97 year old gets sentence for "life"!

Last updated on: February 21, 2008 at 8:53 pm By Desh Kapoor

Getting a life sentence is the second worst thing to death penalty in the crime punishment hierarchy. The idea is that you are restrained for the rest of your life to do anything outside of those four walls. Your crime was grave enough to warrant such harsh treatment but a little less than one that would lead you to death. For most its a befitting to wipe out the entire life for some heinous crime. Whatever the thinking behind a life sentence punishment, they did not have a 83 year old in mind who would keep contesting the case for 14 years before getting a life sentence at age 97!! This hot-headed old man of 83 ripe years killed his neighbor, Surjit Kaur for a dispute over a vegetable garden! Given the size of properties in Punjab, I wonder how big a "garden" would they have had to warrant killing your neighbor? Read more

Blu Ray KO'ed HD DVD

Last updated on: February 21, 2008 at 7:41 pm By Desh Kapoor

Electronics world has been a fight on formats, where the winner takes the spoils. Last battle was fought for the Video recording at its inception. VHS (Video Home System) from JVC vs Betamax of Sony. VHS beat the Sony version, although the JVC format also had some technology components from Sony. Read more

Thousand-handed Goddess

Last updated on: February 21, 2008 at 4:10 pm By Desh Kapoor

What a breath-taking picture! It intrigued me that this represents a Goddess based on Buddhist tradition. Now, there seems to be some disconnect, as original Buddhism did not go into Gods and Goddesses as it was more about a "personal God". So, this seems to be more of a Hinduism-Buddhism mashup somewhere along the line. In any case, the dance must have been beautiful as the picture is. Read more

Today's Song: Mujhe Gale Se Laga Lo by Asha Bhonsle

Last updated on: February 21, 2008 at 1:42 pm By Desh Kapoor

Mujhe Gale se laga lo from the movie "Aaj aur Kal" sung by Asha (Music by Ravi & lyrics by Sahir) This is a beautiful song. It somehow captures the pathos of a girl who is need of love.. can see it in front of her but cannot get it. She takes the courage to ask her beloved but cannot assert. The extent and the power of her longing, need, and passion is so understated and graceful in its articulation and rendering. This song also shows the great talent of Asha Bhonsle's voice. It had a lot of power in its understated rendering. Read more

Easy to move your mail to YahooMail

Last updated on: February 21, 2008 at 5:12 am By Desh Kapoor

Do you have an email account with Hotmail or any other service and want to move it to yahoo mail? There is an official way to do that. Use Trueswitch to move your addresses, calendars, and mails as well as notify all your contacts. Try it out. Read more

Busharraf – betting on the wrong horse or the Rider took the horse down?

Last updated on: February 20, 2008 at 4:58 pm By Desh Kapoor

Musharraf's party lost terribly. Rejected by people. But Mushy was backed solidly by the US. So, did he lose because US backed him. Or did he lose anyway and US was backing the wrong guy? Given US' history of foreign policy its probably the latter. Read more

Autism: a lid to immense beauty and intelligence!

Last updated on: February 20, 2008 at 6:42 am By Desh Kapoor

Different is bad. Conformity is good. Anything that is not according to our way of life is a negative thing! For example, there are many people who suffer from Autism - a learning diability. A recent Indian movie - Taare Zameen Par - dealt with it. The level and degree of this disorder could vary. Sometimes, the kid may not even be able to speak and behave in a manner that is not considered "normal". Just this gets that kid the label of "mentally retarded"! What if such a person really has a bright and articulate mind, but the tongue and the body cannot help and be good conduits?? Would our arrogance almost destroy a life? Read more

Today's Song: Aurat Ne Janam Diya Mardon Ko by Lata

Last updated on: February 19, 2008 at 8:22 pm By Desh Kapoor

Aurat ne janam diya from the movie "Sadhana" sung by Lata (Music by N Datta & lyrics by Sahir) This is by far the most telling commentary on men's lust by a poet. Sahir's use of religious undertones from both, Hinduism and Islam, while he himself was an atheist, is very amazing and used with great effect. I have included the lyrics below for their use both in English and Hindi lipi. aurat ne janam diyaa mardoN ko, mardoN ne use baazaar diyaa jab ji chaahaa maslaa kuchlaa, jab ji chaahaa dutkaar diyaa aurat ne janam diyaa mardoN ko Read more

God is a demonstration of Ignorance!

Last updated on: February 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm By Desh Kapoor

We have a need to belong. To look for support. Because basically and inherently we are afraid of our ownselves. We cannot deal with being alone in this world. Through our lives we get to realize the temporary nature of the relationships and of everything material. Even happiness and joy. So, we look for that everlasting Utopian "friend" or companion. Also, in our attempt to justify our deeds, our hypocrisy.. we need a accomplice. Someone we can USE as our justification. Whether it is through the use of that magic word called Morals or through the use of a "scripture". We need a legitimacy to our hypocrisy. Concept of "God" fits the bill perfectly. God is the grossest expression of infinite and omniscience there ever could be! When the infinite reality of a wave is collapsed into the finite possibility of "a" particle and we then "experience" it as reality, our world is born. We try our lives to understand the interplay of such finite possibilities. What our observation leaves out are Infinite - 1 possibilities which also constitute reality! In our arrogance, we use whatever knowledge we have of interplay of this ONE possible dimension and extrapolate it to rest of Infinite - 1 part of reality and claim we know the "Truth"! If there was ever a testament to man's egotistic hypocrisy, then God is at the top of that heap! Read more

Conservative Republican world: Foxes guard the hens!

Last updated on: February 19, 2008 at 6:05 pm By Desh Kapoor

Look at this resume of this Republican politician in the US. He is considered a political moderate, has sponsored bills this year dealing with minors, including the Child Protection From Predators Act and a proposal to collect DNA samples from sexual predators. For decades, he has been involved in youth athletics and children's groups, according to his General Assembly biography. He has served in officer positions in two Little League groups and as secretary of a parent and child center advisory committee. He is a former chaplain for the Hagerstown Jaycees and is a trustee and community services chairman at First Christian Church. Impressive? huh! But he resigned from his post as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, a child mentorship program where he has worked for 29 years. Why?? Read more