Kushboo Controversy

Reportedly Kushboo said "it is fine for girls to indulge in premarital sex after taking care to keep unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases at bay" and she is arrested and dragged to the court. I don't see any problem with what she said, Last I checked India is a free country and we had right of speech.


Kushboo coming out of the Mettupalayam court, where she is being tried for Libel against Tamil Culture
Anyways what's so wrong about pre-marital sex? The puritans would say it's not the Indian way! Would I want my daughter to have it? No! Would I beat her and kick her out of my home if she has it? No! I would try to talk to her and educate her about safe sexual practices, and make her understand the implications and gravity of the situation.

What the people in Tamil Nadu are doing right now is a big farce, they venerated her by building a temple, when she was gyrating for the loud tunes in the movies, now they are throwing stones at her for denigrating Tamil culture. If you ask me, at the risk of being accused of generalization I would say Tamilians should temper their emotions.

What would any good good come out of dragging Kushboo to court? Would that teach Kushboo to respect 'Tamil culture'? Would that stop girls having pre-marital sex? Would that make all the stone throwers holier than all of us? All I could see is a politician having a nice day by stoking few fires.

What do they do now when their Goddess have wronged? Find an other goddess? What would happen to Tamil culture when one dumb-headed actress has an opinion about it? Would the centuries old culture crumble?

Wait,I have a solution, every one should have chill pill and go and watch a good Kushboo movie.

Jail in Downtown!

I just came back from Houston, I was there for a conference; thanks for asking My talk went well and I got good feed back. Of all things Houston could amaze me, the Jail building in Downtown Houston captivated me, whenever I would pass by it, I couldn't stop looking at it awestruck. It had these tiny slits for windows, probably reinforced. I could imagine the inmates peering through those tiny slits, longing to be on the road waiting for the light to turn green on the cross walk. To be fair, it's not a jail but a federal detention center, that is a transition facility where the felons wait to get sentenced and sent to a Federal prison.



The federal detention center in Downtown Houston
Being from India, I have never seen a jail as a big building in the center of the city. It's always a big compound in some corner of the city. I never been to a jail and I don't want to be but I was always intrigued by them, whats the sociological significance of locking these people up?

• To keep others safe?
  
• To punish them by taking away their freedom?
  
• To teach them to respect laws?
  

May be it's a combination of all these factors? Wouldn't it be dangerous to put all the "bad" guys together and make it easy for them know each other and increase their knowledge base. There must tons of research on pros and cons of jail system.

The closest I got to be in a jail is while was doing my undergrad in India. It was catholic college and the Jesuits priests believed in strict discipline and they would inculcate that by taking away our freedom for few hours daily. We had to be in our "rooms/pens" by 6 pm and should remain there in those holding pens till next 8 am next day. There were periodic checks and the absentees were punished severely.

My hostel In Vijayawada

I used longingly look out of the window at the cricket ground, waiting to play cricket or just stand on the road and eat sweetmeats as my 'free' friends. I believe that freedom is a fundamental right of every living thing and taking that away is a very big mistake. There are always exceptions like serial killers and child rapists, but where should draw the line? Would you put a sixteen year old bikejacker with a convicted serial killer? As usuall I dont know the answer and would apprciate your thoughts...

Symbols in Indian Culture

I was in the temple on the day of Deepavali and I suddenly noticed all these symbols around me. The diyas, the flowers on which the gods are standing, etc. Why do we need symbols? In Da Vinci code, a book by Dan brown, the hero is symbologist and a Professor at Harvard.

Obviously symbols are very much ingrained in all the societies of the world. I don't really know about other cultures but surely comment on Indian culture. The main symbols which we identify ourselves are the bindi and the diya. Let me try to understand what these symbols stand for...

Bindi

Tilakam or popularly known as bindi is worn by women, particularly married women on their foreheads between the eyes. This is for sure a symbol, but what does it symbolise? Not the marital state because most of the unmarried girls in south India wear a bindi. Is it a statement of vanity? most people think that it symbolises the third eye, which is suppose to be the eye of knowledge. Tilakam was worn by everyone including all men and it suddenly fell out of fashion and is now worn by women.


A beautiful face with a equally beautiful Bindi

I am sure it must symbolise something. It's a common practice to apply tilakam when one visits a temple, therefore it may symbolise your bhakti or nearness to god, or sharing something which has been offered to Gods. May that's the reason, it is a symbols for your devotion.

Diya

||tamasoma jyotirgamaya||
means let the light from diya fill the darkness. So on Diwali/deepavali people light lamp symbolising the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.
Diya is lighted almost daily before the god; agni(fire) is supposedly the medium by which one can communicate with the Gods. The fire on the jyoti also represents energy, considered the part of the divine energy source which we one is worshipping; a text book example of symbol.

A bunch beautiful Diyas
There are many such examples of symbols in our daily life; for example Swastiska symbol, which was made infamous by Hitler and The Golden eagle, symbol of the USA. Since prehistoric times, we humans have been drawing symbols, symbolizing rituals, branding ourselves.