Animal carers, please beware!!!

The first lesson of driving that we remember is what to do when you encounter a deer on the road (upstate New York is full of deers and too many related accidents).

Now we have a duck(ling) lover who parks her car recklessly and goes looking for the mother of the little ones...as a result a father and daughter will never come back home....now the animal lover gets a life sentence....so many wrongs will never add up to make a right. 
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A Canadian woman who parked her car on a highway to help a group of ducklings on the side of the road was found guilty of causing the deaths of a motorcyclist and his passenger daughter who slammed into her car.

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Emma Czornobaj was convicted by a jury on two counts of criminal negligence causing death, a charge that carries a maximum life sentence, and two counts of dangerous driving causing death, which comes with a maximum of 14 years in jail.

"I felt shocked, surprised, dazed"

“You ..will lose all of us. We may never associate ourselves with you again. Please cancel this event. We will all stick together.” 

The cultural Left was probably stronger (and more ruthless) when it was dominated by upper-class (super-caste) marxists.  However with their political fortunes evaporating marxists are losing out in the cultural stock market as well.

The Lenin-Mao devotees are now being supplanted by Ambedkar worshipers, with upper-class neo-dalits such as S Anand in leadership roles (somethings will never change). Such an organic (and indigenous) movement will hopefully be more resilient against the forthcoming right-wing onslaught.
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Dear Ranvir Shah and friends at Prakriti Foundation, Chennai

Recently (19 June 2014), when I received the latest email invitation from Prakriti for a book launch, I almost did not register what I was seeing. Then I asked myself “who is this poet Ravi Mantha and why does he look like Modi?” It took me a minute to figure out he was actually the translator of Modi’s so-called poems, published as A Journey by Rupa. I felt shocked, surprised, dazed.

Sarees are beautiful (but no forcing)

The ruling is quite correct in our opinion, even if we do happen to love sarees- a thumbs down for the patriarchy, howsoever insignificant is always welcome. A kurta-jeans combination probably works best for both working men and women.

Speaking of sarees it would be nice if the elite class - the one which moves from air-conditioned house to a/c car to a/c shop to a/c workplace - patronizes the dress a bit more. The working class really cant afford that simple looking but elegant cotton saree @ 5,000 rupees. Such patronage will help keep the small-scale saree weavers solvent. Certainly the ladies can afford to do a bit for the artisan class, no?
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Objecting to wife wearing Kurta and Jeans and forcing her to wear saree amounts to cruelty inflicted by husband and can be a ground to seek divorce, a family court here has ruled.
The wife pleaded that after marriage in December 2010, her husband did not buy her any clothes and therefore she had purchased Kurta and Jeans from her salary earnings. However, the husband did not allow her to wear them, saying she should wear only sarees.

The man without a face

Rumor has it that Mediène receives visitors with his back turned, and that if you see his face, it’ll be the last one you ever see.

Most people are (understandably) impressed by the workings of the #1 secret service in the world. But the account below of the man who heads the Algerian secret service DRS is awe-inspiring as well.
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The most powerful man in Algeria has no public face.
His name is Mohamed Lamine Mediène. Everyone calls him “Toufik.” Another nickname is the “God of Algiers,” supposedly because he’s more powerful than the president.  

Who should win the next Noble?

The next Nobel Peace Prize ... should go to the thinker or leader who develops a model of constitutional theocracy giving Muslim countries a coherent way of recognizing yet limiting the authority of religious law and making it compatible with good governance.

The way we interpret the article, Mark Lilla (sort of) regrets the fact that communism (which had all the good theories but bad practices) has been replaced by islamism (bad theory as well as bad practice). He is also clear that the goals of American foreign policy (more democracy everywhere) and European foreign policy (neo-liberalism everywhere) are badly flawed as applied to majority of non-democratic nations.

According to Lilla, Middle East North Africa will only be liberated when a giant (muslim) thinker/leader comes forward with a set of (divinely inspired but realistically best-fit) rules that will work for the diverse societies that call themselves muslim (he admits that such a great man is not yet amongst us). Till then he advises the world to be patient (and presumably watchful). 

Not a bad advice at all (especially if it cuts down on the war-making). However it is important to admit upfront that such an attitude/policy spells doom for the non-muslim minorities (as well as many muslim ones). If Lilla advocates generous asylum considerations for such people he should say so. If anti-immigrant sentiment in the West prevents such accommodation then the West and Westerners should abandon the holy high ground and quit the holier-than-thou talk. No one is impressed by the tall hat and short cattle initiatives - it may well be that foreign aid does more harm than good - least of all the bloody monsters that are thick on the ground.

A couple of points that are not addressed in the article:
(1) This strategy of (not so) benign neglect on behalf of the West ignores the ongoing and pernicious influence of (to a smaller extent) Iran and (the primary villain) Saudi Arabia. The question is how to stop the petro-dollars from causing so much strife, especially since the West relies on the Saudis to sell oil and buy armaments.  
Here we should recognize that Carlotta Gall was wrong, the right country to fight is neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan but S.A. (the real/spiritual home of the 9/11 perps).

(2) What happens to muslims in non-muslim countries who get radicalized by all the killings and sufferings of innocent muslims (that we are supposed to silently tolerate from a distance)? If the war comes to the West (and non-West countries as well) how do we handle that?  

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Mt. Aga Khan - highest peak of the Pamirs

In Buddhist/Hindu doctrine/mythology the gods reside on mountain tops. Hence it was a tradition amongst Himalayan climbers not to step on the last peak-inch. Apparently in the Pamir plateau-land of Tajikistan it is Aga Khan (for background see wiki reference below) who inspires a similar devotion amongst the people.

Geographically, Khorog (capital of Pamir/Gorno Badakshan) borders north-eastern Afghanistan and is not so much distant from Gilgit and Kargil. Is it just a coincidence that the mountain people are in general, followers of a less-followed (religious) path than the plains-people? At any rate, when the going gets tough (and it is already extremely tough), the thugs from the plains will find the terrain to be very rough indeed. Let God (and Aga Khan) give strength to the dissenters to fight for justice (and truth).

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The Pamirs are home to the Pamiri people, who speak a different language from other Tajiks, and follow the Ismaili branch of Shiite Islam (most Tajiks are Sunni). 

Revenge!! Justice!!!

Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel was finally kicked out of the company he founded, apparently because of sexual harrasment lawsuits, but also because the company was losing money- bigtime.

One thing the New York Times and the liberals forgot. The sex maniac exploited an young Bangladeshi girl supposedly to draw attention to the fact that AA was paying americans to make clothes, not some sweatshop in Bangladesh. This was seen by many as an insult to islamic traditions (see Rezwana Manjur opinion below). Finally it did not take into account the fact that such sweat-shop work has created some real opportunities for Bangali women to the point where the social indicators in BD lag only behind Sri Lanka in the sub-continent.

Conservative Bangalis who were outraged at American Apparel must be saying their thanks in their daily prayers. Good riddance to sex maniacs who take advantage of the power they hold to take advantage of young powerless people.

Only one small point remains. The people who felt insulted by Dov Charney must also remember the dead young women (and men) who were victims of deliberate negligence of garment manufacturers in Bangladesh. Dov Charney is indeed a criminal, but those people are monsters. Justice must be served, even if cold.
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Modern day slaves in a pre-modern country

It seems that law and order has completely disappeared from Iraq. Why keep hundreds of Indians as captives- they are neither Shias nor Sunnis? 

The obvious answer is that armed gangs have taken over as any semblance of state control has vanished. Indians will be handed over (hopefully) in return for handsome ransoms. Those trying to escape will be shot. In the meantime, hundreds of families (mostly from Punjab) will be going through hell.
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More reports are emerging of Indians in Iraq being held at their workplace against their will. The latest instance coming to light is in Karbala where, according to UK-based NGO Justice Upheld, 231 young Indian men are being held captive at their workplaces by Iraqi nationals whose identity is not yet clear.

'My mother was wronged, gravely wronged'

"...if we agree (to accept the judgment), we'll be forever branded as the people who got the government, or the courts, to interfere in the Shariat. There's no point in living with such a taint on you."

....senior Congress leader AK Antony ..."People have lost faith in the secular credentials of the party. They have a feeling that the Congress bats for a few communities, especially minorities"  

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St Antony is known to be a loyal party man but at some point even a worm will turn- hence the outburst. Our guess is that Congress is trying to desperately hold on to its last bastions - of which Kerala is one - by going all out to woo conservative Muslims. This will of course drive the Hindus into the welcoming arms of the Sangh Parivar. The Christians do not matter right now (they are used to voting against the anti-God communists) but they may well elect NOT to vote against the BJP.

If Congress is planning for a come-back as a truly secular party which speaks for all Indians, it should learn from the momentous days in the 1980s, when it tried to play communal games that blew up in its face. This is a dangerous game that at best goes nowhere and at worst leads to even more divisions in society. Most importantly other groups can play this game much better than the Congress can. Why vote for soft-Hindutva, when the real item is on the menu?

Our modern age (brainless) doctors

When you go in for an operation in India, make sure that you leave the hospital with your wallet, specs, notebooks...and your complete set of body parts. If you do not, then it may be possible to find your (empty) wallet, but your body parts will be lost forever.

The whole society is being poisoned by profit motive so it is bad form to only point at doctors, there are now greedy teachers, corrupt police and all that. Still this is shocking news.

The hospital is trying to close legal options by paying compensation. USA style tort system will probably not work in India, earlier when a ghastly fire led to 90 patients dying in a (different) Kolkata hospital forcing a shutdown, it was the common man in the form of hospital workers who suffered.
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The bone flap of a 23-year-old that was being preserved in the operating theatre of Ruby General Hospital has gone missing.
The youth underwent brain surgery in the hospital in January last year. The flap was opened during the surgery and was to be put back later on. Neurosurgeons, however, said that missing bone flaps would not have any bearing on the patient's recovery and that artificial options would be used instead.

Arnab Dutta, 23, had jumped from the terrace of his Lake Gardens apartment in January last year in a bid to commit suicide after his father passed away. The computer engineering student was rushed to Ruby General Hospital with a severe head injury, and where he was operated on for brain haemorrhage.

During discharge, the hospital told Arnab's family that the bone flap was being preserved to be replaced later, and that they should come back later. Arnab's family did not come back for months. In May this year, they asked the hospital for the bone flap. The hunt for the piece of skull started, but it was nowhere to be found, said a hospital source.

"Bone flaps are replaced once the brain swelling comes down. But in many cases patients do not come back for cranio-plasty, which is done mainly for cosmetic purposes. Otherwise, once the overlying skin and hair covers that place, people can lead a normal life with no effect on recovery," said Anirban Deep Banerjee, consultant neurosurgeon with Apollo Hospitals, Kolkata.

The Ruby hospital authorities have assured the family of compensation. "We will compensate the family," said a hospital official.

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Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Kolkata-hospital-loses-a-part-of-patients-skull/articleshow/37352089.cms

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regards