How to stop smoking?

Well, I know this is one question that pesters every smoker in every part of the world. Don’t worry. Nothing is impossible other than putting the toothpaste back into the tube right after squeezing it out completely once.
Before telling you the technique of quitting the habit, I want you to know the grim fact: Smoking may kill as many as a billion people worldwide this century.
As per researchers, only in both the US and the UK, smoking ranks higher than obesity as the leading cause of preventable deaths.
According to a study, those who smoked throughout their adult lives were overwhelmingly more likely to suffer and then die of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. Even those who considered themselves light smokers, smoking less than ten cigarettes a day, were twice as likely to die early when compared to non-smokers.
Quitting before middle age, however, was shown to dramatically reduce that risk.
So, if you really want to kick the butt, then make up your mind first. For I, once an obsessive compulsive chain smoker, successfully did it. Then why can’t you?
I know it is hard to suppress the itch for nicotine. But once you make up your mind, say NO to yourself, then, let’s see how to combat the urge to smoke.
Go to a place where you need to be around the whole day long, but no way allowed to smoke, not even take a break. And if you stay alive for more than eight hours without smoking, then you can stop it. Then try going to the same place for some more days and lo and behold you will know that you can survive without cigarettes.
Now you know nothing would happen if you don’t smoke. So stop smoking and start fighting  the withdrawal syndromes and regain your lost power!

School kids’ new game: ‘Fantasy Slut League’!

You must have heard of Premier Cricket League, Premier Hockey League or Premier Football League, but did you ever hear something called 'Fantasy Slut League'?
If not, here is the bizarre news! It is a new game started at a high school in California where boys can earn points by having sexual encounters with girl students.  For the past five or six years, boys on some sports teams at Piedmont High School had been allegedly playing this game until last month, when school management reportedly discovered their “game” following a date-rape-awareness assembly.
And last week, the school management spilled the beans to the parents and the media. Yet, they haven’t taken any action against this disgusting practice. They reportedly found “after an investigation, they concluded both male and female participants felt pressured by their peers and older students, but found no indication of sexual abuse.”
And no student was accused of criminal conduct nor any action was taken against them. Ridiculous! They even justified their stance as they “didn’t have details on individuals involved and the league’s activities occurred off-campus.”
Though this ugly incident made headlines, nobody seems to ponder over how rampant this practice is in the country.
In an article appeared in New York Times two years ago, popular columnist Maureen Dowd wrote about a similar “fantasy league” in Landon, an all-boys private school in Maryland. It was quoted that the boys “evidently got points for (the sexual equivalent of) first, second, and third base,” and “money was going to be exchanged at the end of the season.”
But Landon defended it saying that it was an “extensive ethics and character-education program.
This fantasy-football format game has a callous nature of a scoring system where the game is sex, not football, and the “fantasy” league is—at least reportedly at Piedmont High School—shockingly real.
Experts see this as a in a wider perspective. Abigail Jones, co-author of Restless Virgins, which examined a widely publicized sex scandal at a New England prep school in 2005, says the problem lies in the broader context of teenage sexuality today.
The Daily Beast quoted him as saying: “Girls and boys have always been sexually active, but the culture in which teenagers are coming of age today is dramatically different in that everything is put on display.”
The fact is kids these days are growing up in a sex-saturated culture. They see only sex everywhere, on billboards, Internet, magazines, movies, and TV.
It may be remembered that some Piedmont girls told local reporters that they didn’t mind “being on the list” of draftees!

Don’t kill those animals!

Notorious South Indian elephant poacher and sandalwood smuggler Koose Muniswamy Veerappan had met with a gruesome ‘death of a demon’ several years ago, but his tribesmen are still flourishing in other parts of the country.
They resort to most inhumane and brutal acts to make easy money. The heartless felons kill animals for making fortunes. And they use most barbaric means to kill the hapless animals. It should be prevented.

The world is talking about massive elephant poaching in the Ganjam district of Odisha in India. Those savages are using homemade electrocution tripwires to kill those innocent and majestic elephants for ivory.

The poachers use these tripwires made from power lines to kill elephants. According to official statistics,  a staggering 295 elephants have been poached so far this year in Odisha and out of them 61 have been killed of electrocution.

Officials blame it on electric companies. They say Odisha’s electric companies spread electricity to remote and rural areas without any proper supervision.

According to reports, several remedies have been given to electric companies, including building taller, more insulated power lines, to help ensure the elephants’ safety. Also it was suggested that cutting off power to areas with large elephant populations during strategic migratory periods would reduce the risk of electrocution.

Energy officials should be held accountable for these inhuman acts. Poachers should be caught and prosecuted. Forest and wildlife officials should make sure the safety of animals.

Rape is "God intended"??

Moral police in India cry foul over the way women dress up and attribute that as the reason for the growing number of rapes and sexual assaults. These misogynists – right wing fanatics – have no issues thrashing up girls for partying and assaulting a lone girl when she comes out of a pub after having her share of booze.

And if you thought this only happens in incredible India, you are wrong! See what has been happening in the US for the past few months. Elections are fast approaching and parties, public and political leaders are actively discussing many issues, abortion being a prominent one.

And a Republican GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock the other day made a stupid, foolhardy statement. Taking part in a Senate debate in Indiana, Mourdock shamelessly said that the life of the mother was the only exception he made for abortion.

Following this comes the shocking statement: “I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that’s something God intended to happen.”

This is not the first time a Republican leader makes such an offensive statement. It may be remembered that in August, Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, Todd Akin, said pregnancy as a result of “legitimate rape” was rare as “the female body had ways to try and shut that whole thing down.”

Nay, not just that. Last week, another Republican leader and congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, reportedly said “you can’t find one instance” where it has been necessary to perform an abortion due to the risk to the mother’s life.

Pro-women activists, women right groups and Democratic candidates have made a hue and cry over the callous attitude of some of the American politicians. According to reports, Democratic candidate Joe Donnelly said that he didn’t believe “my God, or any God, would intend that to happen.”

So, for these silly, stupid politicos, rape is God intended!

Heroines of dirty pictures

                                                  (Pictures are used for illustrative purpose only)

No one can deny this. There exist casting couches in the Indian film industry. If you have ever been a bit close to the glamour villa, you must have seen it, experienced it. You do not need to watch a ‘Dirty Picture’ or ‘Heroine’ to know the story.

Girls, generally hailing from lower and upper middle classes, will go up to any extend to get noticed, to get name, fame and moolah and the creative souls with carnal urges make the best of it. They blatantly ask for sexual favours and the wannabe starlets are more than willing to do anything for a role.

As far as Bollywood is concerned, this is nothing new. The practice has been there since the early stage of moviemaking in the country, 1951.

It’s plain quid pro quo. You are an aspiring actress and searching for a role and then submit yourself to us, gratify the lechers in us. The girls when realize that there is no way out, prefer to have sex with them and grab the dream role.

Though many people deny this, casting couch has been prevalent all through. Don’t you remember reports of Madhur Bhandarkar, Aman Varma, Onir and Shakti Kapoor in the news for asking sexual favour for roles. These guys are just people who are not as smart as the bigger ones who sleep with every heroine they cast.

Actress Payal Rohatgi kicked up a storm when she alleged that director Dibakar Banerjee asked her to take her top off when she auditioned for a role for his upcoming film Shanghai.
 I, while working an entertainment correspondent for a leading daily, personally came across many such incidents.  Most of those girls are big stars today, continuing to be the heroines of dirty pictures.

Di Caprio’s love for dying animals

Leonardo Di Caprio is one cool dude I really like. Not just that I was flabbergasted by his superb performance in the Academy award winning Titanic and other flicks, but I find his social commitment inspiring too.

Remember the 2006 blockbuster movie “Blood Diamonds” where DiCaprio could draw attention from across the globe to the human atrocities meted out on those hapless people working diamond mines in African war zones?

Till then the world outside never heard about them nor had any concrete understanding of the issues. And he is at it again. According latest reports, DiCaprio is all set to make an impact by making two films that can create global awareness about the plight of African rhinos and elephants, both on the brink of extinction.
He along with two of his friends hope to bring that same kind of global awareness with the two new Hollywood projects.

According to reports, Warner Bros. studios has already given go ahead to Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy to produce two separate films about the devastating problem of animal poaching and illegal animal smuggling in Africa.

The first project titled Up In The Air written by Sheldon Turner is being produced by Maguire and DiCaprio. It is reported that the story was inspired by Hardy’s real-life friends who were former Special Forces operatives that became anti-poaching fighters in South Africa.
The second flick, yet to be written, will detail how “the trafficking industry” kills African animals so their tusks and horns can be sold for aphrodisiacs and “supposed” healing properties used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Hope the world will come to the rescue of African animals who are brutally slaughtered by poachers for reasons obvious.

Kudos to DiCaprio, keep it up, man!

Crimes against Afghan women continue unabated

And here is yet another shocking tidings from Afghanistan! Close on the heels of the shooting by Taliban Islamists of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, who had become a voice against the suppression of women’s rights, a young woman was beheaded last week for not accepting demand to have sex with a man who was not her husband. And the demand came from none other than her mother-in-law who chopped her daughter-in-law’s head! 

This is just one of thousands of such crimes against women in Afghanistan, but given the fact that her mother-in-law herself was trying to push her into flesh trade, the incident is highly condemnable and totally barbaric.

Mah Gul, was just a 20-year-old woman, who lived in Herat province in southwestern Afghanistan along the Iranian border.  She had been harassed and forced for getting into prostitution by her mother in law, according to reports.

According to reports appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Gul had been married for four months to her husband who was a baker.  When her goes out for work, his mother and her cousin tried to force the young wife into sex with the cousin.

When their attempts went in vain, the mother-in-law made her son believe that Gul was a prostitute and lured his cousin Najibullah to behead her.

“It was around 2 am when Gul’s husband left for his bakery. I came down and with the help of her mother-in-law killed her with a knife,” Najibullah was quoted as saying.

Reports say that women and girls in Afghanistan and the region are living lives horror. They are being raped, killed, forced into marriage in childhood, prevented from obtaining education and denied their sexual and reproductive rights.

Until the whole world stand united and guarantee basic human rights for the women in the region, these heinous abuses will continue unchecked.

And OMG, they are wheelchair cheats!

Every time I visit the airport here either to see someone off or to receive someone else, I stood wondering why there are so many physically handicapped passengers checking in with the help of a wheelchair! Until I chanced upon this interesting report by Kristina Chew, I pitied them a lot, but not anymore!

Chew says this is an easy way to doge unduly waiting in notoriously long and slow-moving airport security lines. And most of those who move in the wheelchairs, are quite able-bodied! Ha, how smart!  From security and TSA screeners they are brought directly to their gate by uniformed attendants and allowed to board first at which point, some hop up, heavy bag(s) in hand and walk on.

So these people are called “wheelchair cheats”! And my god, these guys all are right and the mighty!  
What a shame!

It seems there are no closer examinations and there is no need to produce a certificate! The attendants are more than happy as they get an extra tip for kind act they did!

Chew says those in wheelchairs board planes first and disembark last. “As a result, there may be a small crowd of people in wheelchairs in the boarding area of a flight while, says the New York Times, it is not unusual to see a couple of empty chairs at the arrival gate,” writes Chew.

“I know a number of people with disabilities who indeed need wheelchairs in airports. They would much rather walk and the stories behind why they are using the chair — an amputation due to an accident, multiple sclerosis — are full of painful, tough experiences,” says Chew.

Haha! Wheelchair cheats!!

Girl children should be studying not delivering babies!

“Amma, I’m sleepy and I want to go to sleep,” cries a 12-year-old girl but she is being led to her husband’s bedroom. Without knowing what her ‘husband’ is doing to her, she moans in pain. This is not a scene in a child porn film, it’s a grim picture that thousands of poverty-stricken villages paint.

Marriage before 18 years of age is a blatant violation of human rights. No one has the right to limit the child from interacting with friends and relatives, nor to deny her right to education.
Despite having all those awareness campaigns and welfare programmes, girl children often end up doing bonded labour, enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence, all due to child marriage. They are exposed to serious health risks, early pregnancy, and various STDs especially HIV/AIDS.

Reasons for these inhuman practices are many. Financial difficulties, ignorance, eagerness to get male protection to their daughters or oppressive traditional norms and values are the reasons why girls are married off at a tender age.

More than one third of the women between the ages 20-24 were married across the globe before they reached the age of 18. Approximately 14 million adolescent girls between the ages 15-19 give birth each year. Girls in this age group are twice more likely to die during child birth than women in their twenties. Rate of child marriage are higher in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Let me produce a statistics excerpted from elsewhere: According to the 2001 census there are 1.5 million girls, in India, under the age of 15 already married. Of these, 20% or approximately 300,000 are mothers to at least one child.   The 2001 census also estimated the average age of marriage has risen to 18.3 for females. The male average is 22.6 years. But child marriage is still widespread across the nation. States like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Andra Pradesh still have average age of marriage below the legal age of eighteen for females.

Let’s do our bit to prevent child marriages, at least by way of talking loudly about it. Early pregnancies are complicated. Adolescent mothers give birth prematurely or to low weight babies. The health of the child and mother are at risk and often they do not survive. Child marriage also makes girls more vulnerable to domestic violence, sexual abuse and inability to complete primary education. It is also found that infant mortality rates are higher than the national average in the states where child marriage is highly prevalent.

Facebook, Twitter more addictive than sex?

Now since the study is out and it is official, we should discuss this issue too: Are Facebook and Twitter more tempting than sex?

A recent study conducted in Germany by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business says that social networking sites could be causing relationship problems and even divorces.
It says that the impulse to check in on social media is among the strongest temptations for our society today.

During the study it has been found out that social networks were the hardest attractions to resist than yearnings for sex, alcohol, cigarettes or other gratification.

Closer home in India, things seem to be no different. Manya Kinjhar, student of Economics, Nagaland University was quoted by a website as saying: “Tweets and comments on Facebook make me at high and I do not feel doing anything at the end of the day. It is just new addiction for our generation besides smoking, drinking etc. Earlier, I used to sleep eight hours a day but entry of new activity on Facebook keeps me awake for half of the night.”

Nitin Jhoba, another student from Nagaland University agrees: “When people are posting more sexy and spicy things on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, then who cares about sex with partner? This generation is smarter than others; they not only know much better about sexual characteristics, they are also ready to talk about it frankly.”

The study was conducted only in Germany, but it is applicable to the rest of the world, I agree with
Judy Molland, who wrote an article on the same topic on Care2 website.

Celebrating light over darkness in Singapore

Witness an exciting time in Singapore as the local Indian community celebrates good over evil and gives thanks to the Hindu gods. There will be a magnificent street-light up surrounded by cultural performances, a heritage exhibition, symbolic processions, as well as a food and drink festival like no other.

During this period, the Indian community in Singapore, including expatriates, migrants and visitors, will come together to celebrate Deepavali, also known as the Festival of Lights. Deepavali is a time for rejoicing and renewal as Hindus all over the world celebrate the triumph of good over evil or light over darkness. During Deepavali celebrations, many homes will light up oil lamps with rangolis drawn on the floor to usher in light and good fortune.

To mark the celebration of Deepavali, Little India on Serangoon Road is transformed into a fairyland with an explosion of vibrant, colourful lights and elaborate street decorations and arches. This truly mesmerising cultural event will include the month-long street light-up which kicks off with a switch-on ceremony on 13 October at the Kinta Road carpark. A host of other events like a heritage exhibition, festive village, countdown concert, Deepavali play and UTSAV street parade will take place during the festive period.

The UTSAV street parade is not to be missed—it is one of the most amazing events held at Singapore's attraction Little India and is a splendid collage of songs and dances.

Deepavali also  provides an opportunity for you to witness the Silver Chariot Procession, as well as other symbolic happenings such as the fire walking festival—a visual spectacle that has been known to astound.

Event Details
DATE & TIME
From 23 Sep 2012, Sun To
18 Nov 2012, Sun
DURATION/OPENING HOURS
66 days
TICKETING DETAILS
Free
VENUE
Little India
GETTING THERE
Nearest MRT Station: Little India
CONTACT PERSON / EVENT ORGANIZER
Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association
(65) 6392-2246
EVENT WEBSITE
www.little-india.sg

Poverty in Bangladesh, a real horror story

It is always better late than never. The world is now discussing poverty in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated countries with 150 million people, has a whopping 49 percent of population live below the national poverty line, in perennial misery.
It is quite uncertain that an infant born to a poor family in Bangladesh would survive. Chances are bleak. Such is the level of malnutrition. According to statistics, eight out of 10 births in Bangladesh are at home, on a dirty floor, without a skilled health worker present, putting both the baby and the mother at risk.
The situation is gruesome. Even mothers’ frail bodies fail to produce enough milk to breastfeed the babies. Even if they can manage to give a bit of breast milk for six months, nutrition from there is a huge challenge. Abject poverty, high food price, ignorance… due to all these factors only 21% of children under two years of age receive a minimum acceptable diet.
And the story ahead is pathetic. The family does not have enough food and by the time the child reaches school age, he or she has to start working in order to sustain. According to statistics almost seven million children between five and 14 have to work to help their families survive. There are around 400,000 child domestic workers between the ages of 6 and 17 in Bangladesh.
And think about those kids who work in the house of strangers who compel them to work for long hours for very little or no pay and even resort to sexual assaults and physical torture. A report says that 5 % are raped by employers, 20% are physically tortured, and some are even killed.
Today is the first ever International Day for Girl Children. And here is the shocker: At around the age of 13 or 14, the girl children who work as domestic helps are called back to the village and forced to marry. It may be noted that 2/3 of girls are married before they turn 18 in Bangladesh. And these teenaged girls get pregnant soon after the wedding and the worst happens at the time of delivery: both the mother and the bay die.
And if they manage to survive the story repeats. This is the cycle of poverty that people across the world started pondering.
Don’t you think we too should start thinking and discussing?

Cops or callous ruffians?

I’m shocked to read reports on brutal murders and mindless assaults, especially of students. Here in this part of the globe, in Hyderabad in Southern India, I have seen huge police force spraying rubber bullets, throwing tear gas shells and spanking students right left and center inside a university campus. That too, on regular intervals.  Police have their justification and so has the government. If this tyranny is to quell an agitation that has been active for the past 60 years, elsewhere in the globe there such things happen for reasons that none can understand.
A report that appeared last week from the other hemisphere is appalling.  On October 6, a police officer shot dead a fresher at the University of South Alabama in cold blood.
Gil Collar, all of 18 was found naked with no weapons whatsoever. CBS news reported that Gil Collar was fatally wounded about 1:30 a.m. after an officer heard a bang on a window and went outside to investigate.
The report further says quoting university spokesman Keith Ayers that Collar assumed a “fighting stance” and chased an officer before being shot. The officer tried to retreat numerous times to defuse the situation before opening fire, the school was quoted as saying.
There are police brutalities everywhere in world. It’s in China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, US, UK…
Only the other day I was editing an article written by a retired IPS officer, justifying police brutality. Whatever, I find it difficult to put up with these excesses. Police should be a friend and guide if not the philosopher.
If you too feel the same way I feel, talk about it, at least among your friend!

Because I am a Girl

                                                      (Photo courtesy: A Suresh Kumar)

Today the historic Charminar that stands tall in the old city of Hyderabad will be glowing in pink. Yes, today, October 11, is the first day the world celebrates the International Day for Girl Child.
As part of ‘Because I am a Girl’ (BIAAG) campaign by Plan India, an NGO that works for child development, is all set to celebrate the great occasion by illuminating the iconic Charminar in pink. Along with Charminar, three other monuments in Delhi - Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb and Purana Quila  - also will be illuminated pink this day.
The aim of illuminating the monuments in pink is to spread the message of protecting the girl child, according to its organisers.
Plan India’s goodwill ambassador and popular Hindi actor Anil Kapoor was quoted by news agencies as saying: "This is a subject close to my heart. I will say women are definitely superior to men. They should not just be supported but worshiped."
The agencies quoted Superintending Archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) DN Dimri as sayiing: "We would like to associate in future in such activities as well. Next year, we would like to have more monuments lit."

We need Rukhsanas everywhere

                                                         Malala Yousafzai

Remember young Rukhsana Kausar? The teenage girl who turned out to be a real ‘heroin’ after she shot dead a terrorist who came to attack her family?
Singlehandedly, she confronted a group of LeT militants who barged into her house in Kashmir at night, snatched an AK-47 rifle from one of them and shot him at point blank.
While surrounded by scores of reporters, facing flashing cameras at her house in Upper Kalsi in Shahdhara Sharief of Rajouri district, she looked like the embodiment of courage. It was with great pride and satisfaction, Rukhsana flaunted the firearm she snatched from the militant and recounted how she shot the terrorist Abu Osama making others flee for their lives.
My point here is the all over world we require Rukhsanas, at least they can save themselves.  The report on how 14-year-old student and activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan comes as another grim reminder of how our girls should be mentally and physically equipped with for confronting any such situation. Though Yousafzai could defeat death, she has to live in eternal fear. Even if she leaves Pakistan and migrates to any other country, I don’t think she can live without fear.
In neighboring Afghanistan girls are appalled to go to school. There were at least 185 documented attacks on schools and hospitals in Afghanistan last year, according to the United Nations. The majority were reportedly attributed to armed groups opposed to girls' education.
Razia Jan, founder of a girls' school outside Kabul was quoted by CNN as saying: "People are crazy. The day we opened the school, the other side of town, they threw hand grenades in a girls' school, and 100 girls were killed. "Every day, you hear that somebody's thrown acid at a girl's face ... or they poison their water."
It was not so long ago an Iranian Muslim girl reportedly came under attack in Britain after refusing to remove her hijab amid a new wave of Islamophobia in Western countries.
Last week it was reported that two bearded ultra-conservative men in Egypt attacked four elementary schoolgirls walking down a street eating ice popsicles. The men knocked the popsicles from the girls’ hands and began yelling at them.
They are under attacks everywhere. Let them follow Rukhsana’s footsteps!

Sufism under attack in Islamic world

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.” 
― Rumi 

The gleeful verses of the 13th century mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi, is still much loved and enjoyed across the world. Rumi’s school of religious studies was way different from the regular ones. He taught that religion is less a matter of external observance than an intimate personal relationship with God.
But unfortunately, across the Muslim countries Sufism is being targeted of late. Yes, Islamic zealots are smashing up their own religious heritage. What a pity?  
Considering the fact that even partisans of two prominent Islam sects, Shia and Sunni, bombed each other’s mosques in countries like Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, no wonder both of them derive a wild, hysteric bliss bombing Sufi places of worship.
The shrine of al-Shaab al-Dahmani, a revered Sufi Saint, was bulldozed by militants even as security forces haplessly watched the barbaric act in Tripoli, all in broad daylight.
Sufi shrines have been razed and set on fire in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak.  Even Sufi chanting ritual called zhikr has been banned in many areas in Egypt.
Islamic fanatics were on a rampage, demolishing museums, libraries and universities in Timbuktu last summer. Sufi shrines were targeted and even thousands of Sufi followers were jailed for their unconventional views on religious practices.
Only in last month, several Sufi shrines were destructed in Libyan cities. Sakhi Sarkar shrine in Pakistan was brutally attacked, during the annual festival of the Sufi saint where 41 devotees were killed in cold blood.
It is becoming increasingly intolerable for Islamic fanatics to see Sufis’ perception of gentle form of Islam. Sufi practices initiated and practiced by Rumi himself, use music, dance and spiritual recitation as tools to awaken the God who according to Rumi say is asleep in the human heart.
Where is the world heading to? I’m utterly shaken by what is going on around the word.

Threat to lives of Pussy Riot! Act Now…

Not only that the three punk band members – Pussy Riot - are languishing in a remote penal colony, they are getting death threats too.
Their crime? The girls, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Marina Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, sang songs in Red Square and in Moscow churches that criticized the Russian premier – Vladimir Putin.
In a civilized society, don’t people have the right to stage a revolutionary protest? Is death is the punishment for such bold acts?
According to reports, a lawyer for the group has been receiving threatening letters from the penal colony, hinting that the girls' safety would be in danger there.
And if you did not know what happened after a Russian court sentenced the girls for two years of imprisonment a couple of months ago, here is the shocking report. When the girls were taken to the far-off penal colony, more than 20 people were packed into cars meant to carry four people. And more shocking is that the trip took several days.
Russia's prosecutor general was reported as saying that over 2,000 prisoners have died in or en route to Russian prisons over the last six months, barbarous, or what else?
In the case of the punk girls, the saddest part is two them are mothers of young children, who would have to travel for days to see them in the remote colony.
Their lives are in danger. Let’s all join together to urge Moscow officials to consider the girls' safety and allow them to remain in Moscow.
Sign in the petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/554/377/562/dont-send-pussy-riot-to-dangerous-penal-colony/?z00m=20424657

Restrain children from internet

My son miserably failed in two entrance exams that he wrote in the beginning of this academic year.
I knew the reason. He didn’t get even one single hour during the one month he got for preparation. He was busy with internet.
Another girl whom I closely know almost broke her four-year-old marriage only because her husband lost his cool over her spending too much of time on internet and caring less her 3-year-old child.
I can hear people swearing when their servers get slow or power supply is abruptly interrupted.
There are boys who would prefer more online games than food and sleep.
And they are called internet addicts.
According to reports, web addiction will soon be classified as a mental illness.  The newly revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-V) for 2013 has already added “Internet Use Disorder” in their list.
According to experts, unfettered and unhealthy use of internet should be a serious cause of concern.
According to Steve Williams, a passionate supporter of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) rights, human rights, animal welfare and health care reform, Internet Use Disorder (IUD) presents itself in many ways that are standard for addiction. Symptoms include but are not limited to:
A “preoccupation” with the Internet or Internet gaming
Withdrawal symptoms when no longer able to access the Internet
An increasing tolerance to the stimuli which means they require more time and greater Internet use in order to achieve the same high
A loss of other interests
Using the Internet to replace or make up for a lack of human relationships
Failed attempts at quitting their Internet overuse
Using the Internet as a tool to escape or improve general depression and sadness.

A published novelist, poet and a scriptwriter for computer games, film and web serials, Steve Williams says this abnormality is rare in adults, but the children who are suffering from IUD have been known to become angry and violent when their supply of Internet time is interrupted.
Recent studies have shown that there are physical changes in the brains of adolescents suffering from online gaming addiction — and these changes are remarkably similar to those presented in the brains of adolescent drug users.

Let’s limit our children’s online activities. Why should our kids suffer from mental maladies?

Rowling’s adult stuff zooms ahead

She decided to stop writing for children world over and instead penned a fiction that’s meant to stimulate the older ones. Parents across the world, to their utter consternation, found their children demanding Rowling’s new release not knowing what is inside.
Even as literary circles were abuzz and apprehensive about J K Rowling’s latest erotic fiction ‘Casual Vacancy’, the children’s beloved author did the magic.
Despite innumerable reviews from critics, The Casual Vacancy landed at No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list on Thursday.
Putting a step ahead of another adult novel that hit the market recently, E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, which has been No. 1 for 21 of the past 23 weeks, Rowling is all set to pass her over.
Sara Nelson, editorial director of books and Kindle for Amazon.com was quoted by a website that he wasn’t surprised at Rowling's top ranking given the strong pre-orders over the past few weeks.
A report says that Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown, Rowling's publisher, said that the Casual Vacancy had exceeded their expectations in its first six days in stores, selling 375,000 copies in all formats.
The novel, Casual Vacancy is all about the aftermath of the death of a local politician in a small English town. However reviews from across the world terms the novel with all adjectives - positive and negative - from brilliant to dull on both sides of the Atlantic.
It may be noted that it's the ninth time Rowling has entered USA TODAY's list at No. 1.That includes six of her seven Potter novels, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001) by Newt Scamander (aka Rowling) and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008).

Good Samaritan bags prestigious award

All good works will get rewarded. While it’s in the form of recognition and honor for some, for many others it is just happiness, satisfaction and soul’s content.
For 30-year-old Rajesh Kothwal, who has been untiringly struggling to extend a helping hand to the homeless and the destitute, it came as prestigious award. Rajesh Kothwal was one among the 15 eminent personalities who won the inaugural edition of India Positive Awards in glittering ceremony held at The Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi.
The award has been constituted by CNN-IBN in partnership with Jaypee Group. India Positive Awards delves into India’s hidden resource that cradles the wounded, makes peace among communities and improves lives of others with their selfless acts. These awards bring to light stories that celebrate the basic goodness in every Indian. For nearly two years, Rajesh Kothwal has been saving the lives and providing shelter to several destitute in Bharathi Memorial Foundation in Hyderabad. Rajesh finds satisfaction in helping people lead a life with some dignity and medical care. It may be noted that most of the inmates of his ashram suffer from terminal diseases like HIV, Polio & Tuberculosis.
There are 70 destitute and 14 children in his ashram.
"The doctors, nurses and the ward boys used to the neglect the destitutes and treat the ordinary people. The patients were untidy with human excretion on their clothes and hair grown. They were completely neglected and hence, I thought I will treat them. I requested the nurses and the ward boys and learnt how to inject. It took three to four months to learn. I learnt how to do it but I needed a legal certificate, so I took special training in the male nurse training course from the Indian Red Cross Society for 1 year," Rajesh said in CNN-IBN interview recently.
"I thought why I should start an orphanage or old age home when there are many. Hence, I took up the mission of serving the destitute. Before Independence and after Independence, there was only one organisation for the destitute called 'Nirmal Hruday' started by Mother Theresa. That is the only home which is still running. There is a need for destitute homes here, so I started one," Rajesh told CNN-IBN.

It’s not erotic fiction, it’s hardcore porn!

Call it midlife blues or sheer perversion, I tended to pick up ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ on a star-crossed day from the local bookstore.  Until 100 pages things were smooth. And OMG, what the fuck! Suddenly, what was supposed to be an ‘erotic fiction’ turned out to be hardcore porn!
I wonder why everybody is reading E L James. See the statistics published in the Guardian: EL James has now sold 4 million copies of her Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy via her UK publisher, Random House, to add to the 15 million that have been shifted in the US and Canada. In three months. In the UK, it's the fastest-selling book ever in both physical and ebook incarnations. There's just been an extra print run for the UK market, to meet demand: 2.75 million copies. It's the fastest selling adult novel of all time. By which they mean "it's the fastest-selling novel of all time that isn't Harry Potter".
Anastasia Steele, a 20 something graduate is enamored by a handsome billionaire Christian Grey, who doesn’t ‘make love’ only ‘fucks hard’. What the hell? The trilogy deals with sex, more sex, sadism, masochism, sex torment, and all dirty and scary sex games.
See the dialogues: "I'm a very wealthy man, Miss Steele, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies." "Holy hell, he's hot!"; "No man has ever affected me the way Christian Grey has, and I cannot fathom why. Is it his looks? His civility? Wealth? Power?" Yuh huh. Civility puts me in a blue funk too.”
Now I say: Holy shit!
Why don’t they ban such stuff instead of Lajja, Last Temptation of Jesus Christ and Satanic Verses?
If they could ban Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar, What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestad Butler, The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins, The Color of Earth” (series) by Kim Dong Hwa and “ttyl” series by Lauren Myracle for insensitivity, nudity, racism, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit , offensive language blah blah blah…  in just one year, why not this one?
Holy shit!
This is yucky, contagious and horrendous!  

Save small farms if you want good food

I grew up as a child in a middle class agrarian family in Kerala, a state that lies in the extreme south of India. Well, in my fond memories, still vivid are the days I helped the rural women who were sowing, transplanting and reaping paddy. There were small farmlands all along in the hamlet. Rural Kerala was abuzz with farming activities throughout the year. And there were farms aplenty.
After a very long gap, I recently visited the place, and to my utter dismay I found all the farms missing and elegantly designed duplexes all around. Yes, most of the state’s men migrated to middle-east and amassed money working overtime, only to construct houses in those farms!
Something needs to be done urgently to retain at least the remaining farms. In the other end of world, in the United States, singers and artistes are performing Farm Aid stage shows since 1980. The concert, the longest running benefit concert series in America, was held last weekend in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
In India, small farmers are ending their lives due to reasons innumerable. High cost of production, huge interests on loans, lack of hybrid seeds, extreme weather conditions, pests, low productivity, cheaper prices… there are umpteen reasons for them to resort to the extreme steps.
Governments should wake up. High-thinking people should unite. Farmers should be made aware. Now with the Central government’s decision to go ahead with FDI and all, people are confused as to whether it will help farmers or trap.
With bigger players are all set to enter farming sector, the chances of survival are bleak for small family farmers. A recent article in The Guardian says, “Traditional farmers of Africa and Asia are urged to give up growing food for their own people and raise commodity crops for us.” It says In India, hundreds of thousands have committed suicide, but most flee to the cities to join the estimated billion rural exiles who now live in urban slums.”
Everyone knows that food scarcity is imminent all over the globe. We have to do something to prevent people dying of starvation in huge bungalows and  on the roadside huts at the same time. Think guys, and let’s do something.
A fellow blogger Jan Cho wrote recently: “The decline of small family farms is not just a problem for the families losing their land. It’s a problem for individual consumers, society and the environment. “
Just remember that!