Finally Feed on my blog !

After much insistence of my good old friend Dr. Asav Patel, I finally activated feed and email subscription to my blog. If you care to read what I blog, subscribe via this feed. You will get a notification whenever I post something on my blog.

Thanks for your suggestion Doctor.

Take me back in time! - Samajwadi Party's horrifying manifesto

The future. If we don't act now.

No English medium schools. No computers at your desk in office. No technology on the farms. Only minimum wage for each and every person regardless of merit. No more malls in urban communities. Alliance with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

This is not a plot of some sci-fi movie which predicts the end of the world as we know it. Neither are these pages from history books describing 18th or 19th century. These are the main themes of Samajwadi Party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.

"The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines" proclaims the SP chief Mulayamsingh Yadav. There is not one person I know who has more grossly underestimated the role of technology in human civilization. I thought he was being funny when he said this. But I realized he is no Lalu. He does not joke. He was actually serious.

"A harvesting season brings employment for the labour class for at least six months but these harvesters (machines and technology on the farm) will snatch their earnings." So now I know. Studying those stupid subjects like Science and Technology was all a waste of time. The human progress from the stone age to the technology age was all in vain. People just didn't get it right! Alas.

"The salaries provided by private firms should be in sync with the minimum wages that have been set by the government. This is only the way to build up a strong national capital" - Classic, classic Socialism. Need I say more?

The SP will ensure stronger ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh. "The basic cause of terrorism lies in regional differences. The forums across the world which deal with the issue of terrorism work at the behest of America. If a government comes to power with our support, we will ensure that action is taken against communal powers (Read BJP, RSS and largely all Hindus in the country) and attack terrorism at its roots,"
Regional differences! Yeah, right. When a group of terrorist travel all the way from "distant lands" to attack your financial capital, bomb the trains, murder innocent people, it is all because of some 'Regional Differences'. Perfect interpretation of terrorism I must say! He should be acting as senior adviser to the Department of Homeland Security in US.

These are the ideas that can take a nation 50 years backward. Minority appeasement has taken such a dangerous form that now politicians are actually ready to be in bed with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Nothing can be more terrifying than such ideologies of politicians.

I wish this was all a belated April fool's prank. But unfortunately it is not. It is as real as it can get. And it will become a eternally lasting nightmare if the citizens of the country don't wake up and vote for making India a strong, developed and forward looking nation.

Different Colors of Manhattan

There are only two feelings you can have for this city. Either you love it or hate it. But it is very difficult to have the consistency in your feelings towards it. One day you hate it because of its narrow streets, ruthless cab drivers, noisy and dirty subways. But there are days when you just love the city for the very same reasons. The busy and happening streets, fast moving traffic, efficient subways and so on. The city has so many different colors and shades to itself. It's like a living organism. Breathing and thriving.

Out of all the boroughs of the city, I am most familiar with Manhattan. What makes Manhattan interesting is not only the skyscrapers that talk to the clouds. It is the people that make it fascinating. Just like I mentioned in one of my previous posts about the city, during the weekdays you get very typical views on the streets and sidewalks. The city is flooded with black suits and beautiful faces. Neat looks with fashionable looking accessories like leather bags and expensive watches. Busy executives who talk, walk and breath money. Aspirations and optimism floating in the air. Tense nervousness seen on the faces.

And as soon as the weekends come, the city is rid off black suits. And you see totally different scenes around you. Now the city is taken over by the tourists. Leather bags are replaced by Nikons or Sonys or Samsungs. Tense faces are replaced by relaxed ones wearing a variety of funky sun-glasses and hats. Dark suits are replaced by colorful tops and jeans. Leather shoes give way to sneakers. You can feel the change in the air. You can breath the relaxed atmosphere. Aspirations and anxiety take shelter in a moment of surrender. Surrender to sheer bliss of enjoying the beauty of the city. But you need eyes that can be soothed by this kind of beauty.

It is Monday tomorrow and I know what I am going to feel while walking towards the subway at 8am in the morning. (For those of you who care to know "Darn, it's Monday!" is what I will have in mind)

Image source: My Sony Cybershot H7 clicked about a month ago