Mockery of justice once again.

A public interest litigation filed by one Mr. Ramesh Chand Tripathi in the Supreme Court has been decided in his favour. Apparently, Mr. Tripathi wants the Lucknow court to defer its verdict on Ayodhya because he feels that this might lead to communal riots. Where's the logic in this, Mr. Tripathi? All you have achieved is a delay in the final verdict on this festering matter.
It is a contempt of court according to me. I am no legal expert, even by the remotest stretch of imagination. But I still feel this way. Appealing to one court to stall another court is just a cheap trick, I am afraid to say. Why do I say it is contempt of court? Because stalling one judgement out of the fear of communal riots means not believing in the fact that law and justice are above everything else. EVERYTHING ELSE, mind you. I wish the Supreme Court had asked Tripathi to mind his own business than give him a patient hearing.
This has all gone into another endless loop, I am afraid. A loop that has extended over five decades already. Why can't we end this meaningless loop and get on with more important issues that face the country?

Just yesterday lakhs of Ganesh idols were immersed into rivers all across the country. As I understand, this is done to signal to the devotee that s/he should not get irrevocably attached to God in the form of an idol and rather look inwards for the existence of God. Exactly for this purpose, the idols are supposed to be made of clay. Earth, that is. That which is indestructible. And then we allow the whole country of over a billion people to be held ransom over one STRUCTURE?

Too much information - is it dangerous?

There is so much information on the net. Too much, I sometimes feel.
Its not just the sheer amount of information that bothers me. Its the accessibility and more, its usability that is causing me stress.
We have heard this before now - children can complete their school projects by clicking a few sites here and there and downloading the information that they want. Its a different matter that all projects from a class must be looking alike.
What you want to know? Whatever it is - just Google it. That's the way to go about gathering information now.
My stress has gone up a few notches since I came back from Shivpuri (near Rishikesh) having conducted a staff training program for the outdoor safety instructors from Snow Leopard Adventures, Delhi. Two instances stand out in my mind.
We were talking about safety aspects when dealing with adventure activities that involve ropes and mainly- HEIGHT. The topic veered around to the use of ascenders (commonly called Jumar) and then went on to using a prusik knot. I spent better part of one full day explaining the intricacies of a prusik knot and its do's and dont's to the group.
On another day, we had a session about snakes. I mean - safety aspects regarding snakes and snakebite on an outdoor site. I wished I could have shown them live examples and given them an opportunity to actually handle a snake but that was not possible. So I had to make do with a whiteboard (and the participants had to make do with my horrendous sketching skills!) Obviously, the key topic was identifying whether a snake is poisonous or not.
After I was back in Pune, I did some searching around on the net on these two topics and was swamped by some thousands of websites, blogs, e-forums etc. that provided every bit of useful and useless information on these critical topics.
What would happen if someone who has half-cooked knowledge reads all the information and makes a decision whether a snake is poisonous or not? I shudder to imagine the consequences. for example - here is the description of a Russel's Viper from the internet - (sourced from Wikipedia)

Corruption-wealth Games

Once again, the powers-that-be of my beloved country leave me surprised. The good part is, I am left pleasantly surprised.
Two top aides of the Corruption-in-Chief, Suresh Kalmadi, were sacked today post the findings of an investigation committee. This leads the already much-beleaguered Commonwealth Games further into a morass. Maybe not. After all the mess that these fellows have created, what worse could they have done? But no, thanks. They have been sacked.
Firstly, why am I surprised? Simply because while I have followed the media hollering about the malpractices going on in the preparations leading upto the CWG, I had always feared that all this will be pushed under the carpet. It is easy to play emotional blackmail with us Indians. All that one has to say is - "You see, the Games are just two months away. Why don't we all join hands (Ahem!) and make the Games successful. Our country's prestige and image depends on that. Once the Games are over, we will surely investigate all matters and all those guilty will be punished." In fact, they already had said something to the similar effect. It is another matter that some cynical Indians (me included, of course) never believe such lip service.
After all, the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Pune last year were a disaster. Did anyone get punished? No. The main road that is close to where I stay is STILL BEING BUILT AFTER THREE YEARS!!!!!!! The stadiums are still in a pathetic conditions. They WERE pathetic even when the Youth Games were on. So how do you expect anything different to happen in the BIG Commonwealth Games? All the more, when the man behind these two events is the same? Kalmadi, of course.
Now now now. There are some little glitches in the whole thing, isn't it? The so-called "investigation committee" was ordered by none other than Suresh Kalmadi himself. Which is like the robber cleaning up the safe, then borrowing the whistle from a cop and blowing it hard, yelling, "THIEVES, THIEVES, THIEVES. Help, Help, HEEEEEEELLLPPP!"
Anyways, now that someone has been sacked, what are the possible scenarios?

Octopus Paul becomes TV host

The mass hysteria that Octopus Paul has created amongst football fans worldwide has to be given due consideration. (Not to speak of the jealousy caused to millions of octopuses in the ocean). Keeping this, and viewers' interests in mind, it would be only appropriate if Paul also hosts the pre-match show tomorrow. Mayanti Langer can have a day off. Here's a sneak preview...