Skip to main content

Posts

Salesmen of God

By
Christian evangelicals are similar to parasites[1]. The similarities are simply astounding. Among all predatory religions, Evangelical Christianity has done, by far, the greatest harm to humankind[2]. Like leeches, the Evangelical sucks the lifeblood of an unchristian society till it descends either into chaos and incessant civil conflict or the relegation of the culture to the pages of history(Bowden, 1985). Even in the 21st century this unashamed activity continues(Bhosle, 2003).[3]
Evangelicals usually have a similar methodology when it comes to proselytization. Like parasites, the target is usually one belonging to the most vulnerable section of society. This does not necessarily mean that they try harvesting only the most down trodden of the society(Kelly, 2001). And most certainly, the objective is never the upliftment of the persons involved. The target groups may, for example, belong to ethnic minorities, refugees (both economic and political), caste groups, the poor and the si…
Read more
Recent posts

When birds come home

By
It is mid March in Mumbai. It is supposed to be hot and humid. As it usually is all the year round with monsoon and December exceptions.
But it's cloudy today. To be fair, yesterday was also cloudy but today is dark. As dark as it usually is just before a downpour. It may rain and I don't have an umbrella with me. It's not that a change of weather is bad. I like rains. But the suddenness is rather strange.
I am not the only one confused with the weather change. The birds seem to be totally messed up by the onset of darkness. It was about 9 AM in the morning. The birds had just perched on the trees for their daily routine. The cloud came. They possibly understood that to be the beginning of the evening and end of day. Next thing I know, I see hundreds (yes, literally hundreds) of birds rushing back to their nests.
This is not a unique scene. I have seen this umpteen number of times in the monsoons. This is the first time I have noticed it in March (as far as I can remember) an…
Read more

New Year, confirmation and Dad's retirement

By
This is my first post this year.

I know it's late. It has been a long time.

I have paid the domain renewal about a couple of months back. But I did not feel like writing something new. The urge just did not come.

It is not that I suddenly feel like I must write something. But this seems as good as a time as any,

For one, my savings are getting better. This is despite all my financial mismanaging.

None of that is very surprising. My personal expenses are ridiculously low. So that helps. Whatever high expenses are there are entirely towards rent and travel expenses to and from home. That includes the flight fares.

I got my confirmation in Axis as well. It was a simple uneventful letter that I got from my CTO. The contents were pretty ordinary. But it felt reassuring nonetheless.

My Dad also retired from his 30+ year job with SBI and is not enjoying the benefits of retired life with my mother back in Kolkata. About time. He has earned it.
Read more

Once again in Mirik

By
This is a guest post by my mother, Lily Ray Gangopadhyay.

Once again in Mirik after 17 years, I felt very nostalgic because when we used to visit this place, my sons were little kids. Mirik is one of my favorite places. In 17 years it has obviously changed a lot, but still it remains sparsely populated,little crowded and a clean place.



Dad striking a pose (caption by Sarthak) Since this hill station is not at very high altitude one can enjoy a very comfortable stay here and the roads are very inviting.The lake is the main attraction of this place, the Buddha monastery,view point are very nice. I was lucky that the weather was so clear that Mt. Kanchenjunga was clearly seen all the time. Just for a restful walking around the lake, sitting on the grass and gazing at the bushes of pine and fur trees and the peaks of the Himalayas, this is my most preferred destination.











How to go>> one can take a taxi , share taxi or bus from NJP station,Siliguri bus stand or Bugdogra airport.It is l…
Read more

Sri Sri & Homosexuality – Another media hit job in the making

By
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (henceforth named as Mr. Shankar) is not new to controversy. Not even with topics like homosexuality. What the event wasAt an event in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ravi Shankar gave a talk on the occasion of the Nehru Memorial lecture on 13th November, 2017. One among the audience lamented that he was ill-treated since he was known to be a homosexual. Then Mr. Shankar stated that he needed to accept himself as he was and love knew no boundaries. Let’s see and hear what he said…Let’s quote Mr. Shankar verbatim as reported by some of the newspapers.
‘You treat yourself better, doesn’t matter how others treat you. You don’t think you are sick or something’s wrong with you. If you stand up, nobody can insult you… But if you feel weak and meek, and if you feel bad about yourself, nobody can make you feel better.’ Indian Express reported this in addition as well. Let me quote it directly here as well.
‘This is your tendency now. Just acknowledge it and accept it, and kno…
Read more

The Kolkata Traffic Policeman

By
Kolkata is a busy city. It is not as busy as any of the other Indian metropolises or even some of the other major cities of India. There are few industries left. So not many people from other states come to set up shop. Instead, the young and the educated leave the city for jobs in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.
Among those who are left, no matter what, are the traffic policemen and women who patrol the city and maintain law and order. Their job is most challenging during the ten days of Durga Puja. Even though most of the police force is Hindu, they are barely able to celebrate the Puja the way we are able to. 
The city is 'sensitive' and the traffic snarls that the city suffers makes their presence mandatory. In numbers that are greater than usual.
The consequences of their deployment is felt right away. The cars move, the jams are reduced to a minimum and hooliganism is reduced. But all this comes at a cost. A cost to the men, women and even kids who work as the ubi…
Read more

The Sound of Cooking

By
Professional videos should look good. That is obviously the conventional wisdom. And there is nothing particularly wrong with that either.

But there is something we tend to miss often.

Professional videos should have even better sound.

Of course, one can excuse him/herself by stating that their videos are not meant to be of a great quality.
But here's the problem.

If you are shooting and sharing with friends and family, that is one thing. But if you wish to create a channel and you actually CAN do your stuff properly - you should take care about the metadata. YouTube channel owners should ideally consider their work as semi professional - especially if they ask for subscribers and likes in the video.

Let's assume we (the audience) know that you know about your thing. Say you are a cook, as in the video below. The cooking skills are good, the location is nice, the camera angles are standard, the animations are good and video quality crisp. But what really lets the video down i…
Read more