¡Qué Bien!

I spent a total of maybe 15 minutes talking to the Mexican cabr*n in Spanish. In that time, he had to translate 3 - 4 words for me, he corrected my tenses what seemed like a hundred times, taught me new slang and swear words and told me my accent resembled a strange Dutch Mexican mix.

*sigh*

But he also happened to say I need 2 months. Just 8 weeks in América Latina. ¡Qué bien!

Export Quality

No. 1 A grade high quality Toronto export
2 hours of ecstasy on July 4th, 2008

Why India rocks - No. 137

From today's NY Times online edition

"Consider Rewben Mashangva’s story. Twenty years ago Mr. Mashangva, a carpenter’s son, was at home in his tribal Naga village in neighboring Manipur state, near the border of Myanmar, when a friend came over, bearing Dylan cassettes. He played “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and to Mr. Mashangva, whose English remains broken, he explained the lyrics, line by line. Mr. Mashangva slowly fell in love. It was foreign music, to be sure, but how deeply it resonated with his landscape.

“So relevant to our area,” he remembered thinking. “No drum, nothing, just guitar. Paddy field. Cows. Looking at the buffalo. So matching our area.”

Full article here

Forward or back

The role of a woman in society has evolved and undergone what many may call radical change. In the developed world, although there are allegations of glass ceilings and male dominated board rooms, the woman as an individual in society is pretty much equal in the eyes of her society, in the eyes of the law and the constitution. Traditions which placed women at a disadvantage in some manner or those where the woman was referred to as an object for Men to hand over or exchange or play around with are non existent in the developed world. Sadly, that is not the case in many other countries, India being one of the foremost examples. Of course, Islamic countries have their own set of rules and laws but for the moment I will focus on how for over 4000 years, the Indian - Hindu woman has been manipulated in the name of religion, tradition, Hinduism and rituals.

I recently discussed the concept of kanya daan which comprises the woman being "given away" by her father to the bridegroom at the marriage ceremony. This ritual symbolises the superiority of the husband in the relationship; is meant to convey in no uncertain terms that the woman / daughter is a burden/gift and the father's greatest ever act of generosity is to give away his daughter to a suitable groom. Moreover, after some digging I learnt that in the Kanya Daan ceremony, the father (through of course the ubiquitous priests) requests the bridegroom to care for his daughter and hopes that he will treat her as an equal in the relationship. The operating word here of course is "hopes".

The concept of Kanya Daan is spoken about by none other than the big daddy of the Vedas. In the "Laws of Manu", written about 1500 BC, we are told to understand Kanya Daan. Of course Manu also goes on tell us about the caste system and how one would go to eternal hell if one were to kiss another belonging to a lower caste. Manu also tells us a lot more arrant nonsense and rubbish which any society with common sense, morals and a shred of liberty will reject completely. And indeed, I am proud to say that after hundreds of years of practices like "Sati'', polygamy, devdasis etc, many laws have been framed to weed out the more barbaric of Manu's suggestions or divine words whichever way you want to interpret it. We got rid of Sati mainly thanks to the Brits; we have laws which forbid the caste system mainly thanks to Ambedkar but we weren't able to get around ritualistic zealotry simply because religion in India is enshrined in a no man's land. A holy grail which neither legislators nor judiciary can tread on with too much authority.

But wait a minute, we aren't talking about laws to rid ourselves of symbols such as "kanya daan". Instead what one would hope for would be a larger public consciousness wherein people, young & old alike realise that humanity as a whole has progressed to a more evolved state of being and will accept that while some symbols are important, ones that involve blatant throwbacks to rituals dating 4000 years need to be re-examined. Follow symbols by all means but don't be unmindful of what they represent, their interpretations. Hindu rituals paint the woman / daughter as Goddess Lakshmi, but yet at the same time these rituals see it fit for the parents to wash the feet of the bridegroom and plead with him to look after their daughter. What can be the interpretation of this symbol? Where is room for equity and liberty?

I could go on but will end here. This is further validation of my opinion that the Geeta is in fact the foremost of Hindu scriptures. I am not sure if there was a point to this post, but sometimes catharsis follows strange paths. Much like sitting at the bottom of a dry well with a baseball bat. But that's a story for another day.

Version 3.0

New Firefox version is out. There is even a Gujarati version but no Hindi! Muahaha! G-U-J-J-U! Now maybe all UP, Bihar and other miscellaneous Hindi zealots will burn effigies of a reddish brown fox and block trains from Jabalpur to Buxar. Contact Gujjars for tips. Or better yet Bal Thackeray may depute some of his "Hindu Suicide Squads" . Of course he has since retracted this claim and said he was misinterpreted.

But I stray as usual. Firefox. 3. Try it. Don't burn any foxes or effigies.

Believe

I recently read an article by Haruki Murakami titled, "Pain is Inevitable, Suffering Optional". The acclaimed author talks about his passion for long distance running and much more. I won't attempt to recreate any of his article here but I think, in true cosmic timing, that article came at the right moment in time. I had decided to run a full marathon, put up training schedules but couldn't focus on the training. I put it down to a burning reason to train. Marathon training is not an easy thing and above all, you need to have a reason to train every day, regardless of the pain you feel. I have reaffirmed my reasons for running.

Equally importantly, one has to simply accept that pain is an inevitable part of this process, much like it is with so many other things we do in life. If we are prepared for that pain, then our suffering is at least mitigated.

Status Check: As of today I am comfortably running 10 KM in under 1 hour. I feel good & strong. The pain of course is very, very real. I feel my shins, ankles and leg muscles mutely protesting even now after last evening's 10 K. But now I am back where I was last December. I now believe. And that's half the work done. Bring on the pain.

Say No - World No Tobacco Day

http://www.thetruth.com/facts/usefulcig/index.cfm

The below from this Wiki link

Contrary to their perception, smokers do not receive a boost from smoking a cigarette: smoking only relieves the withdrawal symptoms from the previous cigarette, which in turn creates more withdrawal symptoms once it is finished. In this way the drug addiction perpetuates itself (in fact Carr, together with others in the medical profession, believes this is the underlying mechanism of all drug addiction). He asserted that the "relief" smokers feel on lighting a cigarette, the feeling of being "back to normal", is the feeling experienced by non-smokers all the time. So that smokers, when they light a cigarette are really trying to achieve a state that non-smokers enjoy their whole lives. He further asserted that withdrawal symptoms are actually created by doubt and fear in the mind of the ex-smoker, and therefore that stopping smoking is not as traumatic as is commonly assumed, if that doubt and fear can be removed.

At Allen Carr Clinics during quit smoking sessions, smokers are allowed to continue smoking while their doubts and fears are removed, with the aim of encouraging and developing the mindset of a non-smoker before the final cigarette is even extinguished. A further reason for allowing smokers to smoke while undergoing counselling, is that Carr believed it was more difficult to convince a smoker to quit, until they understood the mechanism of "the nicotine trap". This is because their attention is diminished while they continue to believe it is traumatic and extremely difficult to quit and maintain the belief that they are dependent on nicotine.

Another assertion, unique to Allen Carr's method is that willpower is not required to quit smoking. This is because it takes no willpower to stop doing something that an individual has no desire to do, which is the realization smokers come to once their doubt and fear about stopping has gone. When this is combined with the understanding that the actual physical withdrawal from nicotine is so inconsequential as to be minor and therefore almost insignificant, it enables smokers to finally break free. Smokers using willpower who do not come to these realizations, allow the mental "withdrawal" or anguish to overpower them, resulting in physical manifestations (e.g. sweaty palms, panic feelings, irritation, flushes etc.). It is precisely because many smokers believe these symptoms are caused by lack of nicotine (i.e. physical withdrawal) and not by their psychological dependency and feeling of deprivation, that they are not successful at quitting.

His contention was that fear of "giving up" is what causes the majority of smokers to continue smoking, therefore necessitating the smoker's perpetuation of the illusion of genuine enjoyment, as a moral justification of the inherent absurdity of smoking in the face of overwhelming medical and scientific evidence of its dangers.

Kick It

In Singapore over the weekend, I went to a trendy bar with the gang and didn't come out smelling, tasting and feeling like a charred ash tray after an all night house party. I felt normal; no distant sensation of aching chest and my breath was as it should be, no mild gasping on the long, brisk walk over a few blocks for coffee after.

Smoking is prohibited across most bars, restaurants and cafés in Singapore. And as a result, not even the smokers carry cigarettes with them. Every time we went out I never got a whiff of cigarette smoke and I felt much the better for it. I am all for personal freedom and liberty and all that what; but maybe this smoking ban does serve a purpose after all. I now dread the thought of walking into Tavern on a Saturday night or Koshy's on a Sunday afternoon...

21.09 to 42.19

Almonds, eggs, sweet potatoes, whole grain cereals, Oranges, black beans, mixed greens, salmon, whole grain bread, stir fry veggies, pasta, dark chocolate and low fat yoghurt. Along the way I hope there will be Yoga too.

A little over 7 months to go. May the force be with me.