Nowadays, going through newspaper editorials often gives one the uncanny taste of repeatedly eating the same dish cooked in different styles. Even though the basic ingredients remain crime and punishment, there's so much hot and cold blowing about the now fragile issue of a criminal's fate, it makes me wonder whether it's really a matter of life and death. Between Dotsovesky and opinions as risky, I'm hanged if I can understand the reason of debate.

First of all, I don't hear any rumbles against rewards being befitting appreciation of merit and virtue. Conversely, then, the concept of punishment befalling a defaulter should be considered a natural corollary. And just as, at the apex, Lifetime Achievement Awards have been fashioned to befit superlatively laudable performers at home and abroad, so does the life sentence befit the indicted criminal, for whom then lawful society has no use. No arguments yet.

Now objects like locks are deterrents to the virtuous, not to the criminal. So, I imagine, are laws, respected by the lawful, spurned by the awful the offender. As matters stand, therefore, just because responses differ, it does not negate the existence or need for locks, laws, their protectors or enforcers, does it ? "No, it doesn't", you grudgingly agree. So by now, we have sifted society into, largely, 'inlaws' and 'outlaws', if you know what I mean, with the latter having developed an immune conscience. Obviously, therefore they have to be dealt with separately, as our grammar teacher would have said, with sensible sentences. And, the Lord help us, when it comes to the rarest of rare cases, when paediatric and geriatric predators (to name a few) outrageously outrage, plot, plunder, ravage and kill, the sentence has to match the extremity of the crime - sensibly, brutally. When Cain killed Abel he was marked for life to hang his head in shame in a society of three. In a society of billions, the onus would be on us to hang Cain, head and all. After all, despite the Human Right Activists' clamour (in protection of subhumans, I'm sure), people like him are as much use to society as a diseased appendix (also God's creation, mind you) is to us. And I don't hear anyone say if you can't make an appendix you have no right to destroy it.
As for those publicity seeking amatuer cooks waxing eloquent about capital punishment (I thought 'capital' meant 'perfect' !) being redundant because it does not prevent future such (a) crimes (b) criminals from evolving, they ought to have their heads examined before talking their heads off. I mean, do they have a divine missive from Nostradamus, including a comparison chart, as to how many such 'scheduled crimes' were encouraged by, or occured unmindful of such punishment ? Are they propogating giving such offenders another life, even as the single life of the hapless offended has ended ? Do they imply that a victim's right to live and be respected ends with his or her death ? Do they plan to cite Holly and Bolly Woods as the prime instigators of crime, with the criminal merely "doing as directed" ? The sentence of death is instituted only to criminals that richly deserve it many times over. Though any form of punishment cannot stop crime, it can nip the growth of many potential perpetrators in the bud, even if not all. No, there's no argument; vicious non-life in the form of killers and sexual violaters needs to be rendered lifeless, albeit within the purview of law.

The final victim of the imbroglio remains the Judicial system - hanged if they do, hanged if they don't. Sure, they're slow and overworked, with holes in their set-up like Swiss cheese (though not as palatable), but then they are not on trial here. The system is relevant, and it takes much debating and deliberating for judges to sentence an offender to death - not for joy, sadistic pleasure or a chance to play God. I dare say the final sentence is delivered by them with immense remorse and repugnance. One thing is perfectly clear, however - there is absolutely no scope for any more laxity than already exists. The Lord knows, already there are a lot many people around that deserve the noose but never end up getting it.

In conclusion, the most appropriate justice we need today in such extreme cases is, sadly, what the modern, sensitive and increasingly democratic world has left behind; the public display of punishment commensurate to the crime, including the death penalty. No closed door 'hush money' fines or out of court settlements, but a veritable exhibition of performing justice, understood and absorbed by the most illiterate; where lashing and chopping leaves a lasting impression on both the criminal and the viewers. Perhaps even the publicity seekingr cooks would grudgingly acknowledge the probability of a substantial decline in heinous crime thereafter. While hoping for a revival of that period, any punishment remains a capital idea. Of late, lawful citizens have begun to show their way of befitting instant justice by public lynching of criminals. Let's hope modern State law enforcer takes a leaf from their book soon - already the suspense is killing.

Journey

It once happened that I was standing in the middle of a bridge that led to nowhere known to mankind. The origin of the journey was so radical and surprising that it didn’t even leave me time to pack necessities along. By necessities I mean important requirements during a journey, which involves stuff like, emotional stings, reasons to cry, thoughts of differences with the ones you never thought you could have any. And although I was standing half-way through that journey, I didn’t even feel the need for any of these.
The initial steps were tough, if I be honest enough to confess. I had load which I had to shed, and shedding off that load was not less than being stripped in freezing conditions. Because, believe it or not, these not so happy memories leave us wrapped in a cocoon and at the end of it all we start enjoying the warmth we draw out of them. No matter how indifferent I try to behave I miss them somewhere or the other.
Complications have a specialty, the be-friend the human race very quickly. And much sooner than you know, become a prominent part of your entire persona. I sleep every night with a silent prayer, and a firm promise to me that I shall wake up a simple person. With a promise to make sure, that I would make the next day as simple as it could be. But I end up lodging these complications right where they deserve to be, in my heart and in my head.
So as I tread my way to the unknown land, while standing on that unknown bridge, in the middle of nowhere I gaze into blank open space and wonder why I wanted to shed off the emotions of stress, confusion, dilemma, rage, etc. etc. in the first place, they have been a part of my life forever. I mean I can still recall the first time I was called a cheater by my not so sweet girlfriend. Or, my first break-up. Or, the first time I sat alone in a class full of forty students. Or, the first time I realized how complicated love is. And yet I want to lose it all. The question was still unanswered, when I recollected the origin of such a journey.
“When you are about to let go off of someone who you dearly love, there’s a conflict in your head, a fierce battle. Where you fight the best of you, and the worst of you, at the same time. And in this battle, the only loser is you. It’s you who gets crushed between the two.”
I was crushed. I needed life again, so I set off. Wandering aimlessly, thinking about nothing, wanting to be left alone.
They sometimes make me smile. The complications I mean. They can be such a relief sometimes; life would have been so boring otherwise. Just knowing the fact that they are around makes you certain that you have a normal human life, and one hell of a life, full of events and disasters, if I may say. So once u are convinced that these not so happy yet vital parts will remain with you through your good and bad, un conditionally, you tend to develop a strange liking towards them. And such a liking is a sadistically paranoid love, but provides you with a lot of comfort and peace in its own way.
I never wanted to be a sadist or a paranoid, so I sat down to write down my well organized planned and peaceful life. A written life. With no complications, no rash words, no discomforts. Gave my best to it. And when I knew I couldn’t carry on, I decided to stick to my same old unwritten life. The one which I thought would give me immense pleasure. The joy of surprises. The element of anxiety.
I failed drastically, and realized, “there’s no such thing as an unwritten life, there’s only a badly written one”.
So as I continue with my badly written life on my journey to the unknown land, I have a lot of realizations, a lot of unfulfilled dreams, dreams not accounted for, dreams that have been destined to be just dreams, and fade away with the sands of time.
Complications, however, will always remain a part of my badly written life, and I hold them near. But not on this journey, I’d call it a sabbatical rather. This bridge is not the destination, it is neither where I want to be standing right now, it is but a bridge, and I shall pass it without the necessities, for sure, leaving behind crumbs on my way so as to tread the same road to an unfinished life that I leave today, and if I find the same people I leave here today, the same problems I have with them today, the same complications that I go through everyday, I shall know that I have made it to the lands unknown that still remain unknown. The only known land for me is this, the one where I live today, where I wish regularly I’d not be here, I wish I had been in some unknown land, and yet I can’t live there either.
So I walk ahead following nothing but my instincts to complete my journey. I will be back soon; after all it’s not easy to survive in an unknown land forever.
Complications are not that bad after all.
How bad can friends be!

@zaidi

Its All in the Name of Television

It has taken me some time to figure out the appeal of The Pretender. Never watched it when it was on network; seemed like a Fugitive ripoff. Now that it's on early and in syndication, I catch snatches now and again as I'm channel-surfing for the weather.

Sadism is the show's appeal. Every episode, Jared assumes a new identity, and finds new evil-doers. They're inevitably co-workers or associates. Jared finds out that they've hurt, killed, or screwed someone, preferably killed them. Jared then sets up the evil-doer so she or he is faced with the same fate as their victim. Then, when the evil-doer has taken the bait and walked into the trap, Jared tortures them. "Do you think this is what poor Sally felt when the flames were surrounding her? Do you? Huh?" Meanwhile, the fireman, cop, contractor, whomever, is stuck in some fashion, handcuffs can do, but it's just as good to have them stuck in a machine or hanging off a building, and is about to have a building go up in flames or collapse on top of them, or roll off a precipice. The evil-doer now begs for help, because it looks like they're about to die. "Help. HELP! I'm going to die here!"

Jared smiles his malevolent smile, and continues to torture them. Inevitably, they admit their crime, "yes, YES! I did it. I didn't mean to, but the money was good, it was me or them, I couldn't die, go to jail, be in debt, what have you!" Jared then waits a little, just for justice sake, then gives them a painful way out. Meanwhile, the person's associates were around the corner, or listening on a radio, or watching the matter. The evil-doer is safe, sort of, for the moment, but his victims now know the truth and can look for justice if they so choose.

Jared, meanwhile, savors his little victory with a slightly less malevolent smile, proceeds to leave, and is about to be caught by the annoying woman or syndicate or whomever is after them, preferably all three. One of them catches Jared, but a character unique to the episode intervenes, Jared escapes, and the pursuers end up looking at each other.

And The Pretender moves on (though we dont know where)

It's one fucked up evil show. I don't want an avenging sadist angel like Jared working for me or for my family.

Got Something for Emenem to work on!! :P

It’s fuckin dumb to try and secure our future through education
That shit is way worse than premature ejaculation
School don’t ensure a foolproof livin
You don’t get nothin back but you gotta keep on givin
Fuck school, fuck college I repent havin done both
I learned fuckin squat and my life I now loathe
Motherfuckin authorities confine us like slaves
Tryin to break us and change how one behaves
School’s a fuckin controversy, it destroys our greatness
It curbs our freedom and our right to say “Fuck! I hate this”
They teach us to fear all and to distrust our own minds
Kick us into ditches and call swamps gold mines
The fuckers who control all try their best to brainwash us
Takes us for morons and tells us things obnoxious
We like fuckin idiots follow every rule they make
Fuck them dawgs do things for your own sake
Our dreams and desires are replaced by new ones
Created by them which fucks up our endurance
What we do is labelled as a motherfuckin let down
What they say is hailed as the acts of uptown
I fuckin wasted my whole life tryin to live their life
Fuck the universe I ain’t lookin down I’mma stare high
If they don’t like what I do I dare them to stop me
Fuck them all I won’t go down even if they try to top me
My life is for me to live whether I come up or I fuck up
But I won’t be their slave no I won’t fuckin succumb
They can shove all their rules and ideas up their cocksuckin asses
I don’t want nothin to do with those dogfuckin masses
So if any of u readin up got a shattered fuckin dream
You against the authority then you in my fuckin team!!

Rakhi Bandhan

When people hear the name Rakhi Sawant, they associate a certain degree of quality and integrity with it. These are the same folks who hear music when you scratch a plate with a fork and who stand and click photographs when they witness a terrible automobile accident. Now, it's not a closely-guarded secret that Rakhi Sawant, like many celebrities whose faces are splattered across our screens, is not a traditional star but someone you can categorise as a shock-star.

Shock-stars do and say things that jolt the average complacent viewer so much that witnessing their antics on TV becomes a form of guilty pleasure that you can't resist. And a 'reality show' is the golden ticket that gives a thick-skinned ambitious individual the opportunity to become rich and famous in very little time. The late Jade Goody is a name that comes to mind when you think of international shock-stars. However, desi shock-star Rakhi Sawant has done one better.

She is now part of a show called 'Pati Patni aur Woh' where five 'celebrity couples' will embark on a challenging and learning experience while we, the viewers, get to see the goof-ups and predicaments they get into trying to take care of the particular baby allotted to them. Sure, the producers of the show would be expecting young parents, especially mothers, to empathise with and maybe even feel properly represented by these struggling-in-more-than-one-way celebrities. The show is apparently intended to capture all the stages of parenthood, from being pregnant to raising teenagers. I might be getting it wrong as a guy, but i'm pretty sure wearing an 'empathy belly' and walking around for a week doesn't quite replicate the experience of pregnancy.

And since the show aspires to bring in all facets of pregnancy to the forefront, perhaps the producers of the show should have devised some ingenious method to duplicate labour pains too. A friend who is a recent mother once, reluctantly, agreed to let the newly appointed nanny carry her baby girl for a while. Minutes later, she almost had her heart sliced when she saw her baby slip out and fall from the nanny's grip. Fortunately, the baby was fine, but it makes one wonder about the parents who let their babies turn into props on such reality shows and even advertisements. I once watched a segment on television where it was shown that chimpanzees are so protective of their babies that they wouldn't even let a tiny bird near them. And to think, Charles Darwin said we evolved.

Master of Fire

God is the devil, he burns us alive
Made fuckin impossible rules for us to abide
God himself misleads us and makes us sin here
Forces us to wear masks, fuck our veneers
He watched over me tearin myself apart
As i crawled to the shore he lacerated my heart
You’re giving me the worst kind of pain, God,
Each one of my loved ones you find and maim, God,
I would never have fuckin complained even if you slit my throat,
You’re the fuckin storm which splits the boats
You split her life up, you ignored my prayers
You broke her methodically, layer by layer
What did she do wrong, God? She is Purity
But you put her through hell, you fuckin destroyed her security
Let motherfuckers trample over her pure heart and soul
Her role of an angel you reduced to a prisoner’s role
Her heart is paradise but you filled it with dark clouds
Her smile gave me light but you covered it with black shrouds
I did my fuckin best to be good I did it for her sake
All my interests for her I was ready to forsake
But that’s not what you want, is it God?, you are a perv
You’re unfair, you never give people what they deserve
You fucked our lives, I feel destroyed
What I thought I had is now null and void
I trusted you God, in you I sincerely believed
But now I feel dead, I’m my own bereaved
I always told myself that you’d set things straight
You didn’t, you never do, you enjoy hurting and call it fate
Do what you wish to me God, I fuckin don’t care
But don’t hurt her anymore, she’s a gem,a stone rare,
Love isn’t real, there that’s the truth right there,
Life isn’t divine, it’s a motherfuckin nightmare.

Break Ups and Downs

I was in a relationship before. I guess i’ve realized lately that i’m over it, and now it’s time to tell others how to do it too.

My friend says that it’s all chemicals and after three years the chemicals stop working. I’m not in that relationship anymore. How long did it last? Five Years.

We were a lot alike. My other friend says those relationships Are the best. Or the worst he adds. Usually both he decides.

When you blow aside the leftover dust particles that once made up the connective tissue (that you considered to be unique and magical), you see that all relationships are about the same. The things you said to each other, they probably said to other people. You’ll go on to say those same things to other people, too. We’re all running tapes.

What I’m saying is that you probably landed here because the title interests you, or Google sent you here because you’re sitting at home on a Friday night looking for tips on how to get over a breakup.

The tips after the jump….

1. If you’re reading this list or others like it in hopes of getting over it, you’re nowhere close. Get off the computer. Leave your apartment. I know you’re still reading but really: go.
2. Call and Text your ex until you’re pretty sure they think you’re pathetic. If you were at fault, which you probably were, this will insure they will realize through your persistence that they made the right choice.
3. Don’t Believe the above rule and figure that your situation is different. Revel in the difference of your situation while your phone sits silent and your ex bad-mouths you and mocks you with their friends over martinis. Since this is tactical, and believe me it is, friends want to be on the winning side of anything. If you’re calling and texting, you already lost. And you’re behaving like a fail-factory still. If you’re lagging behind, they’re getting ahead.
4. Move from wherever you live. Your ex knows where you live and they know your stupid roommates, your crapcan furniture and can visualize you sitting at home. Take that away from them.
5. Change your number. I know this seems drastic but its necessary. They have your email, friends’ numbers, IM, etc. if they absolutely must get ahold of you.
6. Don’t Date anyone until you absolutely can’t stand it. Nobody will measure up for awhile and you won’t even be at your best anyhow. Dating someone out of the gate puts you at a tactical disadvantage, because you’re such a pathetic shitheap right now, nobody that you want will want you. You know how you told that fat or ugly person that you just got out of a relationship and you blah blah blah… Do that, but in earnest. Then keep doing it.
7. Enrich Yourself. Now that you’re free you have a lot of spare time on your hands. Your friends that you neglected while you were in love don’t feel bad for you and will treat you the sad sack that you are. So: read some books, find a better job, get some exercise, take a class that you wanted to take or build one of those homemade helicopters from the kit that you see in the back of Popular Science.
8. Become Less Ugly. You know what I mean. If you were better looking they would’ve put up with your bullshit for longer. If you were better looking you’d be reading this saying “i’m not really sure where Nikhil is coming from on this one”, or you wouldn’t be reading it at all. I’m not going to get into details here, you know what makes you ugly, try and change it.
9. Reflect on the relationship. The good and the bad. The only viable conclusion here should be that they are an idiot and despite your failures, they lose. And they’re probably out with some cheeseball right now, having a terrible time doing whatever they can to stop thinking about you. Now imagine them kissing that cheeseball because they don’t know what else to do. But you do. Think of that until it doesn’t bother you anymore and you loathe them.
10. Stop Looking for advice from lists, or from friends, or especially lists on a website that has the word Misanthropy in it.

Chin up, and all that stuff…