India's national language

Being an Indian residing in a foreign country, I am sick and tired of being asked why I don't speak Hindi. I am not really annoyed with non-Indians asking me this question, but mostly with 'North Indians' who go on and on about why everyone in India needs to learn Hindi. And their ill-informed reason that Hindi is our national language drives me crazy. Now, lets set the record straight once and for all. Hindi is NOT our national language and if that is your argument then tell me, should we all be learning all the 22 or so official languages? Utter bull crap. Oh, and "life will be a lot easier if you learn Hindi, you can communicate with people from other states." Oh really? Why don't you travel to the south for a change and try to converse in Hindi, lets see how far that takes you. If these people are half as patriotic as they claim, they should all learn one South Indian language (like someone suggested). Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also part of India, just in case you didn't know. Those of you who still are in this dream world where everything Indian is Bollywood, please read this .

Hike at Jemez

It's been a while since I blogged, but here I am after a LONG break. Some of us hiked at the Jemez Springs this morning, near the East fork river, it was FUN. One of those hikes where you get to walk in water and on logs across streams. While today we just went half-way, a couple of weeks later, we plan to do the entire trail in which we will have to swim a bit too. Sounds like it is going to be fun and I am eagerly looking forward to it.

Women should work

I, like many of my friends, firmly believe that it is extremely important for a woman to be independent, she should contribute financially to a family. Some women choose to stay at home to take care of children and elders, I totally respect that but also think that at any given time, she should be prepared to go find a job if need be, she should have worked at some point in her life. Women are extremely talented and it is such a shame to let all that talent go waste. I have some friends who are smart and talented but are forced to stay home because their husbands don't find the necessity to send their wives to work. If the decision is jointly made by the couple there is no point of contention, but if it is the husband or the parents-in-law making the decision, it a totally different situation altogether and should be strongly opposed. We have but one life, and should try to achieve as much as possible in this short time. One thing I have noticed is that working mothers are able to instill a higher level of confidence in their female children. I definitely do not have any kind of research backing my statement, it is just a mere observation.

A love-hate relationship

Today was a very busy day, lots of work but I also had the opportunity to discuss religion with a very learned person. I complained to him "I just recently read this book about a religion and am appalled by the so called prophet who had all these wives, some as young as 13. He forced these women into 'holy' matrimony, how can so many people respect him? Beats me." As I uttered these sentences, the person who came to my mind was Lord Krishna! Lord Krishna did almost everything this prophet did, and yet, those actions never seemed blasphemous to me. But today, I question my religion, the religion I have been so fond of, the religion I knew had shortcomings, but I also thought possessed some redeeming qualities. But after this 2 hour discussion and reading some excerpts from Manusmriti, I must say, I am a bit ashamed. I definitely disagree with many of Hinduism's principles. If Hinduism procalims that all men are not equal, I don't need Hinduism anymore, if it has the audacity to state that God willed it that way, and if God indeed did, I am not sure I want that God either. I'd rather sin and not go to heaven then ill-treat fellow humans in the name of the almighty. Makes me wonder, how can we be so sure that these Gods we pray to, if they did exist, were indeed good beings?? Reading the satanic verses does make me wonder.

Prison conditions

I was watching this show on prisoners yesterday. It was eye-opening, the kind of torture these people are subjected to in prison is depressing. They are purposely kept in unsanitary conditions. I know that prisons are not meant to be comfortable. I realize convicts are not in prison for doing a good deed but for taking someone's life or property. But death sentences in general just don't seem right. How can we take a life to compensate for an already departed soul? How many times have we seen the blood covered cadaver of a terrorist and felt sorry for him? I can definitely say that no matter how cruel a life a person has lead, when I see his motionless body, tears run down my cheek. No one has the right to take another's life, irrespective of the kind of crime committed by him/her. In these prisons, prisoners are not allowed to read novels, they cannot write to their victims, they cannot play games like chess, they are not allowed to have romantic relationships with other inmates. It beats me to know that they are not allowed to do anything to improve their life. What is the point in putting them behind bars if the are not given an opportunity to better themselves? What annoys me most is that, most of those who claim to be 'pro life' are for capital punishment.

I don't recall...... :)

Attorney General, firing of US attorneys, God! This is the only discussion that takes place on C-SPAN these days. People asking the AG over and over again what the specific reason for firing the attorneys were and him confessing "I do not recall the exact reason sir, but I accept full responsibility for my actions". Please give the guy a break. For heaven's sake, he has no clue as to what happened, why it happened or even whose decision it was. Even if he does, it doesn't look like he is going to disclose the reasons. Just leave the poor guy alone. He is a republican appointee, you can't blame him for being ignorant! It is really amusing to hear the Republicans and the Democrats speak on this issue. While the democrats take the accusative route, accusing him and drilling him with questions on the firings, the Republicans keep thanking him profusely for the GREAT job he's done. Wow, what a comedy show. For all those as ignorant as I am on what exactly an Attorney General does, here is what Wikipedia says, "In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney-General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions". More on the AG here. The good thing about this situation is that, there are still channels like C-SPAN that deem such issues important, as compared to some TV channels that ceaselessly debate the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's baby while never even attempting to discuss the genocide at Darfur.

Cheese cake yummy!!

I baked a cheese cake yesterday!!! My very own cake for the first time!! Yipeeee! It was for a friend's party and it came out really well. In fact, I must say that it was probably the best cheesecake I've had. With orange zest and vanilla essence, wow was it delicious!!! I wanted to post the original picture of the cake, but the people cleaned up the plate in a jiffy!!! The cake did have a mango topping like the one in the picture, just without the strawberries. Now I have to find vegan egg substitute to bake one for my husband who has been pestering me for a while to bake a vegan cake. My first ever baking experience was with cranberry-walnut bread. That did turn out good but it had a crispy crust, while I wanted it soft.