Google - Blogger.com are upto something.

They are upto maliciously downgrading Internet Explorer.

Run this small test.

Use IE
Goto: http://deeptalks-tech.blogspot.com/.
Click on comments: For me it is taking on an average 5 mins to load the page.

Use FireFox
Goto: http://deeptalks-tech.blogspot.com/
Click on comments: Loaded with in one second.

I might not be an expert - but on the same connection, same laptop, same load (FireFox has a major memory leak, the size keeps growing), IE takes 5 mins to load a page while FF 1 sec? Common who is kidding people here; it can never be that IE is so slow. There is a deliberate delay loop or incompatibility code written for IE. Well who is following unfair rules in competition? Why doesn't blogger.com advertise that the site is best loaded ONLY in FF (Google's subsidiary).

Good luck Google.

President - 2008 prediction

We have host of entries into the race for presidency.

Good things first - Dick Cheney aka (Evil Genius) is not going to be running from the Republican party. He knows too - that he has done enough evil already to America.

From Republican side, we have Rudd Giuliani and John McCain as the front runners and from the Democrats Hillary Clinton (woman) and Barack Obama are the leads.

Lets get into the primaries. It is not so interesting on Republican side - but the buzz on the Democratic front is noisy.

Who do you think (Democrats of) America will nominate as a challenger in 2008? Who do I think will be nominated?

Hillary Clinton - White, Woman
Barack Obama - Black, Man

Important four words are these. America, though the oldest democracy, still has prejudice and pride in a few things; White and Man. On the Democrats side, their faith and choice will be put to test. They have choose between a Man and a Woman, a Black and a White. Now for those who have concluded my writing is bogus at this point - and not worth to be read further, I am not going to stop you from leaving :) the site.

For those who are still here, we still know that racism & sexism exists in the highest level/cadre of American politics. It exists in every common (wo)man. The simplest example for racism in modern day America was Katrina. Most of the whites were evacuated from New Orleans. Blacks left to fend for themselves.

The examples for sexism (Man over Woman) are plenty. Too many to list. All over the world, including America, women are thought to be 'Bed and Breakfast'. She is there to bed and to get the breakfast ready. I read in MSNBC forums netizens quoting, Hillary does not know how to bake a cookie! Common these are folks of the most advanced nation and they still associate woman with cookies.

Digressing, folks a woMAN contains a MAN inside her.
A WOmb carrying a male child, MAN, becomes a WOMAN.
A WOmb carrying a female child, WOMAN, who can carry a male child later, will be considered as a WOMAN too.
A bit of recursion here as in Computer Science (Compile Design Lexical Patterns, Forward Referencing).
The point is, a Woman is as capable as a Man.

Now why in the world is a woman inferior in worldly aspects, I am unaware. Agreed they are not good at directions ( :) they need a GPS), but men are not good at cleaning/tidying up! There are things which one is good at and not good at.

From time immemorial - Da Vinci Code - women have been prosecuted and promulgated as inferior personality. So as I said before, now America is really at the cross roads - White or Black, Man or Woman.

So America has to choose between the lesser of two evils. What are the evils in the above four choices, Black & Woman. Yes the Americans will choose the lesser evil, Woman. Isn't that what happened in Louisiana? Remember the race for Governor between Kathleen Blanco and Bobby Jindal. Who got elected? Kathleen.*#*. We know why, because Bobby was colored, brown skin, of Indian (Asian subcontinent) descent - so called 'macaca' as eulogized by our exemplary senator George Allen.

So one job is made easy. Out goes the Black - the Woman stays for the second round.
* Just to let you know about the amount of racism, even this site, blogger.com (owned by google), does not have Barack Obama's name in their dictionary. When I mis-spelt Giuliani's name the spell check tool gave me options of correcting, while for Obama's name it lists as a incorrect spelling - bad luck. Isn't this the simplest yet powerful irony of America*

Now Americans again thank God for 'small mercies'. You know why! Because the woman, the evil in the race between a Man (Republican) and Woman (Hillary Clinton), for the President - 2008, will be defeated.

Hence by the stroke of negative strike outs, the status-quo to America will be restored. There will be a White, Man President for America.

I would be pleasantly surprised if this is not the outcome.

*#*
(I am unable to make any good interpretation of why Kerry Healey lost to Deval Patrick - perhaps Massachusetts is quite liberal)

Mehdi Hassan - Youn Zindagi Ki Rah mein

Mehdi Hassan's 'Youn Zindagi ki raha mein'

Youn Zindagi ki raha mein
Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin
Ek roshaniee andherein mein bhikaragaya koin
Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin

Wo hadasa, wo pehli mulakat kya kehein
Kitani ajaab thae sooratein halaat kya kehein
Wo kaher, Wo gazab, Wo jaffa mujko yaad hai
Wo uski berukhi ki adaa mujhein ko yaad hai
Mitatha nahin hain zehn-se, youn chagaya koin

Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin

Pehele wo mujhko dekh kar, barham si hogayi
Pehele wo mujhko dekh kar, barham si hogayi
Phir apanae hi haseen khayaloan mein khogayi
Bechargi pein meri, usae rehem aagaya
Shayaad mere tadapnae ka andaaz aagaya
Sasoan sein bhi karib, mera aagaya koin

Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin

Ab usae dileya tabah-ki halaat na puchiyae
Ab usae dileya tabah-ki halaat na puchiyae
Benam aarazoo ki lazzat na puchiyae
Ek ajnabi tha rohoon ka, armaanae bangya
Ek hadasa tha pyar ka, unvawne bangya
Manzil ka rastha mujhe dhikla gaya koin


Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin
Ek roshanien andherein mein bhikaragaya koin
Youn Zindagi ki raha mein takara gaya koin

Sex - Rape - Child Abuse - Marriage, acceptance

This is a difficult topic but I am trying to connect the dots here. I could very well be WRONG; and I would be glad to be corrected. As said, this is just an opinion - but it is a theory which I want throw out - seeing if it makes sense.

As Benjamin Graham said, no (financial) analysis is ever complete and through until it the analyst writes down the steps and calculations of the company.

Sex: Exhilarates most :) - I mean the union of couples, not the fill in the blank on the forms. In most civilizations, during inception and nascent stages atleast, my belief is that a man and a woman (no disrespect to the new combinations of man-man and woman-woman, this discussion applies to them as well) entered a wedlock as virgins. The chastity of the partner mattered. This is true in many civilizations/religions even today. MSNBC carried an article about Muslim women in France are trying to 'gain back virginity' - or atleast fake it during their wedding night because their in-laws were particular. It is a very prevalent custom (socially) in India that the boy and girl are virgins before marriage. If by chance there was sex between a couple, then it is sort of a moral/civil obligation to get married. If the society finds out about the premarital sex then they force the marriage.

In the western society, there has been a graduation - in the sense that, premarital sex is not considered as a taboo between marriageable partners. Virginity does not matter. This is ofcourse only in some strains of Christian-ism, not all. Some sub sects still cherish the concept of virginity.

Now let us see the consequences of Rape and its further dealings in the society. First, Indian society. A person who is raped (most cases female) is generally seen with a kaleidoscope in the eyes of the public. The outward view is the empathy; people sympathize with the person who was violated and expect the rapist to be condemned (Mannu Sharma and Jessica Lal case - with great struggle was the conviction given - Indian legal system is hopeless and that requires another huge discussion). The inner view of the people on the victim is that the person is no longer marriageable. In the sense, their family will not accept the victim as a future member. Hypocrisy - yes, but it is the society as a whole, hence it is an accepted norm. Hence the raped usually live alone in the society and their family feels the brunt. Families trying to hide the incident (rape) ever happened is also known; primarily in the fear of being social outcast. Re-marriage of widow(er) is connected, which I will try to address a little later.

American ways of dealing with rape is different. The violated person takes the legal way, and this person is sympathized with. Justice is usually met out. The raped, then go on to lead a normal life, in the sense they are taken back into the society - atleast in most circles. People and society do not redflag the person and ostracize them. As a normal person probably, the affected fall in love and marry and lead a happy life. This is very commendable.

I would categorize Child Abuse in the same light as rape, but even more unfortunate. The abused do grow up and move on. I guess Teri Hatcher and Kelly McGillis (Top Gun) are a testimony to this resolve to fight and live.

So now here is the connection. Finally!
The Americans are open to non-virginity in their spouses. They have grown up to the fact that sex is another step of interaction, more intimate, amongst a man and woman. Any person has the right to fall in and fall out of love, and having sex with their lovers is common. Since virginity is not an issue, they (partners) accept a person who is raped or abused. Because it was not the victims fault. So, I deduct that, having an open stance towards virginity and sex leads to the greater good, that is acceptance of the raped and abused in the society.

Now back to India. With the advent of BPO, the workforce and society in India has changed. In Chetan Bhagat's book 'One Night at a Call Center', the author talks about various issues as well as the rampant sex between the workers. Long nights, cover of darkness, frustration on the foreigner (videshi) who yelled at them on the phone during support and other reasons entice the colleagues to go out for the proverbial 'quickie'. The evidence is the finding of condoms on the stairwells and toilets of the BPO companies. In the recent past at the GE BPO unit, the whole drainage system was clogged and when dug up the plumbers unearthed the reason, condoms clogging the drainage. The constant 'buzz' in the staircases of ITPL, Bangalore at night where there are plenty of BPO units are all the testimonies towards a rapidly 'forward' moving culture.

Ofcourse it is a heresy in the families but it is common and fashion now-a-days in BPO cities; Bangalore, Pune, Delhi etc. So in my view, no longer are the partners in India insistent on the virginity of the partners, though their family still expect it as the unwritten law of the land.

1 + 1 is always 2 and their daughter or son in law is a virgin before marriage.

In India as I said the raped and abused victim are silently ostracized - primarily because of the loss of virginity. Now with sex becoming common and being accepted in a partner, can we hope that the raped and abused people will be more accepted for a normal life in the future. Will this 'assurance' give them the will to publicize the abuses they have faced, instead of sweeping it under the carpet. Previously the affected families of the raped, used to give into the society and force the marriage between the rapist and raped. Even though they knew that the rapist is a moral lowlife scum, they were forced to give the hand of the raped to the rapist - as no body else would marry the raped - as the raped is no longer a virgin. Now with the emboldened attitude of the younger generation, will the effrontery in the parents grow on the fact that their child need not be handed over to the rapist in marriage, but there is hope to find an understanding spouse in the future - as no longer virginity an issue.

As I said this is all just a guess from my side. So for all those who say that India is losing the culture (and virginity) because of BPO, there is something which it might be gaining too, a better life for the abused persons of the society.

The re-marriage of widow(er) is slightly different. The re-marriage is in most cases a marriage of convenience, where the new couples have lost their ex-spouses and now they need some body. In some cases the marriage is between unequals - where a rich man with a couple of young children will marry someone from the very poor family , thus giving a life to a girl else she would have probably married another poor person. These combinations are plenty - but as I said they are more of a convenience.

Let us see what Sex brings to India in the future.