Friday, July 14, 2006

A white rainbow

Who has the right to strip off the jewelry and forbid the widows, the unfortunate victims of circumstances, from wearing bindi and colored clothes? Is the ancient custom responsible for marking these victims as 'inauspicious' or the blind followers of certain dogmas? Why are these individuals refrained from attending various occasions? Just because a female lost her husband, does that mean that she should keep a full stop to her happiness? The heartbreaking fact is that this scenario prevails even in this century. Is it believable that there exists a place full of ostracized widows? Vrindavan, the land of lord Krishna, is popularly known as the land of widows.

White rainbow, the film by Dharan Mandrayar, handles this social problem in detail. Dharan describes Vrindavan as the place deprived of happiness and colors.

“ Na koi kushi…
Na koi rang…
Sirf safedh our dukh……….”


The movie moves around four widows, the dynamic Priya, the senile Roop, the disfigured Mala and sexually exploited Deepti. Upon learning of her husband’s sudden death, Priya miscarries her baby; her tragedy compels her to move to Vrindavan where she meets Roop, Mala and Deepti. On seeing the way the widows are treated, she attempts to bring in some change in the lives of these socially deprived women. And, in the process, their transformation takes hold.

Having this as the theme, the movie unveils various hardships faced by the widows and the abysmal life they lead. For instance a visual in which an old woman sitting outside the stinking gents’ loo for just pouring water mars our heart saying that this is the reality. Issues like Sexual exploitation, physical brutality, social inauspiciousness etc were also handled appropriately. Finally the movie ends with the belief that the society will accept these women. In a nutshell, this is the movie to instigate some thought about the deprived widows in the minds of the people.

- Diwakar

Facts: (source-Hindustan Times)
- According to the 1991 census there were 33 million widows in India
- In the age group over 60 years, 64% widows have a pension of only Rs 100-500
- There are around 16,000 widows in Vrindavan alone.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Orkut-ting..................

Orkut- the recent network service that has almost created a revolution among the youngsters in this internet world. Is Orkut- a boon or a bane? For a person like me, a bench sitter in a mechanical company (though may sound new- but true), its a boon. What can i do other than orkutting?

Wickepedia says that "Orkut" is named after its creator, Google employee, Orkut Büyükkökten. What should i call him? - an altruist, a social worker or might have been a bench sitter himself. Scraps, communities, fans, hot list, crush list...what not?? In short, orkutting has become a part of life..... the next thing to browse after the mailbox.

Furthermore, playing frivolous games like a kid and vaunting by having higher no of friends..wow what can bring in such a pleasure? When my smart friend received 80% sexy rating and the other one with 100% sexy has ragged him to an extent that the former started bribing people with alcoholic drinks for the sake of the rating. Isn't this interesting?

So let us continue orkutting ......................

- Diwakar

MARIJUANA - 18 GRAMS

First, before I start - SHAME on RVD and Sabu, who were busted in Ohio recently. Troopers who caught the duo, found them in posession of 18 gms Marijuana, 5 Vicodin, 9 painkillers and a pipe used to smoke pot. RVD who was the WWE and ECW champion should have known better. It is DISGUSTING that the champion place the WWE in such an embarrasing situation. RVD has placed the company in a situation where the very future of ECW is in straits. Before I am lambasted from all sides, and am told that RVD and Sabu need such drugs to negate pain, just one question - what would happen to YOUR job, if you were caught in posession of drugs? Shame on the WWE's inconsistent wellness talent program. RVD suspended 1 month and Sabu fined $1000 - RIDICULOUS. And I presume both are going to be pushed hard on their return. PHILLY ROCKS. Way to go dudes.........MARIJUANA 18 GRAMS.........Wow!! Can happen only in E C DUB!!!
Anyway, this begs a much more important question - should Marijuana be banned in the first place? Let us have a look at the effects (immediate and long term, as well as how lethal the drug is)
Source - wikipedia
Cognitive effects
Varying amounts of paranoia and anxiety in some users[16]
Loss of coordination and distorted sense of time [17]
Impairment of short-term memory in some users
Auditory or visual hallucinations at high doses in some users
Induced sense of novelty
Increased awareness of sensation
Increased mental activity
Relaxation or stress reduction

Behavioral effects
Varying degrees of euphoria and feelings of well-being
Initial wakefulness followed by drowsiness and lassitude ("burnt out")
Gain or loss of some inhibitions

Physiological effects
Anti-emetic properties (in moderate doses) [18]
Enhancement of many other drug effects
Lowered intraocular pressure
Increased blood flow and heart rate (tachycardia)
Reddening or drying of eyes
Lower blood pressure while standing. Higher blood pressure while sitting
Increased appetite (often referred to as "the munchies")
Mild, temporary dry mouth
Induces drowsiness

Lethal Dose :It is generally considered to be impossible to achieve a lethal overdose by smoking cannabis.There has only ever been one recorded verdict (although not ultimately upheld) of fatal overdose due to cannabis. In January 2004, Lee Maisey of Pembrokeshire, Wales was found dead. The coroner's report stated "Death due to probable cannabis toxicity". It had been reported that Maisey smoked about six joints a day.

Long term effects :

There is little conclusive scientific evidence about the long-term effects of human cannabis consumption.[23] The findings of many earlier studies purporting to demonstrate the effects of the drug are unreliable and generally regarded as junk science, as the studies were flawed, with strong bias and poor methodology. The most significant confounding factor is the use of other drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, by test subjects in conjunction with cannabis. When subjects using only cannabis were combined in the same sample with subjects using other drugs as well, researchers could not reach a conclusion as to whether their findings were caused by cannabis, other drugs or the interaction between them. In addition, research using cannabis is heavily restricted in many countries, making it difficult to get new studies funded or approved. Since there are so many different compounds in cannabis, it is difficult to predict or accurately measure its effects.
Some conclusions established with some degree of certainty, however, are that cannabis is less likely to cause emphysema or cancer than tobacco.

With this background, it is ridiculous to enforce a blanket ban on Marijuana. The punishment for posession of less than 100 grams is a mere fine. Surely that tells us how frivolous the punishment.is. With insufficient evidence on the dangers of marijuana and effects that are comparable to alcohol / nicotine, it is hgh time this drug is legalized.

But until then, GO PHILLY!!!!

- Hari