Provoked

After a long silence, I am back. The past three months have been the most wonderful ones of my life: the birth of my daughter Navya. She is a few days past three months and my wife and I are back on to a schedule.

Provoked, the title, is not about my life.

The Regina vs. Alhuwalia case of 1992 made history when the UK courts redefined the legal use of the term ‘provocation’. In layman’s terms, a delayed violent reaction, resulting from a loss of self-control, caused by frequent subjection to violent treatment over a long period of time can aptly be considered as a provocation. Prior to this landmark case, provocation was considered admissible only under certain ‘reasonable’ circumstances. Legalities aside, the issue at large is that of domestic abuse, particularly that of women, in societies that consider male dominion over the former, as acceptable and hence normal. India, with it’s rich and varied cultural tradition, is a breeding ground for such despicable acts. Of course, this is not to suggest that every other country is exempt from the same. In some form or the other, domestic abuse exist and is tolerated for some reason or the other.

Social acceptance of male dominance as a matter of fact, is not only a thing of the past but also a widespread phenomena among almost all cultures. Looking back in time from an evolutionary perspective, plausible answers are not too hard to find. The physical and mental disposition of males in conjunction with the emotional and reproductive function of females brought about an expectation in roles and responsibilities between sexes within the then social context. However, times have changed and so have roles. What has failed to change is our outlook. Even in this post-modern era, male superiority is held up by some as being the right perspective. Having said this, it is not easy to dismiss the influence of other factors such as religion which even to this day determine and shape the landscape of our society.

Whatever the reasons, abuse in any form should be condemned and not tolerated. As informed citizens, we should try to prevent such acts from happening and report any known incidents to the concerned.

Provoked, the title, is the name of a movie that I watched today; the movie which prompted me to write the above.

Children Underground

On Monday, I watched ‘Children Underground’, a documentary on five children who took shelter in the streets of Bucharest, making the underground subway their home. As a CASA (Court Appointed Child Advocate) for the Santa Clara County in California, I am not new to the plight of homeless children. However, I must shamefully admit that I was startled. Reality is so blunt when you are a part of the action and words do no justice in conveying the brevity of a situation. Romania, is only an example.

Zombie

Many of us could care less for Romania or for that matter, ones own country. We get so busy in pursuing our selfish motives that we hardly have time for anyone outside our ‘circle’. We are oblivious of what is happening to the people around us. We care only for ourselves. We work harder and harder to attain that ever so fleeting contentedness offered by material possessions. It is never enough. It never was enough! There is still a leg to go.

We are born into this world with an instinct to help others. As a child, we found happiness in the happiness of others. We valued friendships and held them close to our hearts. We lived free of constraints, free spirited. Somewhere along the way, things changed.

Do you realize that you have built a world around you that is in stark contrast to the real one? Do you realize that you hear about the thousands who are being mercilessly slaughtered in Darfur and it does not even strike you as odd? Do you really care if we lost one of our own brave hearts in Iraq? Can you differentiate between life and death? My dear friend, you are ‘stoned’. You are a Zombie, the byproduct of a capitalistic world economy and a material world. Your attachment is towards things that have no life in them; things that wither away in a matter of time. You have forgotten what it means to smile at someone or see a smile on someone’s face. You have forgotten..

A Social Responsibility

Praying for peace or celebrating Christmas is not enough. This world needs your time. As a part of your daily life, it is your responsibility to share your time with those not as privileged as you. Of course there are monetary needs as well. But what is more valuable is your time. Come out of your comfort zone and take a look around. You will find that there are more who need than those who give. Volunteer time to activities in organizations in your locality. Make a difference in your life as well as in those of others.

Do it today because tomorrow does not belong to you.

An Inconvenient Truth

A couple of months back, a friend of mine offered two free tickets to watch Al Gores’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Despite being a movie buff, I declined the offer. Al Gore and the movie did not mean anything more than political propaganda to me. How wrong I was!I am an ardent fan of documentaries and watch them as much as time permits. I religiously pay Netflicks and Blockbuster for providing me with these documentaries. Oh, and also the Santa Clara Community Library at Milpitas (no, I don’t need to pay at the library!). So finally, I decided to watch ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ after viewing the ratings on Netflix. As my wired brain would react, I guessed that that ratings were highly influenced by overzealous democrats! Nevertheless, I had to watch it for some reason. And here I am, writing this blog after watching the documentary, trying to spread word among my fellow beings that this one is worth watching regardless of one’s political inclination.

Al Gore’s presentation of the subject matter is simply brilliant. The content is concise and the message, clear. Despite the well deserved Bush bashing here and there (I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I am a Californian!), the entire presentation is politically unbiased and addresses a problem that has been brushed off by politicians for a number of years now. In the documentary, Al Gore argues his view through numerous data samples. I have scourged the Internet for the same data and none proved contrary to what Al Gore presented. Believe it or not, Global Warming is a big problem. I suggest that you watch this movie immediately.

If Global Warming is such a big issue, why is this never a top issue on the our politicians list? I don’t remember Bush ever talking about this other than in his State of the Union address where he bluntly opposed caps on Carbon emissions! Thanks to the new Democrat controlled congress, Mr. Bush will soon have to answer some tough questions. The upcoming meeting of 500 climate scientists from all over the word in Paris next week to put the final touches on a UN report on climate warming ought to put Mr. Bush in the hot seat. Already, there are allegations that the Bush administration has been pressurizing climate scientists not to use words such as ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Global Warming’ in their work. God, will politicians ever stop mucking around!

Although the documentary painted a very grim future for mankind, it was good to know that some steps are being made by more progressive nations to control global warming. In the US, guess who is leading the pack? California of-course! Although I do resent the high gas prices here, I am proud to know that at-least some part of the money is being put to good use!

California, you are my hero and there can be none like you!

Movie : An Inconvenient truth
Category : Documentary
Rating : ****

WHO, Impotence & Polio

Reading news on third world countries can be likened to reading a book by Quentin Tarantino (okay, he has not written books, but imagine reading Pulp Fiction!). Behind the irrational disposition of his characters, lurks a humor that is disgusting, yet enjoyable.

This week, health officials in Pakistan stated that they failed to immunize over 160,000 children against Polio. The reason – rumours that the vaccine can cause impotence! Clearly not something to laugh about. If the vaccine does have such an effect, it should be banned from use immediately. Last year, a petition was filed at the Peshwar High Court alleging that the Polio vaccine contained oestrogen. Lab tests of the vaccine proved negative.

Now comes the interesting part of this story. The rumours were spread around by local clerics running illegal FM stations. Guess whom they had to blame for this oestrogen loaded polio vaccine?? The Christians and the Jews!! The clerics alleged that this scheme was aimed at stunting the growth of Muslims in Pakistan and around the world! Hmm… impotence – a low future population – a weaker Pakistan!! Apart from the bizarreness of the idea itself, it seems that more and more locals are supportive of the allegation. In some areas, immunization teams were even beaten up by the local public!

The WHO pumps more than 196 Million USD every year into Pakistan to eradicate Polio, a disease long forgotten in industrialized nations. Forget religion for a moment. Eradicating Polio is a worldwide mission that needs to be carried out irrespective of other factors. A Polio free world is the WHO’s mission and has nothing to do with a country, religion or race. The debilitating effects of Polio leaves life long scars on patients as well as the families who care for them.

Will any Muslim leader step forward to pacify and reassure the poor and illiterate who are easily fooled into their own disaster? Lets wait and watch.

On the flip side, I was wondering if someone would take the imitative to flood India and China with oestrogen loaded Polio vaccines! Alas, China is free of Polio and India will soon be! We may have to find another solution to the population problem in the two countries