The Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere fiasco during a trucker’s AIDS rally in India has taken a new twist with arrest warrants being issued for both of them. The incident involved Richard Gere kissing Shipla Shetty spontaneously several times on the cheek after dipping her while being egged on by the crowd. Protests had ensued, and the matter made international press (less for its serious journalistic value). A Jaipur magistrate issued the warrant in response to a PIL filled (public interest litigation). For me this event highlights the hypocrisy that is at the core of the Indian public treatment of sex and sexuality. I do not mind a few people protesting against their actions if they felt offended, but for the courts to get involved with criminal charges is a throwback to the medieval ages. I doubt if the same magistrate would issue warrants against half the film industry that publicly (in road shows and on screen) pelvic thrust and skin-show their way to glory.
I am not defending Mr. Gere’s actions, spontaneous as they were, he should have chosen a better location and audience. But, it seems that people are making a mountain out of a molehill. So he messed up, big deal, let him apologize and move on. It’s not like he had sex on the stage, or even kissed her on the lips for that matter. He got carried away, swooning and swooping Don Juan style, which he played out the part with dramatic effect on the stage, i.e. he probably thought he was doing what he was supposed to do as an actor. In most first world nations people would think it a bit odd, cute, or even a nice gesture. This was no wardrobe malfunction.
There are the “culture” police who show up every now and then to defend the “purity” of Indian “traditions” and “values.” Though I appreciate the gesture, their definition of culture, values and traditions are rather lacking, inconsistent and discriminatory. I consider myself to be a tad bit conservative, and yet this raises my ire to a great extent. Is my culture that fragile that a few cheek kisses by two film personalities would have any negligible affect? It insinuates that a culture developed and molded over a thousand years (and more) can be eliminated in a few decades. I’m not even going to talk about cultural evolution.
The bottom line is that the same people, who stand up saying they are protecting their “sisters” and “daughters” from the cruel exposures of bad culture, are busy plotting on how to get with the “sisters” and “daughters” of other people.
Oh, and quite frankly, the real audience at that event did not seem offended at all.
P.S.Three interesting hypothesis:
Education is inversely proportional to degree of culture policing
Number of children (unprotected sex?) is directly proportional to the degree of culture policing
Bad parenting directly proportional to the degree of culture policing
Where degree of cultural policing measures how extreme the persons involved are in protecting their ideas of culture, tradition and values.
P.P.S
I also just found out that sex between minors in India is defined legally as “abuse.” They should teach that in the non-existent sex-education (states are now banning it) classes in schools.
Links:
The kiss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcSduys-OdQ
The protest:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oMsUtQhgH4
The arrest warrants: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=85524
Friday, April 27, 2007
Arresting Public Displays of Affection
Monday, April 23, 2007
Can I reverse your polarity?
It amazes me how much of a role polarity plays in Science Fiction. Truly, ninety-percent of all technical problems are solved by "reversing the polarity" or "polarizing the" Apart from being a great potential drinking game, this staple term which is finally being made fun of by more recent shows, is a perfect example of mumbo jumbo that passes for science in Hollywood. Of course, I imagine when people do invent such gizmos they might find it easier to just call them what they have always called them since they were kids, warp drives, positronic brains, hyper-space, phasers, and photon torpedoes.
Asimov, we are indebted to your chaotic entropy and fluid inter-spacial sub-atomic influence, but your successors could use more ionic-ray particle therapy.
P.S.
Exchanging DNA in any form with aliens no matter how human they look is probably a BAD idea. In fact, touching aliens ANYWHERE is probably a BAD idea.
Spinning Skyscraper
Ever since my first trip to revolving restraint as a child, I have been waiting for the revolving skyscraper. Dubai as usual is the target site for this vertical innovation. It doesn’t matter that the city has endless horizontal expansion space; the need to reach for the clouds is embedded in its DNA. This new skyscraper planned as a “dynamic and green building” will have individual floors which will revolve independently of each other to the whimsies of the floor’s occupants.
Thus, theoretically they should be able to capture the sun rise and sun set and any other view they feel like at any point by a click of the switch, or as suggested by the article “voice activation.” I admire this architectural and civil engineering marvel. I do have three questions though:
a) If this thing is voice activated can it be programmed to IGNORE the voices of nine-year olds? (don’t even try and tell me a password would be enough)
b) I presume each floor would have many office/apartments and such. Are they planning to setup an arbitration court in house to handle all the fighting between the occupants?
I can also imagine this becoming a huge eye sore for people in the city after the initial glamour is over as while walking (or mostly driving in Dubai) on the streets you have a continuously moving object. Peripheral vision would become a nightmare. They are starting construction and the end of this year, with the intent of finishing in eighteen months. After that, it will come to a city near you.
Have a good look:
Friday, April 20, 2007
International Food Cravings
The problem with running around the world, and sampling the native foods (for purely survival needs of course, ;) ) is when you have random food and drink cravings they are hard to satiate. Just the other week I had cravings for San Francisco Oreo Cheese Cake & Sees Candy, German honey-waffle biscuits, UK scones (not the American ones), and coal baked Indian bread. Luckily, I was able to satiate two of those food cravings while jumping across Germany and India, but the other three were not satiated. Arguably multinationals and consmopolitization of the world have made many everyday commodities specific to one country available in the remotest parts of the globe, yet some things just don’t taste the same elsewhere such as coal baked Indian bread, or New York pancakes.
I remember finding a crate of Limca (Indian lemon softdrink) while in college in California. The twenty-four bottles in the crate were emptied out in a single night, partly my gorging, but mostly by the siege laid upon my room by other Indians (and Americans who had visited India) when they realized I had this treasure.
My solution so far has been to bombard my taste buds with a near substitute that keeps them quiet for a while, until I happen across that particular country, and then proceed to raid the local grocery store / restaurant.
Thinking of such passing food cravings made me glad for a few moments that I was not female, and would thus be quite unlikely to have the powerful pregnancy pangs. I shudder to think what would happen then, especially now that food across international borders is considered a bio-hazard to local flora and fauna, and is the number one priority of most developed nations (read powerful farmers' lobbies) above even child smuggling. (When is the last time someone asked you if you had any illegal children with you at customs? Or bomb making materials? Or skins of endangered animals?)
Right, now I must begin hunt for Oatmeal and Raisin Ginger cookies.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Real ID - Die! Die! Die!
It amazes me that most American's are clueless about the "Real ID" act that was passed (hidden in a war funding bill). The act enables the creation of a national identity card for all Americans replacing social security numbers and driving licenses as the IDs of choice. Of course this would create a national database which may or may not end up defining who you are, and of course all government agencies promise they won't abuse the ability to track your every move. Corporates will rejoice. The Real IDs were to be phased in through the local DMV offices.
Montana has decided that it will not stand for this sheer stupidity, and passed appropriate legislation to thwart the evil empire (if some one has their name and address please e-mail it to me, I have a bunch of proposals they maybe interested in). More on this can be found here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/04/18/news/state/54-legiid.txt.
This bit of news made my day. Apart from still being slightly ill, world events have been taken a toll on my faith in the "system."
Scary Efficiency
Frankfurt Airport:
This picture aptly demonstrates why German efficiency scares me. This single person is able to manage this stall which acts more like a mini restaurant serving hundreds of customers while providing freshly made brew.
This other picture hints at why this may not translate into higher wages and a better savings rate, not to mention it being a last ditch attempt to mug international travelers:
Dublin, Ireland
So, I've been sick for a while now, will get better soon, I'll spare you the details. (edited due to painful protests)
Photos from recent jaunt to
(Poison - No seriously, it was poison)
Nutrition (also sustenance and savior)
Tram/Tube/Rail system
Hang_out Place
Main StreetDo remember to take the Ghost Bus tour if you ever go to Dublin... it's rather fascinating.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Lubek - The instant vacation spot.
Had the lovely opportunity to visit Lubek over the weekend, and put my newly assigned car through its paces (it turns out to be an M series). The great part about the Grosshansdorf to Lubek route is the many unlimited sections on the freeway.
(Cr: http://gettingaroundgermany.home.att.net/zeichen.htm#speed und http://german.about.com/library/blauto_traf4.htm, I would have taken a picture myself but I was going too fast.)
The town of Lubek is rather small, but very picturesque. The castle and its accompaniments were built sometime in the 14-15 century, and the market roads are wonderfully cobbled. This was a rather spontaneous trip, and the person who I was with and I quickly discovered we were going to freeze to death. After a harrowing search for open shops (it was 5:30 pm) which including much cursing for the sudden vanishing of tourist traps (they sell souvenir sweatshirts around the world!), we found one store which was able to supply us with the bare essentials.
After this experience and the fact that it took a fraction of time to go to Lubek and back (you might have just gone from one end of the city to another elsewhere) I now support Germany seceding from the EU in case of an autobahn restriction.
Now if I only knew how to design a petition in German….
Lubek:
Brick/Cobbled street. What you can’t see is the amazing canal at the end of the street. I need a better camera! (easier to get than an eye)
