Frames of Freedom

This picture was taken by me on a sleepy afternoon on 15-4-07, no other photograph came to my mind when I read about the Frames of Freedom contest, for many reasons, but the foremost important one being that no matter what we say, feel or think, no bird, no sky no being is as free or as innocent as a child. 

He thinks he has the world around his fingers; things are under his control; he can aim for the sky and get some starts from there. A child has not been shackled by the experiences of life so his spirit is as free as can be.

Lots of people think it would be nice to be able to fly like a bird, but even the bird has his set limitations. He has directions and methods to follow too, but a child is a man-mauji, who is not bound by any restrictions.

Some think it would be nice to go someplace where there are no telephones no internet or no television to hound them, the child has it all, but nothing can bother him.

Try telling a child and an adult simultaneously to shift a heavy piece of furniture single handedly, the child will run and go struggle to make it shove an inch, but the adult, will accept defeat even without putting in any effort; as his mind is restricted with knowledge, gained from life’s experiences.

This post is for the Blogadd's Frames of Freedom Contest

Rat Race

What is it with life that makes us keep ticking? Pushes us to move ahead? What is it in life that we want to achieve and what happens after we get it? Do we feel happy? Do we relax and retire? Make place for others to compete in the rat race? Why is it called the rat race in the 1^st place? Do rats race? No, its only humans who are into this never-ending game of being one better than the other. For that matter we make rats race and also bet on rats. Well I don’t know where this happens but if we can bet on horse, cocks and cockroach races, why not rats?

Being happy is not getting something or doing something. At times it is just a feeling of being able to do something or to get something. If you want to be happy, seek it within yourselves, this is what most of those gurujis tell me, it’s also the same in all those self help books that I have read on being happy being content. But in reality is it that simple, for that matter what in life is simple?

We go out of our ways to make life simple but in turn making life more complex. Take for example all the hi-fi electronics items that man has got around him. In the olden golden era, all man needed was 2 stones and some wood. But today with technology comes head-aches (this is how the adults in my house put it up.) coz with the gadgets come the highly priced maintenance contracts and then at the end of the month the power bills, which these days is shooting higher and higher day by day at my place, well no guys that was not the reason for my long hiatus off the blogosphere! I just had lots of catching up to do, as in read all your blogs. Trust me, these days I’ve discovered a new passion, reading blogs. Especially reading old and new posts of Indian bloggers, ya I’m still biased towards Indian writers, maybe cause it’s easier for me to connect with them. But maybe once I get done with this I would scout for other blogs. Whatever I mean here by other I’m not sure, will write about it as soon as I find out. But coming back to my point of making life simple, I think it is mostly at times in our hands to take it as it comes, now that the power bills are soaring, we can try and cut down on unnecessary usage, use power saving instruments, but other than that worrying or cribbing is not going to help us. Same way in life, the sooner we accept our circumstances, our dilemmas the sooner we will be able to face them and deal with them with an open mind, with a calm mind.

How often do we realize that in a tense situation, had we kept our cool we could have approached the issue in a better manner and obtained better results? If we are able to keep cool, a check on our temper and a clear head, no situation is beyond repair. It is not very difficult to keep life simple, haven’t you heard or read- Ignorance is bliss? The more we think and try to find hidden meaning in others words or actions or read between the lines the more issues we will rake up. As in relationships, I follow a very simple rule, live and let live, but if incase there’s not much I can do to handle the issue in a proper manner I stay as far away as I can. And wherever I can’t do anything about the circumstances I blame destiny, by placing the blame on someone I can’t fight with I resign myself to the situation, but if I had blamed a person I would have thought things can be changed, circumstances can be revolutionized. But I think at times, it is better to accept, accommodate and adjust than to fight.

How many times, when your plans got cancelled or alter because of someone else have you let your steam off? How do you react when you had to drop something that you had planned for all week because of some unexpected (and unwelcome) guests had showed up? When is comes to handling unforeseen situations like a mature being you don’t need to be too old to do it. The first step to dealing with an untoward situation, or when things don’t go according to plan is to accept that not everything is under our control, then step two is to accommodate with the present way of progress and then later in step three is to see (and also wish) if there’s anything that can be done to make the circumstances more favorable towards ourselves.

In life we all have our goods and bads, highs and lows, friends and foes, adversities and opportunities but it is our attitude towards different situations and circumstances that make us different individuals, different identities. There is nothing like good or bad, it is what we want and how well we can play the cards dealt to us by destiny.

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This is a picture shot, created and edited by a friend's husband, Tojy George. Its one of a kind...was completely awed by the colors, the motion and the locations. It is locations and not location as this is a collage of 8 pictures shot in and around New York.

You can see his more of his pictures at Tojy-George-Photography

Doomed Friday the 13th

 Friday the 13th: a regrettable juncture of unlucky number and ominous day.

 The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations said to date from ancient times foretells more misfortune than some innocent minds can bear.

This day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year. Any month's 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday.

When I call Friday the 13^th unlucky, don’t for once imagine me to be a Paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobic (fear of Friday the 13^th) yes, these set of people also have name tags for themselves!

Exactly how long this superstition has been around is difficult to say, but it still holds the uncontested top position around the globe for being the most favored, I mean feared, fallacy doing the rounds. Nobody really knows who Friday the 13th was tagged as the unluckiest day of all. From what I have read, I was shocked and shamed to find that many people follow this belief just blindly; there is not explanation logical or illogical or any background information for the same.

Individually Friday, being the sixth day of the week is considered unlucky as some of the unfortunate significant events in the Christian tradition are said to have taken place on Friday, primarily such as the Crucification, Eve’s offering the apple to Adam, the beginning of the great flood or the confusion at the Tower of Babel.

The origin of the connection between the number 13 and ill fortune are similarly Christian, the most common stemming from the Last Supper, at which Judas Iscariot was said to have been the 13^th guest to sit at the table. Thus, 13 started being referred as an omen of bad fortune in English literature.

In the British times, both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. By British tradition Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

In present times, lots of hotels and skyscrapers do not support a 13^th floor; airplanes have no 13th aisle. Restaurants don’t have table 13. But the joke is on the Paraskevidekatriaphobias, of course, since the 13th floor, table, aisle is sitting right there behind the 12th, obviously -- it's just labeled as 14 to hoodwink you into relaxing. There are offices that don’t work on this day, wish mine was one of them; weddings and ceremonies are avoided and so is long distance traveling, be it by road or air.

Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. But is an excuse for not going to work? I would like to believe it like that. Then I would be disappointed that Friday the 13^th comes calling only once or twice a year.

2 movies have been made under Friday the 13^th name one in the year1980 and again in 2009. And now this time we have our own desi version, a horror film, Help, starring Bobby Deol and Mugdha Godse. According to the producers this is the 1^st horror movie being released on this ill-fates day. I understand very well why he wants to release the movies on this auspicious day, for once he will not have to take the blame himself when the movie booms (which is a given) at the box office, they will all blame the poor Friday the 13^th and hence hammer one more nail on this doomed day.

In the case of Friday the 13th, people have been told it will be a bad day, so they selectively remember all the bad events that occur throughout the day. It’s an easy way to rationalize the screw-ups for which we ourselves are ultimately responsible. Do we truly think nothing good has happened on this day? Where do such baseless erroneous beliefs and myth crop up from.

You may not take drastic safety precautions every Friday the 13th, but are you totally immune to the superstition? Given the choice, would you get married, start a new job or close on a house on Friday the 13th? Most people wouldn't, even though they don't put much stock in the idea. Superstition has a way of creeping up on people when they're in a particularly vulnerable state.

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Gulf states order Blackberry users to cover their phones in a tiny burqa

Read this and had to share it with you people.
Gulf states order Blackberry users to cover their phones in a tiny burqa

New laws in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will require that every Blackberry user dress their phone a miniature burqa and face veil.

‘The Blackberry burqa means that people can still use their phones,’ said a Saudi government official, ‘but the tiny niqab that covers the screen will stop them from reading emails or accessing the Internet.’

The introduction of the burqa is intended to conceal the Blackberry from unwanted attention. With the veil in place only a tiny slit remains revealing just the time and date, thus preserving its modesty.

‘This is not about censorship or oppression,’ said UAE telecommunications regulator Mohammed al-Ghanem, ‘this is about preserving the essential purity of the Blackberry and protecting it from being corrupted.’

Some businessmen believe that making their phone wear a burqa can be very liberating. ‘It’s great,’ said one, ‘with the veil in place I am free to walk about with my Blackberry in public without the feeling that people are staring lustily at my multi-media application. It also covers my shame for not owning an iPhone.’

Some religious groups have welcomed the policy. ‘If Allah had meant us to freely access the Internet He would have given us web browsers in our heads,’ said a local imam, adding ‘There is absolutely no mention of instant messaging in the Koran and at no point did Muhammad, or any of his eleven wives, ever say LOL, ROFL or PMSL.’

If the Blackberry burqa is successful it may spread to other countries. However, experts say that dressing your phone in a burqa could result in poor reception, especially in France and Belgium.

The British government has yet to declare an official line on phone burqas although Immigration Minister Damian Green said that to ban them would be ‘very unBritish’. He went on to explain that, ‘the British thing to do, as always, is to grumble and tut.’

The Saudi government have promised that anyone who refuses to dress their Blackberry in a burqa will face harsh punishment. ‘I am not saying exactly what we will do,’ said their Minister for Justice, ‘but suffice to say that it isn’t so easy to text with your toes.’

Ripped off from NewsBiscuit.com

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