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The Politically Incorrect AutoBiography !
Sunday, February 24, 2008
3:02PM - Not a VERY happy but still a Happy XXX !!! rd Birthday 2o Me ...
It was on the 20th - 4 days ago. Went late to the office around 3 PM hoping everyone would forget. They did not and were rather pissed that neither did I give anyone a "treat" nor did I arrive in the office on time so that they could have ordered a cake for me. They did not know if I would turn up or not - so they thankfully did not spend their money on a cake nor get me to spend my money on "treat" either. Too many girly boys and bubbly girls in my office. It fucking gets on my freaking nerves.
I just did not feel like celebrating being 33 years old !
I got a lot of wishes from many members of my species via
Email
1. Office Id - Friends, Colleagues and Ex-Colleagues, HDFC Bank
2. GMail - checked it only today - no one :-) - Same mildly mixed emotions as in Hotmail below.
3. Yahoo - checked it only today - got me greetings from my Alumni.Net membership and the Federal Bank
4. Hotmail - checked it only today - no one :-) - I dont know if I am relieved or disappointed ... hang on - I am not disappointed :-)
Chat
5. Gtalk - More People
6. Hotmail/MSN - Less People
Others
7. Orkut Scraps - A lot of em - its the new social ecosystem ...
8. SMS - 3 of my BI students and a close buddy from school days
9. Mobile - Parents, Sibling, Students, Friends and Colleagues.
I thanked them all. Even put a message like this for many - "Belated ThanQz 4 T B'Day Wishes :-) " on Orkut.
For 2 fellow Atheists whose birthdays are on the 23rd and the 25th, I made a special messgae however :-) . Its as follows ...
time is a continuous function and all annual celebrations are futile attempts to make it discrete ...
The Gregorian Calendar Year is a measure of duration that makes many people go crazy whenever it attains an integer value - hope u went/go crazy too ... [:D]
hope u had/have a nice celebration anyway ... may u have many more happy orbits around the sun [/)]
apatheticMonday, February 11, 2008
6:29PM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 8
All Religions have losers who serve to set an example and to provide the faithful with the Opium of Vicarious Martyrdom !
A prime example is the Dr who wrote the motorcycle diaries ...
thoughtfulFriday, January 4, 2008
11:47PM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 7
public posturing is a frequent community activity of families...
friend: how are u
prenju: bored
friend: how are parents? how is ur sis
prenju: she is fine. we are very distant from each other emotionally
friend: i thought u were close
prenju: what gave u that idea?
friend: i mean u talking to her.. generally etc
prenju: public posturing is a frequent community activity of families
tiredWednesday, October 10, 2007
11:15PM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 5 & 6
u can kiss my arse/ass or kick my arse/ass and it won't make a difference to my behaviour towards you
Although the second part is not entirely true, I said this because someone accused me of being a hypocrite when I said that I don't like accepting gifts ...
I had just accepted a Rayban Sun Glass as a gift from a casual friend ... I knew it was free but I still made it a point to ask him how much he wanted for it ... did not mean to devalue it but I felt I should not assume things and/or take him for granted ...
Also I wanted to set expectations very clearly as I did not want to feel obligated to him ... actually he also said as much later on when our mutual friends started ragging me wrt this incident ...
Though I don't on principle give or take gifts as I don't believe anything is free or should be, I do both acts if it gives me the pleasure of empathy and/or sympathy and/or just plain happiness at being able to give someone I like something which makes them happy :-) ... with no reward or any expectations
creativity does not manifest itself on demand but appears only when it chooses
This came outta frustration today morning when a friend pestered me to write a testimonial for him on Orkut. He was complaining that I had not kept my promise to do so. It was barely 24 hours ago that he had requested me to do so ...
tiredWednesday, August 15, 2007
10:56PM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 4
there are no limits ... its just a perception of perception
xenophobia is something I find interesting as a subject to study and if possible exploit for my benefit without harming others if possible
xenophobia is not something i exhibit yet - I may in the future
contemplativeWednesday, August 8, 2007
9:25AM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 3
Anyone can fail. Not everyone can succeed.
Inspired from a few lines in "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham . He cites how to choose funds and says that we should buy good funds which are cheap. He says that good funds can fail but that bad ones are not likely to recover.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
3:10AM - http://www.okcupid.com/online.dating.persona.test = The Mixed Messenger
Link: The Online Dating Persona Test @ OkCupid - free online dating. My profile name: : prenju |
worriedThursday, July 19, 2007
8:47PM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 2
its a drug .. all ideas cause chemical reactions like ideologies - prenju circa 19 july 2007
In 1994, Crick created a new intellectual ruckus by writing "The Astonishing Hypothesis," in which he and colleague Christof Koch, a neurobiologist at Caltech, proposed that all manifestations of the human "soul" – a person's joys, sorrows, memories, ambitions, sense of self and free will – were in fact the result of complex chemical reactions in the brain.
"Religion is the Opiate of the masses" - Karl Marx
"Marxism/Communism/Socialism is a religion" - prenju
I'll just sing this to myself, the person I probably was/is/will-be at some time ... NOTE : The lyrics have been changed ...
I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm
He came around
And he was dignified
He showed me what it was to not cry
Well I couldn't be that man I adored
I don't seem to know
Or seem to care
What my heart is for
I don't know me anymore
There's nothin' where I used to try
My conversation has run dry
That's what's going on
Nothings right
I'm torn
I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed
Into something real
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
I'm a little late
I'm already forlorn
So I guess the fortune tellers right
I should have seen just what was there and not some holy light
But it crawled beneath my veins
And now, I don't care
I have no luck
I don't miss it all that much
There's just so many things
That I can't touch
I'm shorn
There's nothin' where I used to lie
My inspiration has run dry
That's what's going on
Nothing's right
I'm torn
boredSunday, July 8, 2007
12:40AM - An Austrian Economic Limerick for Ron Paul
In gawd we trust
But in benjamins we roll
Gold doesn't rust
& Currency shouldn't be paper's role
Inflation grinds to dust
Killing money's soul
Subsidies make budgets go bust
& Convert Diamonds to Coal
It is only just
That the dole
Is what must
Be denied an economic role
sleepyMonday, June 25, 2007
7:06PM - I am a Landlord - I own a piece of land
Bought a piece of earth that the socialist republic presently allows me to call my own near my place of work [around 1 KM away].
8.25c @ 1.435 . Got 8.5L from HDFCBank as loan.
My landlord, a Nair, a retired railway employee who does social work and land broking deals helped me throughout the process of finding the right plot to checking the documents to the final signing.
Funny how there is always a Nair to protect me from another Christian in every land related deal I do {he is a Pillai to be precise}. In signing the tenancy lease agreement with my former landlord [yes a Xian], we brought our own Nairs who dueled out the legal niceties while we watched like idiots :-)
Pillai didn't take a cut. Asked for nothing nor do I think he will. Was very fatherly and even gave me kanji [Malayalam for rice gruel] to calm my dysfunctional stomach.
Pillai was a Pillar of support. He even browbeat the broker [another xian] to cut his commision.
He was aggrieved that his sons don't take an interest in land deals like he does. Maybe they don't have the time for it or don't like him telling them how and what to do. I also realized that I have a similar problem with my own pater. There can't be more than 1 alpha male in a prejudice of cubs I guess ...
contentSaturday, June 23, 2007
4:29AM - "Wise Saying" of the day - 1
Life is one big unbalanced balance sheet ...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
10:18AM - Code Monkey Lyrics
If you want the mp3 just send me an email ...
Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot
Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job “fulfilling in creative way”
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
complacentFriday, February 16, 2007
1:04PM - Breeding For Dummies in 7 Daze
Me and Melanie
Had Fries on Fri
Chat on Sat
Had Fun on Sun
Wasn't Done by Mon
Cry n Hue on the Tue
Had to Wed on Wed
Our First on Thursd
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
12:40AM - Communism is another religion
Darwinism is Nihilism if what you love has to suffer to survive.
Religion may be the Opium of the masses, Marxism is the Nicotine of the asses
sleepyMonday, November 20, 2006
10:35PM - Milton Friedman July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006
A great economist and wonderful human being ...
Milton Friedman is dead - I can't get over it ...
sadWednesday, November 15, 2006
9:03AM - Tuba Ekinci - O Simdi Asker
What a doll? So fresh and so beautiful. Really sexy. I liked the "kundi+hip" item dance in white dress at the end. I also liked the attitude projected in the video - the free spirited "life is wonderful, not a care in the world" theme - which was more pronounced when she was dancing the white dress. The punch she gave the bag with her bum was also rather fun ;-). Besides ogling at her purrfect ass.ets, I couldn't help but notice the good choreography. The way her body moved in sync with the music was a sight for sore eyes. It was like watching a Human rendering Digital Signals.
This song I believe is Turkish. But it several parts sounded a lot like Malayalam. Athae saarummaarae nammudae bhaasha poley undu!!!
excitedSaturday, November 11, 2006
10:44AM - 9 years ago ... sigh !
I resigned from my first ever job as a "Senior Engineer" in Faridabad. I was an assistant module leader on the shop floor of a British multi-national automobile ancillary when I left. I left them [at that time a very secure and fairly "decent" job] in a leap of faith to concentrate fulltime on my "IBM Mainframe Course" in Okhla to cash in on the expected Y2K boom. Everyone told me it was a mistake. I also very often thought so and spent many restless days and nights before, during and after the fateful decision to resign. It was a double risk since I had not cleared my degree till then and was working everyday with the trepidation that they might ask me for it anytime. But the chances of that diminished with each successive day. On the other hand, I knew that any new employer, especially a software one would want to see my degree before giving me a job. This was very true in those days when it was an empolyer's market, more so in the IT arena.
Sigh !!! I worked with them from 22 July 2006 1996 to 11 November 1997. I've come a long way since ... been thru a lot since then ...
Could I have lived it better? Yes.
Would I live it any other way now that I know much more? I can't say.
One thing is for sure. I never imagined that I would be surfing the internet, even creating/authoring my own documents and hosting it on free sites with a company/employer given laptop on a company/employer given net connection at home - in Kerala of all places. I thought that my life would forever be condemned to the smoke stacks of Industrial North India.
Then one day I got a pirated copy of Alvin Toffler's "PowerShift" and attended a Home PC promo by Intel at Pragati Maidan. That changed my life. I proceeded to buy both his other 2 famous books - "Future Shock" & "The Third Wave". I decided that of the 3 Ts - Tourism, Transportationand Telecommunication, I had a good chance at succeeding in the last one. I proceeded to dump my MBA dreams, stopped buying Business Magazines, started buying Computer Magazines and in general lost interest in Mechanical Enginnering [which I wasn't crazy about anyway]. I started having dollar dreams. I still haven't been to the US so far despite coming very close on many occasions, but then I would have probably emigrated to Canada 3-4 years ago if I had continued working as a Mechanical Engineer. Funny how life is ...
nostalgic9:52AM - A pseudo-conversation with a non-existent entity bcoz of Airtel
This came about due to a mortal's desire to goad me into buying a cell phone. I lost mine almost 2 months ago. The conversation will be clear if you follow the chain of e-mails first. Also this Hindu friend/colleague of mine has a very secular fondness for the Christian God. He takes Pascal's wager to the next level - multiple options. Caution: It's rather long and no shortening has been resorted to ... those who wish to do so are requested to please reply to my first comment to this since I don't want the whole thing avalanching into my email. You may even skip the first 2 emails as they are not that important.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: AJ
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 5:55 PM
To: PV; VG ; JPJ; SS; BB
Subject: The young Indian- A must read !!
The young Asians across
And for all their tech savvy, brand conscious brashness, the Generation Y in
The survey that probed the product ownership patterns, spending habits, favourite brands, idols and aspirations, of Asian youth, a large majority of the Asian young (66%) are students. Most of them believe that their academics are more for personal growth rather than career growth. They use technology to communicate extensively.
The average young Asian spends three hours instant messaging a day, one and half hours on emails and 1.4 hours participating in various online community activities. Two-thirds of young Asians aged 15 to 24 uses it on a daily basis.
The Indian youth is subtly different. A comparatively larger number in
Few things remain unchanged. Cricket is still the hottest thing around for Indians and the top three sports idols are all cricketers. Bata is still popular as a shoe. Credit cards are avoided (only 17% had access to plastic money). Family is voted as the best emotional anchor and daddy still funds all the expensive buys. Amongst all Asian youth, the Indian child is most likely to get daddy to buy them a new Nokia phone.
About 58% of young Indians aged 8-24, highest in
- Economic Times, November 08, 2006
From: PV
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 8:10 AM
To: AJ; SS; Prenju
Cc: PN; JI; AP; RK; SJ; MKG; SK; KA; AK; ARK; RR
Subject: RE: The young Indian- A must read !!
Now I know why Prenju has not got a new mobile handset yet, after losing his old one! Papa dearest has to buy him one. So, I need to carry out my threat yesterday of calling Aallapuzha 1234***, huh, Prenju? :-) Also, please pull some of those impressive strings you have, and retain your hot number of 989XX.689XX.
Btw AJ, I guess you didnt get the full transcript of this article. The last paragraph of the ET article below actually reads as follows --
The survey also tried to probe deeper into specific technology usage on personal computers, as linked to communication. And found that, brand image and ease-of-acquiring were key factors in email client software. Amongst Asian youth as a whole, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and Lotus Notes covered 95% of users; of which 43% was Microsoft Outlook alone. In
Howzzzat SS, arent those some amazing stats for those of us researching email clients? :-) Grin grin grin
To-prevent-me-getting-e-murdered Disclaimer: In the above, any paragraph that might or might almost seem to be total fabrication or cultivated is totally intentional and oh-so-not-coincidental.
From: Prenju
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 7:05 PM
To: PV
Cc: PN; JI; MKG; SK; KA; VM; BN; RK2; PMC; AJ
Subject: RE: The young Indian- A must read !!
Thanks to Airtel’s unbelievable “service” [which is an offshoot of their unique local customer centric business model], I have in my not-so-infinite-but-still-huge-neverthel
It’s only fair. The poor chaps have tried every trick in the book [and outside] it that they knew to get rid of me. They even authored several new ones. But they did not reckon with the colossal patience [read laziness], customer loyalty [read inertia], show-the-other-cheek-ness [read glutton for punishment] and show-the-other-cheekiness [you read that correctly] and Sultan-of-Brunei-plus-Nizam-of-Hyderabad [read hypothetical] wealth of a Prenju.
But like all persistent and persistently moronic collectives they finally succeeded thanks to help from a certain socialist geo-political peninsular entity. This polytheistic entity passed certain laws to supposedly curtail the abilities of its purportedly monotheistic enemies but only succeeded in shooting its non-enemies in the foot. [I need an FIR to get my number back].
Those of you who [for reasons that even I cannot fathom] wish to contact me à see next paragraph. For official purposes lets take a quote from PV’s favourite work of fiction – “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s and if you value both your non-existent soul and pathetic mortal existence, leave Prenju alone”. Amen.
The faithful will be intimidated [yes you read it right, that’s not a typo], if and when I decide to get a mobile communicator. Frankly, with almost every instant messaging service [yahoo, msn, google, skype] having a phone like facility, I don’t see a need even. As for my “house-of-rivers” extension number that PV so kindly declined to share with all of you “***” can easily be replaced by fixing a date with the world’s most famous wahhabi – day before yesterday would have been perfect if you switch the MM with the DD.
Also … I do not research email clients – only female service providers.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PV,
Your disclaimer seemed more like a ‘this-claimer’.
I also fail to see how it prevents you from being e-murdered. Methinx u was e-muddled when you typed itK.
Those who live by the word shall die by it – “Die evil one … die a painful one painful one…” [read this again]
!@#$%^&*()_ ++ _)(*&^%$#@! ++ ;-)
[[[thunder claps – lightning flashes – PV winces à smouldering ashes where PV was gleefully typing a few moments earlier]]]
God walks away very satisfied …
Later in a parallel dimension … somewhere on the farthest edge of the galaxy … in deep space 695017 actually … [also known as Mankuzhy] …
An Old Dyslexic Dog enters into Prenju ’s office grinning from ear to ear thinking of his appraisal for the next millennium.
God : Boss!!! I finally got rid of the bane of your existence.
Prenju : You found a cure for OCD?
God : Even better, I took care of PV. I wonder why you took so long to decide. You are getting slow you know … Must be due to old age ;-)
Prenju : Not as old as youJ, you silly geezer you …
God : Why were you so patient? You just made Job lose his job.
Prenju : My parents are doctors. Like all medical parents they raise their kids to be patients.
God : [frowning] When will you give up your silly jokes?
Prenju : When laughter is no longer the best medicine J
God : aarrrgghhh … hmmm … ok … but why? You always proselytize to me that “selfishness is a virtue”
Prenju : That’s what Ayn Rand told me – through her scriptures – which she wrote herself
God : Why did she do that? She could have hired a stenographer.
Prenju : She just liked to do some things herself. Not a big fan of delegation I think.
God : Was she a democrat? Did she oppose out-sourcing?
Prenju : No. She was more of a Republican – a Libertarian actually.
God : Was she pretty?
Prenju : Sort off … she was my Russian Jewish goddess. But unlike you she dint hire stenographers and declare them prophets.
God : Goddess gracious me! I dint know I had a wife
Prenju : You don’t. You are celibate – like me.
God : I am? I don’t think so. And I don’t like you as well.
Prenju : Descartes said “Cogito ergo sum”. Since you don’t think so, therefore you don’t exist also.
God : Very funny … I am to be married to the church you know. She is my bride.
Prenju : Yeah right. Since your relationship is platonic, it doesn’t count. Besides dude, if you really did want to get married to something exciting, get married to the mob. Besides why do you want to get married anyway?
God : It must be because of human bondage and the strength of the emotions.
Prenju : Spinoza eh? I like him too. I like people who go Dutch. BTW What is this fascination you have with the Jews? Why are they some kind of chosen people to you?
God : Chosen people? Who? The Jews? Hey don’t look at me. I dint say it, they did.
Prenju : But you are a fictional character. And my friend, philosopher and guide Nietzsche declared you dead anyway.
God : [smugly] I live in the collective imagination. It takes more than one rational genius to subdue me.
Prenju : Why? Isn’t it plainly obvious that you don’t exist?
God : People believe what they want to or what they have to. Rarely what is.
Prenju : That German Jew was right about one thing – you are the opium of the [m]asses.
God : Everybody has a drug. You also have one.
Prenju : Which is?
God : The internet.
Prenju : Ok … but then seeing is believing.
God : Thomas, the apostle of that Jewish bastard also used to say that before he changed his mind later.
Prenju : Jewish Bastard? Isn’t he supposed to be your beloved son? The same one you sacrificed because you so loved the world. He still walks the earth roaming around in the popular imagination like a zombie. People who die should stay dead, rot away back into the eco-system and not wake up in the minds of pining people 2 daze/days later. Why didn’t those sadomasochist Essenes just enjoy the bloody weekend? Instead they had to go into denial and make up fancy undead myths instead.
God : I swear I am innocent. A young Talmudic scholar who was to later become The Jerusalem Temple High Priest during a routine inspection in the provinces fooled around with a school girl in
Prenju : But that’s not what Old Man Joseph said. Maybe he was afraid of the ecclesiastical authorities. Those guys are real you know, not imaginary like you.
God : I wish you wouldn’t hate me so much. Why do you do it?
Prenju : I hate superstition. Besides you supposedly create and then inspire too many lunatics who perspire with their many antics for you.
God : Oh Ok! But its still not fair [sulking]. No wonder they say that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. It should be the fear of God-men not God.
Prenju : So he had one too many “Bloody Marys” huh? [sympathetically] You need to get laid too I guess …
God : You too [guffaws loudly]
Prenju : [winks]
God : So tell me … You always proselytize to me that “selfishness is a virtue” and yet you let PV get away for so long. Why?
Prenju : It’s the selfish gene. He reminded me a lot of myself.
God : [smirks] A glutton for punishment?
Prenju : [winks] yup!!!
Later over a few bottles of warm beer …
God : [sulking] I like my beer chilled. Why do you force your dogma [or God-Moi] down my throat?
Prenju : You got to learn to like warm beer. It’s an acquired taste.
God : Acquired from PV?
Prenju : [wistfully] I could have let him live a little longer – PV i.e
God : But he is alive. I dint kill him.
Prenju : What??? [sighs] I knew you were incompetent. One simple order and you goof up. Why can’t you just follow instructions and stop thinking for yourself? Who do you think you are – an atheist or something?
God : [fumbling desperately] But you told me …
Prenju : Aww shut up you nincompoop … I thought you told me that there were “smouldering ashes where PV was gleefully typing a few moments earlier”
God : But there are smouldering ashes there … I got rid of his laptop.
Prenju : Oh well, then you could have removed his mobile phones as well. Then he would be singing “Hell is a place on earth” like the other song by Belinda Carlisle.
God : It’s never enough is it [bitterly] for you exploiting Capitalists? You should have been a project manager.
Prenju : Hey, I was a PM once you know? Found it too bureaucratic for my liking. So how did you burn up his laptop? Fire or lightning? He must have felt the heat alright [evil grin]
God : She was hot alright.
Prenju : She? PV is a He even if he is not a He-Man. I hope you dint go and knock off some innocent lady’s laptop.
God : I didn’t burn the laptop. I replaced it.
Prenju : [fuming] When did I ask you to replace it. I only told you to get rid of it.
God : I replaced it with 2 clones of Aishwarya Rai.
Prenju : [totally bewildered] You gave HIM Aishwarya Rai??? HIM of all people??? And 2 of them??? Why???
God : [whimpering] But … but … you did say “smouldering ashes”. And he’ll be very busy and won’t bother you ever again.
God : Why are you smiling? I thought you hated the chap.
Prenju : Oh! He is dead alright … will be when AP [his wife] reads this email …
Gestalt: [German] A configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts
Talmudic: Pertaining to the sacred writings of Orthodox Judaism
When the vedic God[/s?] die into oblivion, there will be no-one left to micro-manage the Hindu gestalt. But not to worry – Prenju & “Sage Narada” PV will remain. Hallelujah!!!
contemplativeThursday, November 9, 2006
7:47PM - peut-être nous écouterons parce qu'il est blanc
An OK article by a frenchie about the Indian obsession with White Skin. I think MIC might like it ;-)
I got it from here
http://anna.typepad.com/herstory/2004/0
It resides here [the original source]
http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/may/20f
To be fair, I think the Indian preference for fair skin is balanced by the White obsession to get a tan. I see nothing wrong with liking someone different. Why should anyone be epidermiserably chromatically chauvinistic I wonder. Different people like different skin colour - not necessarily their own. Some people don't even have a preference. Why force people to not have a preference? To all these do-gooder advisers I have only this to say - listen to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror".
The white woman and India
May 20, 2004
The spectacle on the night of May 18, of all these Congress leaders, many of them intelligent men and women, debasing themselves in front of Sonia Gandhi, pleading with her to lead the country, made me feel sick. If Sonia had any dignity, she would have stopped it, but she just listened, with a slightly bored expression, right till the last Congressman and woman had wallowed in dirt before her.
And again I asked myself the question which has baffled me for 35 years, although I am myself a white man and a born Christian: why do Indians have such an attraction towards the white skin?
After reading the newspapers on Wednesday morning and seeing how newspapers such as The Times of India still root for Sonia Gandhi, with columnists such as Dileep Padgaonkar saying that her becoming prime minister would be in tune 'with the highest Vedantic ideals,' I wonder: does India, one of the most ancient civilizations on the planet, need a white woman to govern her?
I am sure Sonia has great qualities, but are Indians so dumb, stupid and backward, that they cannot find among themselves someone intelligent enough, non-corrupt enough, to lead them? And what about this craze for Mother Teresa? She may have been a saint, but nobody has harmed India's image in the 20th century so much: when you say India in the West, their eyes light up and they answer: 'Mother Teresa/ Kolkata/ poor people/ dumb people/ starving people/ who do not know how to care after their own underprivileged/ who need a white woman to show them how to pick up the dying from the streets/ to look after orphans'!
Is this the image Indians want today? An image that is harming them, which is stopping Western investors from investing in India? Yet, Mother Teresa is worshipped here, from Kolkata to Chennai, from Delhi to Bangalore, and when she will be made a saint by the Vatican, perpetuating this colonial, superior-minded, Christian symbol of white superiority over the brown/black man, all the Indian media will rejoice in its own mental slavery and the Indian government will probably declare a national holiday!
Why don't Indians understand that brown is beautiful? White people spend hours on the beach and put on a hundred creams to get tanned. And in winter they even artificially lie under infrared lamps in beauty parlors to get brown! Why this obsession for the Indian woman to have white skin?
How come the two most popular actors in India have fair skin and nearly blue eyes? Why this craze for 'fair' brides? If you find the answers to these, you will understand why the fatal attraction for Sonia Gandhi and Mother Teresa.
Obviously, colonisation has frozen the Indian mind in certain patterns and the British made sure, through Macaulay's policies, of leaving behind an enduring inferiority complex among Indians, by constantly harping on the flaws of Indian culture and inflating them. That is why today Indian intellectuals repeat like parrots what their masters had said before them: 'Hindus are fundamentalists/Brahmins are exploiters/Gowalkar was a Nazi/Indians are corrupt and no good.'
But that does not explain everything: most colonised countries have aped their masters after having hated them. No, in my mind the greatest factor behind India's love for the white is the absurd theory of Aryan invasion
According to this theory, which was actually devised in the 18th and 19th centuries by British linguists and archaeologists, the first inhabitants of India were good-natured, peaceful, dark-skinned shepherds called the Dravidians, who had founded what is called the Harappan or the Indus Valley civilisation. They were supposedly remarkable builders, witness the city of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistani Sind, but had no culture to speak of, no literature, no proper script even. Then, around 1500 BC, India is said to have been invaded by tribes called the Aryans: white-skinned, nomadic people, who originated somewhere in western Russia and imposed upon the Dravidians the hateful caste system. To Aryans is attributed Sanskrit, the Vedic or Hindu religion, India's greatest spiritual texts, the Vedas, as well as a host of subsequent writings, the Upanishads, the Mahabharat, the Ramayan, etc.
This was indeed a masterstroke on the part of the British: thanks to the Aryan theory, they showed on the one hand that Indian civilisation was not that ancient and that it was posterior to the cultures which influenced the Western world -- Mesopotamia, Sumeria, and Babylon -- and that whatever good things India had developed -- Sanskrit, literature, or even its architecture -- had been influenced by the West.
Thus, Sanskrit, instead of being the mother of all Indo-European languages, became just a branch of their huge family; thus, the religion of Zarathustra is said to have influenced Hinduism, and not vice versa. On the other hand, it divided India and pitted against each other the low caste, dark-skinned Dravidians and the high caste, light-skinned Aryans, a rift which is still enduring. Yet, most recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries point out that there never was an Aryan invasion and many historians, including the malevolent Romila Thapar, are distancing themselves from it. Yet, most Indians still believe in this absurd theory.
Wake up O Indians: you are as great, if not greater than the white man. You can do as well, if not better than the white man. Not only did your forefathers devise some of the basic principles of mathematics, astrology, and surgical medicine, not only are your people among the most brilliant in the world today -- half of Silicon Valley is of Indian origin, 30 percent of the United Kingdom's doctors are Indians -- but you still hold within yourselves a unique spiritual knowledge, which once roamed the world but which has now disappeared, replaced by the intolerant creed of the two major monotheistic religions which say: 'if you don't believe in my true God, I will either kill you or convert you'.
Wake up India, brown is beautiful, smart and it is the future. Dr Manmohan Singh, whatever has to be said about the Congress, you have partly redeemed India's pride, and our good wishes are with you.
Francois Gautier
The author is the correspondent in South Asia for Ouest-France, the largest circulation French daily (1 million copies)
relaxedSaturday, October 28, 2006
3:36AM - racism~dogma~generalize~stereotype~learning~experience~prejudice~pre-judge~deciding w/o data/facts
While I believe that everybody has a right to their prejudices
- [[everybody with no exceptions, even if they are wrong]] -
I also know that its better to keep an open mind if you can afford to
- i.e [[time/opportunity/wealth/ willingness to ignore past experience /etc]] permitting
Got to read this article. I really liked it. Might have written something similar if I was a woman.
Maybe respecting another person's right to his prejudices [even if u disrespect his prejudices] is a bit like religious tolerance. It never was our duty to save other people anyway. Why do we burden ourselves and others with our ideals and ideas? [Remember ... I said 'burden' not 'share'].
I guess its prolly ok to start off with prejudices as long as you are willing to learn and diligently keep on updating your model. Its ok as long as ...
1. You are comfortable with seeing yourself proven wrong [sometimes often]
AND
2. Can admit to yourself that you were wrong [very important]
BUT
3. Smart enough to learn from it [whats the point in having experiences otherwise?]
Prejudice is after all an estimation technique. It's never going to be perfect but we can always make it better. Maybe these pre-judices are just like the "tentative theories" mentioned by Karl Popper. Actually I found his ideas/memes to be very similar to Carl Sagan's.
This could be because of 1 or more of the following 6. You decide ;-) which one.
1. The name [K/C]arl - due to nomenclature probably based on numerology. [Is that superstitious?:-)]
2. The Jewishness of these 2 men. [Is that politically correct pro-semitic racism or what?].
3. Their Atheism. [Maybe I am biased towards people whose ideas are similar to mine].
4. Ad-Hominem [They r famous, so they must be right. Right?]
{I simply love this one - I hope I get some Royalty from the KKK when they use it. I am after all predominantly Aryan in my DNA you know ...}
5. They were actually White Men who posed as Atheist Jews to - manipulate OR be manipulated by - the Zionist controlled media to back their ideas since the Zionists wanted to convince the world that Jews are a super race so that we will be docile, subservient and accept their rule without a fight when they eventually take over the world as plotted in the "Chronicles".
6. They are brilliant men and they both had similar ideas but different words to describe their vision of the same truth due to their different career backgrounds. [Too obvious to be true eh? Lets dismiss it bcoz its simplistic ;p]
Back to Pre-Judices
"Science has built-in error-correcting mechanisms -- because science recognizes that scientists, like everybody else, are fallible, that we make mistakes, that we're driven by the same prejudices as everybody else. There are no forbidden questions. Arguments from authority are worthless. Claims must be demonstrated. Ad hominem arguments -- arguments about the personality of somebody who disagrees with you -- are irrelevant; they can be sleazeballs and be right, and you can be a pillar of the community and be wrong."
------- Carl Sagan
Can we treat these "Arguments from Authority" as pre-judices?
"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.."
------- Carl Sagan"
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