 Nov 17
What do you associate #DEVELOPMENT in the West with? Modernity, science, liberalism, freedoms, respect for life, fewer Churches and more stadia. #Gujarat witnessed just the reverse: more temples, castes, fundamentalism. Was it Development, truly, or a grand illusion?
24 Nov 17
What some called the dark continent, the coup country, this land of our ancestors showed us how to handle #political change with grace. #Zimbabwe provides an example in dignified power shift.
29 Nov 17
The abiding shame of my country today is that discussing the ghastly crime of #2002 which claimed about 2000 innocent lives in #Gujarat actually benefits the ruling party. Immature, hate-filled, polarized polity.
26 Nov 17
Is India all bankrupt in #talent? Why don’t our defence chiefs, SC judges, cabinet ministers, leaders of opposition parties, eminent scientists, writers, artistes also get to say their #Man Ki Baat, once in a while? Is it democratic if #CM’s/PM’s photos alone scream everywhere?
30 Nov 17
#Muslim brethren, the day when a #Pakistani Muslim girl can marry a Pakistani #Hindu boy, and convert and live there with her freedoms intact, then you can justifiably speak of and for #human rights, with confidence.
