Redemption of a passion.

After a sizeable gap of around 5 years, here I'm back to blogging. Why, return is a pertinent query, add to this the fact that I've stayed away from this blog for 5 long years (admittedly, even forgetting about this blog for a while). I must confess upfront this desire for a return arose from a deep sense of perverse (if i may say so) nostalgia. Attending your college's annual festival, anyone would be forgiven for a little indulgence in nostalgia, but if you had anything of the kalalayam jeevitham (college life) that I was fortunate enough to have, Nostalgia is something you'll end up living with, and have a hard time coping up with. 

While once again struggling with memories from a past life, I decided to indulge a bit more down memory lane, and looked up my orkut profile. For those of you who were born in facebook, orkut was the way we primitive beings used to do those social networking whatevers before facebook came along and taught us that having at least 160 likes for your profile picture is a necessary precondition for social acceptability. While going through my defunct profile in orkut, the photos, videos and profiles really did take me deep down memory lane, and eventually I stumbled upon my old blog.  Reading my old posts gave my memory quite a jog, and more importantly it made me realize why I started blogging in the first place. To jot down vividly my experiences on a regular basis so as to give me a clear recollection of my thoughts, and share my opinions with whoever is kind enough to read my blog.

Looking back over these five years, between my last blog post and this one, it seems as though everything has changed beyond recognition and at a pace that is quite disconcerting. For starters its been close to two years since we've left the safety of college, and for two years we've been out in the big bad world trying hard not to let it break us down. Initially my first reaction on reading my previous posts was surprise at the thought process i used to possess then. It is only now I remember that I used to be a person with intense idealist beliefs and a believer of high ideologies. I marvel at my own weakness when i admit that its taken only two years for me to lose it all. Now I have become a wholesome cynic, with no real belief in anything except in power and money.

During these past 5 years if there is one principle reason i haven't blogged then it can be surmised in three letters, S C T. The four years spent at this college where a whirlwind of activities, with everyday being eventful. Everyday was indeed another day and i believe the term ordinary wasn't applicable to anything that happened during those four years. From care free fun loving days of freshman year to the responsibility of organization and events execution in senior year, we've seen it all, and hopefully we've done it decently as well.

Now with a much beloved phase behind, I'm now in the subsistence phase of life , where I along with my batch mates are in a constant battle to earn, to subsist, to earn .. and become a new generation of people stuck in this vicious cycle. Eventually I believe we will all strive to earn money, to buy things we don't really need to impress people we don't really like. ( A big thank you to the creators of fight club for the memorable quote). But as we trudge along in this mundane battle of existence, it is the memories of SCT that provide warmth in this long cruel winter of life. It is a light that can never be put out and one that will push us on. Indeed it is this very light that reignited the blogger in me.

Here's a resolution to blog regularly and more importantly to keep moving.

Cheers

Mohammed Akram Akbar

Romance and the indian conscience

I've always wanted to think that deep inside that us Indians.. irrespective of region and religion are hard core romantics. I come to this conclusion through our movie industry. not d glam sham bollywood but all the other non Hindi industries that complete the jigsaw known as the Indian film industry. Y is it then that an industry more than a century old still continues love, romance and lovers as its central theme in almost all it's movies. Somehow or somewhere a romantic angle has to be had, n a romantic duet between the protagonists is essential. Be it any language, love, romance, intimacy, male-female bonding of a nuptial tendency is celebrated in an unashamed manner. India's moved by leaps and bounds. V r an economic powerhouse, in all likelihood v along with our Chinese neighbours are going to power the world economy, it's nearly four generations since v won our independence but still the concept of love overpowering all doesn't seem to go away from the psyche of successive Indian cinema goers. Now v Indians love the movies, so its safe to assume that if romantic themes work, it goes down well with a majority of us.
The list of classical romance movies is endless, and i'm sure in this genre v can give any international industry a run for their money. But what i find astounding is the fact that for a society that loves the concept of a man and woman falling madly in love on screen forgetting their race, religion,status in reality v r quite the contrary. I don't need to remind any of my readers the number of affairs ending in mutual seperation in this country because of not satisfying the complex religious, economic and caste equations our society has come up with. Ours is a complex soceity , with so many rules, protocols and etiqutte made up because of the uncountable religions, castes , sub castes, languages, regions it has. In such a situation it becomes really hard for a young man charged with loads of testosterone looking for a female partner on his terms . Our poor fellow is aware that if any of his romantic adventures are to succeed he must find a girl falling under the same reliegion, language, sub caste, economic status and in most cases have a father willing to pay suitable dowry or as its fashionably called in my part of the nation varadakshina. I find this concept of dowry quite nauseating , but we'll save that topic for another day.

In fact the experience I've gained from my 20 years of life , it is that in India it's impossible for a red blooded young man to fall in love with a damsel and marry her without pissing off at least one close blood relative. If the couple are lucky, the maximum wrath they will have to face is that relatives sever ties, in more unfortunate cases either the boys or girls side will give chase , n in most unfortunate situations the blood of the young lad might be spilled. It's actually quite common news in India to hear of young men or women being murdered through honour killings. The term is quite an oxymoron as i find no honour in killing people as the only crime they have done is falling in love.

I feel this a manifestation of our deep rooted religious, caste , regional and other truly Indian factors on which discrimination can be made. I'm a muslim an hail from a relatively orthodox family, lemme tell u how it works in my world. For a muslim family the thought of their off spring going off an mating with an infidel is unthinkable. Its a crime justifiable with murder in most cases. Forget marrying infidels, there were i think 2 love marraiges in my family , my maternal and paternal uncles pulled of this act with much bravado. They married muslim girls, belonging to the same sub caste of being urdu speaking muslims . Still they face much wrath!!!! y, because they dared love a girl and marry without parental consent. A foriegner reading this would be forgiven to think India hadn't moved out of the medieval age. So u c as far as young muslim men are concerned , v ain't goin anywer in terms of romance. Its same with every1 else, worse in fact for others. My heart goes out to my hindu brethren, the number of caste, sub castes and other god knos what they have, the probability of them finding a girl on their own is like 1 in a 100.

So there you have it , the tragic story of today's young men, i suspect our preceding generations went through the same ordeal and must have suffered from quite a heartburn. Somehow i think , the romantic muvies v Indians love, it's like a fantasy for us. The life v never have. Young men dream of it, old men well, i dunno what they i think, but i think it might well be a wish that during their days they had the courage to stand up and b with that girl they likd hu was from the "other" side.

I conclude this post with the fervent hope ,that at least by the tym our next generation arrives, v truly would have integrated as a nation and wont hinder the gen next with man made ideals of religion, caste n other assorted nonsense, maybe then the movies during their tym will focus on science fiction. In our times i guess romance qualifies as fiction as it almost always is the forbidden fruit v neva can have.

- Akram

Commissions - Shirking away from the findings

I'm posting on my blog after almost an year. I must thank a young accquaintence of mine by the name of Sai Krishna for he gav d blogger in me a lift sayin he wud like to copy some of ma wordings 2 relate his own xperiences. But on a serious note wat compelled me into posting again were d recent developments .

For those of you who follow the news , you must have noticed that the longest commission in Indian judicial history , Justice Liberhan Commission has finally tabled it's report. Politically aware Indians all over the world are anxiously awaiting the tabling of the report in the budget session of parliament.Now the Liberhan commission probed into the Babri masjid incident. The incidents that occured on december 6, 1992 will foreover live in infamy and personally i'm of the opinion , no other incident can ever match up to the way december 6 changed the face of India and affected all Indians. I kno a lot of my friends must be thinking of 26/11 Bombay attacks or d post-godhra riots, but babri masjid is d perennial spring from which fundamentalists on both sides of the divide continue to water n nourish their harvest of hatred .

Coming back to the Liberhan commission, it sat for a staggering 16 years,399 sittings and 48 extensions. It is my most cherished hope that the present UPA government(for whom i didnt vote) bring those indicted to book and uphold the trust of the people who presented them with such a resounding mandate.

I would like to draw the attention of my readers to the findings of the Justice Sri Krishna Commission, this commission probed into the post babri riots that rocked Mumbai(then Bombay) during december 92 - january 93. The reason for me to delve into this is the fact that justice sri krishna has done a commendable job in shattering certain myths used to justify the violence that was unleashed by the sangh parivar and Shiv Sena combine on the muslim community of Bombay. The point i would like to drive home is that INSPITE OF A COMPLETE AND IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF THE ACTS OF VILOENCE WHICH OCCURED SUCCESSIVE STATE AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS HAVE CONTINUED TO SHY AWAY FROM TAKING ANY SUBSTANTIAL ACTION. The detailed findings of the commission are available on http://www.sabrang.com/srikrish/intro.htm , I implore ma readers to go through it.

I would like to quote from the commissions findings:

“From January 8, 1993 at least there is no doubt that the Shiv Sena and Shiv Sainiks took the lead in organising attacks on Muslims and their properties under the guidance of several leaders of the Shiv Sena from the level of Shakha Pramukh to the Shiv Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray who, like a veteran General, commanded his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate by organized attacks against Muslims. The communal violence and rioting triggered off by the Shiv Sena was hijacked by local criminal elements who saw in it an opportunity to make quick gains. By the time the Shiv Sena realised that enough had been done by way of ‘retaliation’, the violence and rioting was beyond the control of its leaders who had to issue an appeal to put an end to it.” (Pg. 20, para 1.27–ii).

It's essential to realize the factors that led upto the riots , India during late 1992 was a politically and communaly charged cauldron, the BJP aided by the facist sangh parivar was gaining political space due to the then inept functioning of the congress party, L.K.Advani's rath yatra throughout the nation had left a trail of bloody riots in it's wake. The ramjanmabhoomi movement was gaining in strength and feelings of communal majoritism were being whipped up at fever pitch. The report thoroughly investigates, documents and thereafter passes judicial comment upon the manner in which communal sentiments were kept on the boil by the BJP and its allies in the sangh parivar for six months prior to the demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

In both Chapter I and Chapter II, Volume I of the report, the Judge elucidates how particularly from July 1992 onwards these obviously political campaigns were charged by slogans like, “Is desh me rahana hoga, to Vande Mataram bolna hoga”, “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain”, “Hindustan Hinduonka, nahi kisike baap ka”

the immediate causes were, “the demolition of the Babri Masjid”, “the aggravation of Muslim sentiments by the Hindus with their celebration rallies” and, “the insensitive and harsh approach of the police while handling the protesting mobs which initially were not violent”. (Pg. 20, para 1.26)

at 2.30 p.m. on December 6, 1992, the first communal incident that took place in Mumbai after the demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya was in Dharavi, where it was not angry Muslims but rampaging Shiv Sainiks led by Sena leaders Baburao Mane and Ramkrishna Keni who caused the first provocation. The local police allowed Shiv Sainiks to conduct a cycle rally of 200–300 persons. The rally passed through several communally–sensitive, Muslim–dominated areas in Dharavi and terminated at Kala Killa, where a meeting was held and addressed by the local activists of the Shiv Sena. Provocative speeches were made at this meeting. (Pgs. 7, 94 & 197)

A detailed reading of Volume II of the report reveals important instances about similarly provocative rallies, meets and processions held in various parts of Mumbai on December 6, 1992 by the saffron combine after the demolition at Ayodhya. Given the surcharged atmosphere, these were nothing short of provocative. The police administration and the state government committed a fatal error by failing to act decisively against the organisers even at this late stage.

“The police appear to be either naive, gullible or partisan in ignoring the dangerous implications of speeches of this kind. That this kind of propaganda was carried out from July to October 1992 is not in dispute. It is obvious that the atmosphere in the Pydhonie area became communally charged on account of the continuous barrage of propagandist processions, meetings, speeches and other activities of the Hindutvawaadi parties. This resulted in the atmosphere being so charged that it needed but a spark to ignite and explode”. (Pg.171–172, para 23.5).

There were also several stabbing incidents carried out by professional criminals in different areas of the city, with the intention of whipping up communal frenzy, in which the majority of the victims happened to be Hindus The stabbings appeared to be executed with professional accuracy intended to kill the victims. The killers had not been then identified in several cases, though it was presumed, at least in the cases where the Hindus were victims, that the killers were Muslims.

On January 1, 1993, an article appeared in the Shiv Sena organ edited by Bal Thackeray, Saamna, under the heading “Hindunni Akramak Vhayala Have” (Hindus must become aggressors), openly inciting Hindus to violence

On January 6, 1993, the situation in Mahim went out of control at 9 p.m. Hindus attacked Muslims in Muslim pockets in Mahim area led by Shiv Sena Corporator, Milind Vaidya, and a police constable, Sanjay Gawade, openly carrying a sword. There were serious riots in which frenzied mobs of Hindus and Muslims attacked each other.

These were the incidents that led up to the riots, the acts that followed were beastial in nature and would put any true patriot at shame. I would like to list out some of the incidents as detailed by the commission.

December 12: Four dead bodies, all of Hindus, having multiple stab wounds on vital organs and in highly decomposed condition, were recovered from the gutter along A.K. Marg —Nirmal Nagar in Bandra–East. In yet another incident, one Hindu woman by name Shevantabai was found murdered with her throat slit and her body was dumped in the open compound of National Girls’ High School adjoining Behrampada. Two more bodies, one of a male Hindu and another identified as that of a uniformed Muslim Police Constable attached to the Nasik Rural Police Head Quarters, were recovered from the septic tank of the public latrine in Behrampada on 20th and 21st December 1992 respectively. These bodies also bore multiple stab injuries. It would appear that there was a systematic attempt to stab and murder Hindus and the policeman, though a Muslim, became a victim of the anger of the Muslims directed against the uniform worn by him. (Pg. 159, para 21.18). Testiment to the fact that both sides lost lives in this pogrom.

January 1: “In January 1993, the first incident of communal disturbance occurred on January 1,1993 during which a mob of violent Hindus attacked Muslims behind Jaihind Nagar and Gausiya compound…and threw stones on vehicles plying the Western Express Highway ….probably the immediate target of attack was the Gausiya Masjid and the Muslim residents in close vicinity thereof and the police were attacked because they tried to prevent it.This attack is of some significance as it belies the theory of the Shiv Sena, the state and the police that the Hindus resorted to violence by way of retaliation only after the grisly Radhabai Chawl incident at Jogeshwari. (Pg. 159, para 21.19).

January 7: On January 7, 1993 a taxi in which three Muslims were travelling was set on fire in Pratikshanagar in the Antop Hill jurisdiction resulting in all the inmates being burnt alive. (Pg. 54, para 2.14).

January 10: There was a serious incident at the Hari Masjid in the RAK Marg jurisdiction on January 10, 1993 in central Mumbai in which six persons, all Muslims, were shot dead by the local police as they offered their Friday prayers and one Hindu died as a result of burns. (Pgs. 178–181).

January 12, 1993: A gruesome incident occurs in Devipada in Kasturba Marg jurisdiction (Borivali, Mumbai North). A Hindu mob surrounds, strips and assaults two Muslim women. The older woman manages to run away. The uncle of the younger woman who comes to rescue the young girl of 19, and that girl, are beaten and burnt alive by the violent mob. The names of the miscreants are disclosed to police by a Hindu lady in the locality. (Though the miscreants were arrested and tried by the Sessions Court at Bombay, later on they were all acquitted on the ground that the panchanamas were defective and that the eye–witnesses were not produced). (Pg. 16, para 1.15).

Acts of Muslim aggression have also been documented in the report. The commission states “As far as the December 1992 phase of the rioting by the Muslims is concerned, there is no material to show that it was anything other than a spontaneous reaction of leaderless and incensed Muslim mobs, which commenced as peaceful protest, but soon degenerated into riots. The Hindus must share a part of the blame in provoking the Muslims by their celebration rallies, inciting slogans and rasta rokos which were all organised mostly by Shiv Sainiks, and to a marginal extent by BJP activists. "

This comment is of much importance as it debunks the Sangh parivar theory that muslims acted on ISI backing and instruction.

For the January round of violence, the Shiv Sena has been held squarely to blame. Turning to the events of January 1993, the Commission’s view is that though several incidents of violence took place during the period from 15th December 1992 to 5th January 1993, large–scale rioting and violence was commenced from 6th January 1993 by the Hindus, brought to fever pitch by communally inciting propaganda unleashed by Hindu communal organisations and writings in newspapers like Saamna and Navaakal

Dharavi: “There were meetings held on October 21 and December 1, 1992 by the Muslims advocating protection of the Babri Masjid and opposing the construction of Ram Mandir at the disputed site at Ayodhya. These meetings were held in Naiknagar on L.B. Shastri Marg… One of the speeches advocated that if the Hindus were to snatch away the Babri Masjid from Muslims, there would be no stopping of disintegration of the country; that if Hindus were to build a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and usher in Ram Rajya, then the Muslims would, through the Babri Masjid Committee, fly the green flag on the Red Fort at Delhi and rule the country.

Dongri: Is a predominantly Muslim area with the reputation of being communally–hypersensitive. It is also the haunt of several illegal activities including drug peddling.“During the period 8th December 1992 to 31st December 1992, 23 cases of communal incidents were registered by the Dongri police station in which Hindus were aggressors in seven cases and Muslims were aggressors in 16 cases. Contrary to the police perception that during the December 1992 phase of the riots, it was only the Muslims who were aggressors, it appears that the Hindus also contributed their share towards riots and communal incidents during this period. Out of the seven cases in which Hindus were aggressors, four were cases in which Muslims were stabbed; in two cases there was looting and one involved looting and arson of a Muslim establishment. During the same period, out of the 16 cases in which Muslims were aggressors, nine were individual stabbing cases, and seven were cases of looting of different Hindu establishments.” (Pg. 108, para 11.21).

Mahim: “On December 25, 1992 a pamphlet in the Urdu language was distributed around Jama Masjid area in Mahim. This pamphlet, without doubt, is communally provocative and incites Muslims to fight against the atrocities committed on them by Hindus, starting with the demolition of Babri Masjid and calls upon the Muslims to resolve that, if the Babri Masjid had to be constructed with blood, they should be prepared to do so. The police have registered a case in this connection. Though there was a sizeable Muslim population in this area, the intelligence gathering machinery of police with regard to Muslim activities in this area was totally ineffective. There was only one Muslim police person attached to this police station, even he could not read Urdu and keep tabs on the activities of the Muslims in this area.” (Pg. 151, para 19.13).

Pydhonie: Once the riots erupted in January 1993, several known criminals from the area, though undoubtedly Muslims, took advantage of the situation and fanned the fires of communal hatred. Groups led by Salim Rampuri, Abdul Rauf alias Rauf Chacha and others moved around the locality instigating the Muslim youths to come out and help in looting the godowns of Hindus. This area saw the circulation of pamphlets containing incendiary communal material urging Muslims to communal violence and also calls given on loudspeakers fixed on Masjids urging Muslims to come out in large numbers with arms and attack ‘Kafirs’. The police has been remiss in not keeping tabs of the activities of known Muslim organistions, Jamait–E–Islam–E–Hind, Muslim League and SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), who were known to have participated in some of the previous protests. Similarly, no watch appears to have been kept nor intelligence gathered about the activity of Raza Academy. The slogans shouted by the mobs invariably indicated their anger at the police.”

The report also mentions bias exhibitted by the Bombay police

The report says , “While the police were prompt in arresting Muslim miscreants at all levels, they showed a marked reluctance to arrest any of the miscreants connected with the Shiv Sena. In fact, the assessments in the Crime Reports suggest that if accused belonging to the Shiv Sena were arrested, there was a likelihood of a flare–up in the communal situation and therefore it was decided that no Shiv Sainik should be arrested. This view was taken not only by the lower police echelons, but also had the approval of the Assistant Commissioner of Police and the zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police. Thus there have been cases where the accused Shiv Sainiks were charge–sheeted even without arrest and interrogations, apparently under the orders of DCP, Pande. It appears to the Commission, that repeated morchas and flexing of muscles by the Shiv Sena hierarchy and the crowds led by them, affected the police morale and psyche. (Pg.162, para 21.27).

Within the Antop Hill jurisdiction, after three Muslims were burnt alive in a taxi within barely 150 feet of the police picket on January 12, 1993. (Pg. 54, para 2.14). On January 15, 1993 the police arrested two persons in connection with this incident and on the same day a morcha of about 3,000–4,000 men and women led by Sena Shakha Pramukh, Prahlad Thombre, Sena MLA, Kalidas Kolamkar, Congress MLA, Eknath Gaikwad, Sena corporator, Krishna Vishwasrao, Congress corporator, Karuna Mhatre and others came to the police station and to secure the release of one of the accused, Bal Thombre.

The commission also includes the then additional commissioner of police V.N.Deshmukh's testimony of bias prevalent in the Bombay police force.

“A significant fact admitted by Deshmukh is his assessment of the deep–rooted and biased belief among 80 percent of the lower echelons of the Mumbai police that Muslim youths were more prone to crime though he was quick to add that there was no such impression among senior officers.” (Pg. 201, para 4.7).

Al that i have included are part of the commission's findings. Goin through the commission's findings left me deeply disturbed and spurred me to pass on this information to friends and readers. What i implore is that we abandon reiligious and communal alleigences and analyze these events, the futility, the sheer waste and the monumental tragedy involved. Countrymen turned on country men, nieghbours spewd venom on neighbours, the irony is unspeakable acts of horror were commited in the name of a holy God. As of today the findings of these commissions have not been acted upon. Shiv Sena and BJP mafiosi who publicly gave call to arms and violence continue to be in offices of power or under the public eye evading arrest and trial. The Bombay riots sent a wave of disilluisionment throught the psyche of the Indian muslim, it may be noted that most of those involved in the subsequent Bombay blasts of 1993 including prime accused Tiger Memon were affected by the Bombay riots. In fact Muslim fundamentalist and militant organizations still use the Bombay riots rhetoric to draw cadre.

Sadly the political class of our nation still havent learnt from Bombay riots, no action was taken this manifested in growing muslim resentment which reached breaking point after the post-godhra riots of 2002. As a result attacks on Indian soil by Islamic fundamentalist organizations having INDIAN cadre has gone up considerably.

To my readers and friends i would say, we as a nation are at political crossroads, the political space of communal outfits is decreasing rapidly as illustrated by the drubbing received by the BJP in the recent elections. As we are young and are goin to be the vote bank for at least another 4 decades or more it's imperative we take certain measures.

1.Be politically aware

2.Refrain from voting for parties contesting on communal or caste based factors, majority or minority, always vote for centrist or secular parties

3.Spread the word, discuss with friends, it's not uncool to talk about these stuff, it's your duty as responsible adults and citizens

I conclude ma post with the fervent hope that we as a nation are able to arise from these dark passages of history, fight the enemies(internal and external) of the present and rise to be the superpower we all know we have the potential of being of.

JAI HIND

- Mohammed Akram Akbar

Alumni=Animal shit !!!!!!!!!

Before i begin i swear that i'm not under the influence of alcohol,drugs or anyother psychotropic substances..bcos the content tht follows might make u wonder whether i'm MAD!!!

ST. thomas central school , mukkola...hmmm now wer do i begin..cos there's too much shit to write down . I studied in this educational institution for five bleeding years...ya thts rite 5 long years n i went yesterday for their fest "COLOSEUM" ...guess wat..they didnt let us in...ma own skool n they say .. u cant go in... even ma fellow batch mates met the same fate....

I mean wat the fuck is the skool playin at???? y r they afraid to let us in?? as far as ma batch is concerned we didnt do anythin..no violence on the contrary..i think ma batch were the best academically n xtra curricularly... i mean without any of the skools help we always managed to win or come runners up in all the fests.....n still this....... IS THIS FAIR???????

y this hatred..... lemme b frank..the skool had no bearing on our education in 11 & 12..xcept mayb in computer sc in 12 ..Anupama teacher rocked(but she too had the good sense to leave the skool)honestly the academic xcelent record was due to tutions tht all of us took.... so we ended up shelvin out 16K a yr for fuckin nothing....then the xtra curricular n sports.... every year we slogged in the bleeding heat for a march past in which every1 marched horribly anyway.... marched n marched ..n on the day of the sports day as if marching in the heat was not enuf we stand in the heat for another half an hour listenin to the principal gloating why st thomas rockd at sports ..YA RITE..

we have a footbal ground n a hockey court..but if u get caught playin der u r in trouble(LOLZ)..the goal posts r rusted...it's been ages since our skool won anythin in football, n a san thomite might not even know wat cricket is.... thts how pathetic the sporting condition is.. n inspite of this we have to stand n listen y we r a sporting giant(PLEASE..) ..i mean the only benefit frm this sporting farce cum fiasco is tht san thomites know to march better than other skool kids.. but Mr.principal if i wanted to learn to march i would have joined sainik skool not stcs..Sports fees levied - 500...anythin got in return-0

then xtra curricular..dont make me laugh...the annual day of stcs is more boring than watching tiny TV...it's a farce,,we're not allowed to dance to gud songs but to crappy songs listenin to which ma granny mite probably fall asleep....teachers of all ppl tell us steps to dance(OMG i'll die laughin)..the presenters wear dress in a way tht u mite mistake them for corporate machos.....GOD.....they wont let us practise for other fests.... wont give us cash for buyin props n costumes.this bloody thing goes on

So at the end of this...objectively asking wat did i get BIF FAT BLEEDING ZERO.....mayb being best debator for two years is a plus but it pales in comparison to the injustices suffered...

n after aall this we r not allowed to watch our skool's maiden fest.......Y???? wat do they think we'll do???? cos a riot?? i feel sorry for ma juniors... frm wat i hear loyola n christ nagar r not cmin for coloseum next yr..n san thomites might end up laughin stock...

But the worst part is wen ur alma matter forbid ur entry to ur skool..it hurts deep n wen i think of all the injustices done... it jus strengthens ma resolve to never go bak to tht place ever again.....

San "crap" Revo

The day 28 of June will forever live in infamy. It was on this day that one of the most krapiest inter school festivals ever witnesed by the lovely Trivandrum city was held. We as alumini of the St. Thomas instituion set out hoping that for once let this great institute hold a function thats entertaining. But alas no... their persistence with mediocricity continues.

My first grudge is thst why hold a festival of this magnitude in a cramped auditorium that outlasted it's capacity ages ago when the school posses the know how and the moolah to hold the festival in the spacious hockey court.
Secondly , even if they want to squese in people in the hall y not atleast decorate the hall properly.. i mean the place looked like sit andthe only decoration visible was a pathetic baner dispalying the festival's name .. and an equaly pathetic tagline.

next would probably be the programmes arranged and even more would be the presenters. No one heard what the announcers were saying through out the quiz. What shocked me was that even the personality contest which is usually very entertaining.even that fizzled out. And i've gt fed up of complaining about the music and speaker systems they have at St. Thomas, can u imagine the speakers went dead in the middle of a group dance,pathetic really.. the speakers are probly fit for only storing chalks or some thing.

Well wat really dampened things for as alumini of STCS was the equally disinspiring display of our juniors. I mean out of 10 odd events they got one figgin 3rd place.. i mean wtf are our juniors tht krap. we got 2 fuckin days to practice for la fest and we ended up over all second I dont know how long these guys got for this fest but still this sort of display is pathetic really.

I am not here to criticize sum1 for no reason but this really is sumthing unfortunate. This will only lead to another hole in the fast deflating balloon called "reputation of ST.Thomas institutions".

As I said earlier 28th of june will forever be remembered as a day of INFAMY in the history of St: Thomas.

--AKRAM

Mathamillatha Jeevan

For those who didnt follow. THats the title of the controversial seventh grade text book that has sparked off a humungous uproar in Kerala. Now what exactly this lesson contains is a small story through which a moral is being attempted to convey.
                   In this story, A kid comes for admission accompanied by his parents. The headmaster of the school, asks the kid his name, the kid replies jeevan.
Thenn the father's name is asked to which comes the reply "Anwar Rasheed". Then the name of the mother is asked and the reply is "Lekshmi Nair".
                                  At this juncture the headmaster stops and asks the relieegon of the child to which the father says the boy has no reliegon. When asked about his caste the same answer is received. Then the father tells the headmaster that the child is free to choose hhis own reliegon.

       The lesson then dwells on to the merits of being rationalistic in life, and the demerits of reliegious fanaticsm. The spirit at face value is quite appreciable and is quite welcome. Then  why has the opposition in kerala through their respective student wings unleashed hell throughout the state.

  What seems to have pissed off the religious leadership of various reliegons most probably is the title which literally translates into life without reliegon and also the implicit hints at atheism seems to have irked them.But in a soceity such as kerala's wheere communal harmony is a matter of pride these incidents of violent protests seems to have taken everyone by surprise.

   Though the question wether this incident  would have received so much scrutiny if the lok sabha elections were not so close is another debate. But the fact remains that all religions have united to condemn this state sponored attack on their battalions of faithful, though it must be admitted that the ggovernament cannot be given a clean a chit because it has tried to push in communist ideologies through the text books. 

   But the fact remains that Indian soceity as a whole is still grappling with it's identity as a secular soceity. Our soceity is at a crucial juncture. The voices of the minority fascist right wingers and reliegious extremists are getting louder and the voice and spirit of scecular India is getting drowned in the process. It is therefore imperative that we as the upcoming generation bear in mind that before anything, we are always secular indians and in that alone can India's success be ensured.

--Akram

Why blog???

I have always wondered what personal compulsions force one to blog. The most hard core to the definition blogger i've seen is my class mate prathik. I think he updates everyday n describes evrythin tht happens in his life and his most inner most thoughts. Though personally that interpretation of blogging is a bit disturbing.  My personal favourite blog would be of my gud friend vivek's  blog.

     Insted of pouring out everything into the blog, it maintains a well dignified approach and is pleasing to read. The problem with overpersonal blogs is that the reader often feels uncomfortable that he's reading something personal and not meant for him.

In this context vivek's blog is highly refreshing, and makes the reader want more. The reason i blog is simply for the fact that this space gves me oppurtunity to write about stuff that matter to me personally, also the comments left by my readers are something i'm always grateful for.

 I love the fact that people of my peer group are reading my posts and commenting. Thus increasing all round exchange of opinions. It always gives me an oppurtunity to find out how others think on these topics.

     But one thing i must confess is my regret that i have had no female readers which is quite a bit appaling, but though hope that this liitle blemish s rectified.

 all i can conclude is bloggin is gr8. u dont need rocket science to figure that out. Blog it out guys, cmon it's fun,