Missing the voices!

I have been so busy with work lately, that it feels that I have been completely cut off from the world, which is weird because my job is to keep a tab on practically everything that goes on in the world. But then there is a world that I have been cut off from, which is my inner world. The voices within my head seem to have vanished, and I miss them.

Yes, I hear voices in my head, and I believe everyone does. I miss them, for most of the times these voices have been the voice of reason and some sanity in my life. When I don’t hear them, I seem to fall into an abyss from where it can take too much of an effort to pull myself out.

I think I am half way there inside the abyss; it is a stage where nothing matters anymore. To everything I start asking the same question--what difference would it make? And to each of them the answer is standard and slightly frightening – none whatsoever.

Right now I am trying hard to not fall further, but it seems a losing battle. This post is also part of an effort on my part to keep myself from falling further. Last week I bought myself a netbook, which I am using to write this post, under the unproven theory that shopping or indulging in something can make you snap out of depression and sadness.

Though, I don’t believe that I am sad or depressed, but one could argue the symptoms are similar. But alas, the shopping excursion didn’t work. This week I wanted to go out and buy myself a new blackberry, in the same hope. But even that thought was countered with the same response—what difference would it make?

So here I sit, writing this piece. There has never been a set formula for me to snap out of this phase. I am certain everyone goes through this, but this time mine has lasted a tad longer than the earlier ones. I wonder how long! I wonder!

A Large Erection

Now, now, all you erotic stories fans out there please turn away now, because this post is not going to be about that. Although, I admit, it would have been far more interesting to write one of those.

But what this is about is the fascination that some of the smaller, though richer, countries have about show of strength, show of capabilities and in most cases show of ego by erecting large structures on their lands.

Well I moved to this Southeast Asian country recently, which already boasts of one of the tallest constructions in the world, which are the tallest twin buildings in the world still. Yes I am talking about -- Petronas Twin Towers.

From 1998 to 2004, they were the world’s tallest buildings, only to be overtaken by Taipei 101, in Taiwan, another smallish nation in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean. Well, Taipei 101 was surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai earlier this year.

Now, it is worth mentioning that I moved to this country as a journalist, and in my close to 3 months here I have realized that the fascination with these large structures travels far and wide.

As I sit across from the twin towers on certain days, it is really amazing to watch people from all parts of the world do weird things in front of them. Taking weird pictures, sometimes arms wide open trying to engulf the whole structure, sometimes literally leaning in front of the structure, at times lying on the ground, so that he/she can get that perfect angle which will have his/her loved one and the entire structure in one frame.

It’s not an easy feat, I must tell you. Unless of course you have one of those really fancy cameras with wide and large lenses, although I am not quite sure if that works. But what I don’t get is why do people want to take these pictures? And then of course they go on and upload them on the numerous social networking sites, for their friends and loved ones to reply with futile stupidities like “Aweeeessooommme” or “amaaaaaaazing” et al.

I apologize I digress. What I wanted to say was there is more cheer in store for all these aficionados. The prime minister of the country I now live in has another one of these in store for them. In his last budget speech, believe it or not, apart from scraping taxes on lingerie and shampoo! He also announced that they will construct another one of those 100-storey buildings not too far from the twin towers. Why? That is something that I missed, may be because the speech was in the local language, although I had an English translated copy in my hands. The why part still eluded me somehow.

The next day, one of those investment banks with brokerage houses said it best I think (I don’t remember which one) – “Malaysia foregoes fiscal prudence for A Large Erection.”- But what I was more fascinated about was the general cheer it generated in the common public of the country.

At least five different people, including 3 taxi drivers, who I spoke to about the development, were practically over the moon. When coaxed further, they all basically said that these things add to the country’s honor. (How? Is again beyond me)

And mind you, these were not any ignorant people, because before the discussions got to the erection, there was always a quite elaborate and seemingly intelligent political debate, in which 3 of the 5 people denounced the current government, while two were skeptical about its chances of winning in the impending federal elections. (That is a larger discussion, and deserves a separate post I feel)

The fact of the matter is that there is a general feeling among most people that federal elections are imminent in the not so distant future. We were all expecting a populist budget, which is the norm in all the so called democratic countries (pseudo or otherwise), including tax breaks, may be more subsidies, but all we got was news of the Large Erection, and of course the tax cuts on lingerie.

And on top of that, a mere two months after the budget, the government cut subsidy on sugar and fuel, raising prices of two of the most essential commodities for the common man.

May be I need to learn and know more about the country that is my current home; may be tall buildings work better for general morale of a country before an election, or may be I just don’t understand politics at all. Any suggestions, or reasons, please feel free. What am I missing?

Surprise...Surprise!

After more than a year of deliberations, arguments, counter arguments, innumerable witnesses and apparently (read hopefully) other proof (most important according to media reports remained the confession, by the way!), a special court in India has decided to put Ajmal Amir Kasab to death, a conclusion that was foregone on November 30, 2008, probably earlier.

Kasab, one of the ten gunmen who visited Mumbai in November 2008 and killed scores of people in cold blood, has been sentenced to death on four counts, one of them being waging a war against India.

Now, I don't want to get into whether he should or should not have been given the sentence, primarily because I, despite living and working in the same city, wasn't really affected too much by the incident, at least not in the same way that many others were. So, basically I don't intend to hurt any person's, living or otherwise, feelings.

Although, I should say that the all prevailing sentiment, at least going by what media has been telling us during the last couple of days, has been catered to.

What I intend to talk about in this post is the farce we all have witnessed over the last 17 months or so preceding the judgement.

I am sure when the judge pronounced the sentence -- "To be hanged by the neck till death." -- there was much cheer in many a quarters in the country. But, was it really that unexpected.

Our home minister says, "We are satisfied that the trial of Kasab has ended in conviction. I compliment the investigating agencies and the prosecution for marshalling evidence that Kasab and his associates were guilty..."

Would he have had it any other way. The minister says the trial of Kasab underlined that India was a "country governed by rule of law." Really?

Let's go back to Mohammed Afzal Guru, who along with three others, was charged with planning the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. Supreme Court, the highest court in India, said in its judgement: "The incident which resulted in heavy casualty, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment will be awarded to the offender."

This, even as the court acknowledged that Afzal Guru was not a terrorist and they had no direct evidence against him. So, are we to gather that this is our rule of law, that it caters to "the collective conscience of the society."

The court, basically, said that since the parliament attack resulted in heavy casualty, it is not unfair to blame someone, even when we are not sure if he/she did it or not. "Nine persons including eight security personnel and one gardener succumbed to the bullets of the terrorists and 16 persons including 13 security men received injuries. The five terrorists were ultimately killed...," the supreme court judgement said.

So my point is, if a death toll of nine at that time was enough for the highest court in our country to overlook the "rule of law" and go by "the collective conscience of the society,"; how could we have it differently in the case of Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives.