Mississippi burning......

NOTE: I have purposely avoided citing references in this article since I do not want to link to the Klan's website and increase their page rank any further. Please Google "Mississippi White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan" to verify information.

This post is the result of a piece of news I came across yesterday about the Mississippi White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan rallying before an Ole Miss game.I know you hear all the time that the Klan is irrelevant today and has lost its power and influence, but it hasn't completely died yet.

In the 60s, this very same cell of the Klan was responsible for the deaths of the three well known civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner. James Chaney was black but Schwerner known as the "Goatee" among the Klan members, was the most hated. He was a Jew who rallied for the cause of African Americans and was promoting registration to vote among Mississippi African Americans. He was hunted down and shot at close range. He was a very brave man. The Klan tried to murder him a number of times before he was finally shot down in Neshoba county, Mississippi. They were expecting him at the Mount Zion church in Longdale earlier and when he did not show up, killed all the black men and women they could lay hands on and burnt the church. On hearing this, Schwerner headed to Missisipi to investigate the incident and fell victim to the members of the Klan.

Today, the mastermind behind these cold-blooded murders, Edgar Ray Killen is 80 yrs old, has dodged prison a number of times and is receiving donations -donations for man slaughter, from the Mississippi White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan. Protected by the first amendment, The Klan openly runs a website, uses the term "negroes" and has the audacity to claim that the whites have a higher IQ than the blacks. There are other equally ridiculous and baseless claims the website makes but I am not going to waste my time and energy talking about them. I don't think they deserve any attention or importance. I also found proof on their website to establish that republicans are indeed stupid blood sucking racist leeches. These are the images the Klan proudly displays on its website.



Even today I see some incidents that remind me of this sad past. The black Harvard professor being arrested by a cop for entering his own house , the loud, angry racist statements at the Palin rallies and so on. And though the Klan was outnumbered by the protesters in Mississippi , I have to ask where the rest of the student body was. 250 from a university with 17,000 people? They were perhaps watching Ole Miss take it out on LSU in a game dominated by blacks. Isn't it ironic? While the aforementioned events bog me down, the comments the HuffPo article received from its numerous readers cheered me up and the faces of my friends that I see everyday at work gives me hope.

As I sit here sipping a warm cup of tea, curled on my couch writing this article, I am aware that my freedom is a result of the sacrifices made by those brave souls who lay down their lives so people like me can have a decent one. I salute you and pray you give us strength if we are ever called.

A scary video

NOTE: This is an old draft that I just posted.


This post is about this scary video I just saw. Click on the link to watch it on you tube.

-- So the GOP is taking advice from a 13yr old? HAHAHAHA!!

This is just so wrong. No child can ever be a "natural" conservative, it is the inherent nature of children to question and not blindly believe everything that is said. Conservative principles in a child means he/she has been fed horse shit by his/her parents. According to this poor, brainwashed child and lots of other conservatives, conservatism is based on 4 principles:
1. Respect for the constitution- Like we liberals don't believe in it. Remember it was Bush that disregarded the constitution a thousand times?
2. Respect for life- I can debate on this forever, bring it on!!!. How do you hate-mongers define "life"? So eating meat is respecting life, legalizing death penalties is respecting life, owning guns to shoot other human beings is respecting life but preventing the development of an embryo that is unwelcome by society is sacrilege? Where are these people after the child is born? Those who rally to force other women to keep such pregnancies should prove their worth by sticking around after the baby is born. They won't because that violates their fourth principle- personal responsibility, which I will get to in a minute. Maybe all of you that ride the high horse should remain celibate, please don't kill the sperm! BTW, since when do men have the expertise to make decisions on pregnancy related issues?
3. Less government-This is my favorite. It is so freaking funny because the politicians are often saying this!!! What a joke! They know THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT but are slyly trying to shift the blame on this other thing. Oh wait, themselves!!!
4. Personal responsibility- Where did this personal responsibility bullshit go when you were 18 and looking for a job and a kind gentlemen offered to forward your resume? Where did this personal responsibility bullshit go when the social security helped pay your grandmother's bills? You ungrateful hypocrites!! This is the difference between the conservatives and liberals isn't it? Conservatives think THEY MADE IT ON THEIR OWN!! Whereas the liberals always realize that someone helped us along the way and want to reciprocate. Hey republicans, "Democrats brought in social security and you slugs rallied against it all the time and are now scaring and misleading the elderly by telling them that the govt is going to take it away from them!!! Like you supported the cause all along. Shame on you. And shame on Sarah Palin!!" I don't know why I brought in Sarah Palin, badmouthing her makes me happy.

Dhoom: 2

I just saw one of the worst hindi movies ever called Dhoom2. Man was it lame. The only redeeming feature was Hrithik Roshan, which is why I saw the movie in the first place. I saw Jodha Akbar a while ago and thought Hrithik had done a good job only to be conned into seeing this movie. Abhishekh Bachan looks like a monkey, especially when he drives his bike, he looks like a big orangutan sitting on a vehicle. I wonder why in the world Aishwarya Rai married this loser of a guy. What a worthless movie man.

Cultural events

When I look back at my school years, I wonder what I enjoyed the most. And it was the cultural events hands down. If there is anything I am proud of accomplishing, it is the fact that I took part in SO many events. I took part in Adzap, music competitions, dance competitions, drawing competitions, fashion shows, Rangoli, collage, dumb charades [somebody gently pointed to me a while ago that I had this typed as "dum charades", quite fitting :)))] ..... Name it and I did it. I feel so happy that I utilized every single opportunity I had. Of course, I had my parent's support in everything I did. They were always there to encourage me and pay for my expenses :)) If I ever have kids, they will go to every cultural event whether they do well in school or not :)) Ours was a girls school because of which we had the freedom to literally do whatever we wanted. I cannot ever forget how we danced like maniacs in sarees. I remember once when we were dancing, a woman took me aside and asked me how my saree hadn't fallen off after all the crazy dancing I was doing :)) Rhapsody was so much fun. Hmmm.... I wish I could all of that again. :((

OK.. sorry.

My previous post was vitriolic. I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings. Especially sorry to this friend who is dear to me. At work, she is the one who listens to all my ramblings and here I am dissing her beliefs. I know she does not read this blog or even know of its existence. Yet, I am sorry if you ever read this. I respect this friend of mine because her beliefs are polar opposite to mine and yet she never imposes her ideas on me. She has strong convictions but will never try to convince me that mine are faulty. She is the only person with whom I can talk for hours together and still not get into an argument with. Thank you for putting up with me and my caustic statements. :)) Peace.

I mean.. come on!!!!

[All pictures taken from http://www.durangobill.com/Creationism.html]


I am EXTREMELY angry as I write this blog. I just watched a video of some women arguing about creationism and Darwinism on "The View" and it drove me NUTS!!!! Sherri and Elizabeth Hasselbeck are so fu****g ignorant, it is not even funny. These women do not believe in Darwin and think God created this world. I am willing to bet all my money on the fact that neither of these women truly understand Darwinism. They just believe in one book, "The Bible". And EVERYTHING else that contradicts this "sacred" writing is bullshit. Ask these women to describe what they think evolution is and they are going to stammer and stutter. They are a freaking disgrace to women and society. And the worst aspect of this is that, it is women like these that homeschool their kids. I am not against homeschooling but am mighty suspicious that most of these people have ulterior motives. Honestly, I felt like punching Elizabeth's and Sherri's face. I fail to comprehend how religion and science got so mixed up in this country. I do definitely understand the need for prayer and such. Sometimes when you feel out of control, it is comforting to know that there is a superior being that can handle the situation. But do these people actually believe that there is a guy up there sitting in the clouds making children??? That is scary s**t. I am from a so called "third world" country and in my "third world" country, if you hear people dissing science, trust me, you will be ostracized. People in India might do things that contradict science and most of them don't even understand that their actions imply that, but no one would ever, ever diss science. I am not saying one shouldn't question science, questioning itself is one of the most important aspects of science but so is research. There is a question and there is an answer, but THERE IS RESEARCH HAPPENING IN BETWEEN. You can't just pull stuff out of your ass and expect to convince people. Where is the evidence? These people will publish stuff in some unknown religious journal and will claim it is science. And then when you tell them the journal has no impact factor, they will say, "Ahh.. all these other journals are run by scientists who are together on a conspiracy and therefore don't count." My foot they don't count. One can virtually concoct any number of conspiracy theories to wriggle out of situations but it is people who don't have any facts to back their claim that will come up with such excuses. So please spare me. If I ever see one of these creationists stepping into my house again, I swear I am going to break their face.

An ode to a lost loved one.......

Today we lost a valuable member of our family. Our dear dear driver Ganapathy. Though he did drive our cars for a living, he was far more than a driver to us. He was like an uncle to my brother and me, a younger brother to my dad, a son to my grandparents. Today, he passed away at the age of 42 leaving behind a young wife, an infant child and 2 young children.

I remember Ganapathy as this warm young person who had an eternal smile and referred to me as "papa". He was around when I first learned to ride my bicycle and was around to take me to my first swimming lessons. He was ever happy to take my grandfather to the beach and my grandmother to her gazillion temples. But today, he isn't around to either teach his youngest child to ride a bike or to teach her the alphabet. He was so proud to drive me around everywhere and eventually taught me to drive. One day, on the pretense of taking me shopping, he actually took me to the beach to let me drive our car. I was but only 14- 15 then and did not have a license. Being a rather clumsy driver, I attracted a cop's attention by driving on the wrong side of the road. Ganapathy so tactfully got me out of the sticky situation by claiming that I was a lawyer's daughter and spared me a good spanking. He saved my skin more than once and today I am unable to even see his face as he is being buried in some far away town in India.

Our hearts bleed. Ganapathy, you were a part of our family. You were there to help my grandfather move during his last few years and you were there to carry our grandmother when she was dying. You so skillfully lifted my uncle when he was immobile and today we aren't around to pay our last respects. Sorry!! We miss you!!!

Everyday ignoramuses.

I was conversing with a couple of visitors we had form Netherlands the other day. One of them is originally from Africa and my curiosity led me to ask her about her country. Here's the conversation.

I: Where in Africa are you from?
Visitor: Oh, I am from Zimbabwe. It is a small country in ..
I: Oh,please. You do not have to tell me where Zimbabwe is! Of course I know. And, you guys have a cricket team don't you? I am sure that makes every Indian well aware of your country.
Visitor: [Laughs] Well, we used to have a cricket team. Sorry for trying to explain the location of my country but many people in Europe think Africa is one BIG country!
I: Are you kidding me?
Visitor: No. Just the other day, I had this person ask me if I knew his friend John from Ghana!
I: No kidding.
Visitor: No seriously, they do not understand that Ghana is a totally different country. How am I supposed to know this John?
I: Oh, well, at least this person did not live in Africa. When I was in grad school and I told my friend I was visiting New Mexico, she asked me if I needed a visa. And this was not even an immigrant. She was a white American who got her degree in engg from Urbana-Champaign and her Masters from Indiana.
Visitor: Seriously??
I: Yeah!!!