Is this Christmas??

No leave on Christmas :(

Pangea3's Leave policy sucks man... they don't give any public holidays (No independence day, no new year, no nothing.) They merely give a bulk of leaves and we can chose which leave we wonna take and when.. and they are subject to approval.. And there is no guarantee that your leave's would get approved. Something similar has happened I applied for Christmas but it got rejected :(

There is a benefit of this policy that may be I would prefer to take a leave on my B'day instead of say Labor day but there are many drawbacks too... I land up not using any leaves and accumulating them hoping that some day I'd need them more than today... Also approval is a very big problem.. Although I may be a Parsi, I do celebrate lot other religions and hence I'd prefer a set calendar of leaves. Atleast that would make life more interesting where I would feel happier knowing that there is a public holiday this weekend.

But unfortunately this doen't happen. And I spend most of festivities in Office.

My Boys....

My Boys

What Traffic Jams Do To Me...

Living in Mumbia and Imagine owning a Car... Imagine having just 1 lovely angel and how much you love it. I love mine too … but off late I have started hating the whole traveling by road experience.

Just imagine your new new car’s bumper being pressed against the hind of the car in font. Imagine a Bus which pins you to the left, almost into the abusive owner’s Scoda (Me fearing all along that my car might damage that car). The bus eventually, in the race to overtake, scratches my cars bumper and the side view mirror and the conductor saying something, but his voice getting lost in the loud honks.

And to add to all the misery a few beggars and Eunuch’s, who get my heart racing each time they appear in front of my car with their hands raised and ordering to stop. They are only asking for alms or wanting to cross the roads or allow a few bikes through but they sure do scare me…

*Sigh* I don’t know, but for me it is a nightmare come true, the tension, noise, and the pollution almost kills me every time I am on the road.

Non-Hindus Can Now Adopt.

As per an article in the Times Of India, the legal rights of non-Hindu couples who wish to adopt have been significantly increased. This is remarkable on the part of Indian government.

After all why should parents who put equal amount of love and affection in raising an adopted child fight to be called the rightful parents of their child???

"Non-Hindus to get full adoption rights

In a significant move to enhance the legal rights of both adopted children and the couples who give them a home, the Centre has changed the law to allow non-Hindu parents to claim full parenthood instead of just "guardian" status that they were allowed till now.

The changes in law also seek to encourage adoption by simplifying procedures.

Under the law so far, only Hindu couples who adopted children could claim to be "parents". Non-Hindus were just guardians to their adopted children. This led to the children being denied rights to inherited property besides creating procedural hassles for parents at the time of school admissions etc.

Some clarifications may still be needed on whether the changes would apply to Muslims as the community has its personal laws. These will be cleared in the guidelines to be framed by Central Adoption Research Agency. The new law also makes adoption by inter-faith couples easier.

Under the new guidelines issued by the women and child development ministry under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000, amended last year and notified on October 26, the new rules will also cut red-tapism in adoption procedures while increasing the number of recognised adoption agencies."

Reaction and Over-reaction

Adoption - The demand of adoption agencies in Asia (Specially South Korea) to restrict or ban adoption seem to be merely an unnecessary outburst.

Merely because one European couple goofed up (may be), does not mean it is the end of the world for all those homeless kids who dream of someday going to a loving home. While weighing the pros and cons of adoption, I hope the concerned governments do not ignore the larger picture which clearly indicates that adoption is a gift of life not only for the orphan child but also for the childless parents.

Adoption fulfills the dream of raising a child.

Islamic Justice and Moderate Muslims

Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes a thought provoking article in the New York Times on incidents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India that have done severe damage to the image of Islamic justice:

"IN the last few weeks, in three widely publicized episodes, we have seen Islamic justice enacted in ways that should make Muslim moderates rise up in horror.

A 20-year-old woman from Qatif, Saudi Arabia, reported that she had been abducted by several men and repeatedly raped. But judges found the victim herself to be guilty. Her crime is called “mingling”: when she was abducted, she was in a car with a man not related to her by blood or marriage, and in Saudi Arabia, that is illegal. Last month, she was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes with a bamboo cane...

We also saw Islamic justice in action in Sudan, when a 54-year-old British teacher named Gillian Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail before the government pardoned her this week; she could have faced 40 lashes. When she began a reading project with her class involving a teddy bear, Ms. Gibbons suggested the children choose a name for it. They chose Muhammad; she let them do it. This was deemed to be blasphemy.

Then there’s Taslima Nasreen, the 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer who bravely defends women’s rights in the Muslim world. Forced to flee Bangladesh, she has been living in India. But Muslim groups there want her expelled, and one has offered 500,000 rupees for her head. In August she was assaulted by Muslim militants in Hyderabad, and in recent weeks she has had to leave Calcutta and then Rajasthan. Taslima Nasreen’s visa expires next year, and she fears she will not be allowed to live in India again.

It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates.

But where are the moderates? Where are the Muslim voices raised over the terrible injustice of incidents like these? How many Muslims are willing to stand up and say, in the case of the girl from Qatif, that this manner of justice is appalling, brutal and bigoted — and that no matter who said it was the right thing to do, and how long ago it was said, this should no longer be done?...

But while the incidents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India have done more to damage the image of Islamic justice than a dozen cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, the organizations that lined up to protest the hideous Danish offense to Islam are quiet now...

Islamic justice is a proud institution, one to which more than a billion people subscribe, at least in theory, and in the heart of the Islamic world it is the law of the land. But take a look at the verse above: more compelling even than the order to flog adulterers is the command that the believer show no compassion. It is this order to choose Allah above his sense of conscience and compassion that imprisons the Muslim in a mindset that is archaic and extreme.

If moderate Muslims believe there should be no compassion shown to the girl from Qatif, then what exactly makes them so moderate?..."

Fake Government Office

Can you beat it...

"Fake Indian office issues birth, death certificates: report

NEW DELHI (AFP) — A fake government office has been discovered in northern India that collected taxes, provided civic services and even handed out birth and death certificates, a report said Monday.

An office was set up outside Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh state and 20 people were employed to carry out jobs such as street sweeping.

Officials believe the operation originally started as a scam to collect fees from residents in return for one municipal janitor.

But the leader of the operation, named as Shyam Valmiki, allegedly branched out, opening a functioning office that employed a team of janitors.

"He later seems to have decided to carry on with the office as it did not appear to be a loss-making proposition," an unnamed police officer was quoted by Times of India saying.

The scam only came to light after some employees complained about salary problems to superiors in the actual government department, the report said.

"We were shocked to hear this as we ourselves were not aware that our department had a branch office," R. Kulkshreshtra, an official with the Jhansi Municipal Corperation, told the newspaper.

It is not known how long the office had been running before being uncovered.

"It would have been difficult for me to believe that a racket like this could exist had we not actually stumbled upon this," Jhansi district official Rajeev Agarwal told the newspaper.

One man employed by the office as head supervisor of street cleaners said he had no way of knowing the branch was fake when he got his job.

"There was hardly any scope for suspicion," said Anirudh Singh Yadav.

"After submitting the papers we went for a medical examination and were provided certificates."

Valmiki, who was said to be an employee of Jhansi Municipal Corporation, was not at the office when police went to search it, the paper said.

The office was located seven kilometres (4.3 miles) outside the city and used a signboard of the Jhansi Municipal Corporation."

"Accused are Absconding..."

I am sick of reading articles on domestic violence and other forms of sexual offenses which almost always end in "the accused are absconding."

Wonna feel the jitters read about the hideous crimes that recently in UP and Bihar, and how conveniently both the articles end with "the accused are still absconding."

If Mumbai's Traffic is Terrible, See Moscow

I saw these pictures of traffic jams in Moscow. I thought Mumbai was living hell because of those unendingly long hours wasted in traffic jams. But thank God I am not in Moscow.

Asus Eco Book - What an inovation!!

Internet was down again and in frustration I felt like taking a bite into my P.C., wish I had the Asus Eco Book (bamboo laptop)!!!

Gods Are Not Spared By Laws Of India!!

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has summoned two Hindu gods, Ram and Hanuman, to help resolve a property dispute.

Is this merely a mockery of law or is it that Judge Saheb thinks the law is above all, even the Gods?

Are we free to be foolish?

Came across this article by Shruti Rajagopalan, it illustrates what our government thinks of us and why it makes laws which really question the credibility of the citizens who are subjected to it. Further it demonstrates that "the paternalistic state believes that people are fundamentally stupid and must be protected from behaving rashly, even if such behaviour affects no one else."

And the most important question asked by her is "Do we really need the state to protect us from ourselves or our foolishness? Or are we capable of evaluating the little risks we take to make our lives more pleasurable?"

Commendable work Shruti.. Applaud!!!

Blogging Woes

Blogging is kind of becoming difficult by the passing day...

1. Bad broadband connection. It always goes down when I need it the most.

2. Unknown uncles who visit my place and in turn take immense delight in occupying my home PC, when I am in my most creative moods.

3. My Vodaphone GPRS, which works at a snails speed.. (OK thats an exaggeration, it is a little faster than a gulab-jamun rolling uphill.)

4. Constant persuasion from a dear friend, asking me to quit blogging and in return making me impressive offers (One of the offer was he'd pay me 2 grand, if I quit.. wow see I told you someday I would get paid for my par excellent writing capabilities.)

5. Finally, my office which has kind of blocked all interesting sights... So if there is no fodder for brilliant thinking, it ain't my fault. And please don't expect me to read the old way - I mean newspapers!!!

Recovering After Fights

I am always amazed by the way my parents, who are now married for more than 30 years, recover after fighting and fighting passionately with each other. Although the weight of the topics on which they fight differs, their ways of mending and reconciling do not change. Rather than letting the fight defeat them, they break the cycle. My mom often gets defensive and feels accused, but my dad is patient and tolerant, he prefers talking things out and says sorry even before he starts explaining. This gesture brings my mom's soaring temper down and she comes to a better frame of mind to have a sustainable conversation. I wish I can use my dads techniques in my personal life too, but I usually tend to over-react in fights.

Most common problems between couples is one partner almost always never apologizes. This makes the other partner have to apologize too much.. enough to hurt his/her ego. Another problem is one partner is over judgmental of the others actions. Ideally for a relation to work sometimes its okay to ignore even the most unreasonable actions of your partner.

Lastly, partners who err too often expect some kind of special treatment or some concession for their bad behavior but if they rarely get one, this might just trigger even worse behavior.

Fights between couples are called healthy for a reason - they tend to clear the air for the partners and the hurt partner can now voice his feelings that he was suffering in silence. Often when a fight goes out of hand and everything becomes messy, partners might feel that the relationship can't be saved but it almost always can be saved. Things always get better. Surviving fights is the test of a healthy and fulfilling relationship and key lies in having a frank, honest and open conversation.