The turbaned me..

Many of your obviously already know about my interest in religion. Well till now I guess I was a bit hypocritical about being a Sikh. I believed in the fact that I must not cut my hair and should wear a turban.. yet I didn't do that. The reasons.. well there are many of them, ranging from the simple inconvenience to the psychological issues that fog your mind.

It took months of preparation.. both physical and mental to finally shake off that hypocrisy and to start following the path I believe in so strongly. I have started wearing a turban to work, which was obviously going to be the hardest thing as far as the physical part of it goes. The plan obviously is to grow my hair as well, which I couldn’t do without starting to wear a turban as well. So that’s what I’ll be doing next. I hope I can do this without much trouble..!

John Howard on the North-Korean nuclear threat..:

Interesting talks.. Prime Minister John Howard talks about North Korean nuclear test. I have put a link for you all in the title of this post so you can watch the video of this interview, so I won’t go into too much detail. I only wish to discuss this interview on a few points:

Question: We have troops in Iraq because we believed Iraq had weapons of Mass Destruction. North Korea proudly boasts it has Weapons of Mass Destruction, could we have troops in North Korea?

Answer: Well I don't think we should be talking about invading North Korea. We should try very had to solve this diplomatically. You never take military action off the table, but it's not something the Americans are contemplating. I spoke to President Bush last night and they are not talking about an invasion of North Korea. They are trying to get the maximum world pressure..

So what is he talking about here? First of all, the man has no opinion of his own. More than half of his answer was "what the Americans said" and not what 'he thinks'. I mean is it not bad enough that we invaded one country ruled by a torturous, pointless and irrational dictator who the governments wrongfully thought may have weapons of mass destruction.. but we won’t contemplate disarming a second country ruled by an equally me torturous, pointless and irrational dictator who openly boasts of having a nuclear weapon? But nah.. to make things worse, we had to have a prime minister who has no idea whatsoever. He has no policy of his own about Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran or North-Korea. Ever since 9/11, we've repeatedly seen John Howard chant whatever is said by Bush or Blair. So Mr. Howard borrows policies from UK and US, and burries his efforts and that of his nation in those of UK and US.

The question of why we don’t treat North-Korean president the same way we treated Iraq if not any harshly after this Nuclear test remains. But then again.. I've already discussed the double standards in world politics in my last post so we’ll let that issue rest today..!

Coup and Political Double Standards..:

Would it be a surprise for anyone to know that America has a policy (along with many of it's allies such as UK) that it will not support and will infact oppose any coup and a government/administration that comes into power through such means..? Of course they have such a policy. But do they abide by it? Well... that's a whole different ball game.

In 1999, the Pakistani Army under the leadership of General Pervez Musharraf celebrated my birthday by seizing control of power in Pakistan. Yes.. another coup in Pakistan. Although there was some opposing comments made about it in the west, little was said about restoring power to the democratically elected Primi Minister Nawaz Sharif. An immideate reaction was freezing of some loans to Pakistan and such other santions by different countries and organisations. But no further actions were taken.. and countries actually started going back to their nomal relationship with Pakistan as General Musharraf went about breaking his promises of restoring democracy etc. It has now been almost 7 years.. and Mr. Musharraf is by not means likely to restore power to the people of Pakistan or obeying the constitution. In these 7 years, instead of opposing the Military rule and dictatorship of Musharraf, the west (countires such as America and UK) have become close allies of Mr. Musharraf... now beat that.. Musharraf says..!

Now the list will go on, but let's jump straight to 2006 and look at a very recent example. The coup in Thailand. This year, it was a few days before my b'day that the Thai military decided that it was going to oust the democratically elected Primi Minister who was touring another country. Once again, there has been some opposing voices in the west, but nobody has said a word about reinstating power to the elected Prime Minister. The buzz words around are, "the world is watching with concern". You wait 'n see.. the world will still be watching in a few years time and little would've changed.

These examples along with unforgettable example of Saddam Hussain goes to show the double standards in the world's approach to these coups. It's interesting to see how some coups can be better than others.. since some attract more criticism than others. It's also interesting how someone like Saddam is allowed to rule over Iraq for so many decades and torture his people.. and also get so much support from the US for so long.. and just when it suited the US and it's allies, Saddam became the worst man in the world and had to be taken out of power through the means of a bloody war..!

O well, let's sit back and watch with concern what happens next in Thailand. Don't be surprised if you see the stories of Pakistan and/or Iraq repeating themselves in Thailand.

And God said.. 'Let there be War..!"

War on Terror, War on terrorists, or just a bloody war..?

I’m not sure if America, Britain and their so called allies are fighting a war on terrorism or just the terrorists. I’m not sure because I don’t think the administrations of these countries are sure themselves. I have two reasons for saying this.

Firstly, how can the world politicians claim they are fighting terrorism when they can’t even agree on what exactly is ‘terrorism’. Not long ago, the world leaders met (something to do with some organisation called UN) to pledge their dislike for terrorists and pledge that they will fight them together. Don’t you think it’s funny that these people were pledging to fight terrorism together when in the same meeting, they couldn’t agree on a definition of terrorism?

Secondly I think is the recent report issued collectively by a group of all 16 major intelligence agencies in the US. The study states that the threat of terrorism has increased after war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also states that the Islamic fundamentalism which is seen as the cause of most of the terror around the world these days has increased after the Iraq war. Yet American propaganda will have you believe that it’s wining the war on terror.

I think America, Britain, Australia and the likes are all in denial. Denial that Iraq was a the biggest bungle-up of the 21st century. In spite of the report I mentioned above, I heard Tony Blair on radio yesterday.. completely missing the point. Instead of addressing the issue, he was going on about how it’s not the British Army that’s killing all these people in Iraq and elsewhere today. It’s the terrorists. Well of course it’s not the British Army. And that’s the whole point the report is making.. that the terror has increased around the world. Believe me.. Tony Blair has lost it..!

Admission of our errors is the first step in correcting them. It appears however that the denial of people who are supposedly on war with terrorism will stand in the way of logical thinking. America and Britain along with all their allies came up with a pile of alligation against Iraq to build up a case for war. Soon after the war supposedly finished, all those reasons went walking and in came a whole new excuse.. all these world leaders, instead of admitting their failure in reading the intelligence started talking about how they have liberated Iraq. Well that's not what they said before the war..! But anyway, all that is old and perhaps irrelevant now. What is relevant however is that whatever their intentions might have been, and even if we were to believe that they intended good for everyone, their methods were wrong. They don’t agree on what terrorism is, but even if we agreed that unknowingly they are in fact fighting terrorism.. their methods are far from effective. And that’s what this new report goes to prove.

Learn people learn.. we aren’t doing ourselves any favours here.

Return of the Bludger..

Okay, so I disappeared for more than 4 months again. Now how bad is that..! But you guys should be used to that by now, shouldn’t you? So let’s see what my excuses are this time..! Hold on, I didn’t say excuses, did I? No, of course not. I meant let’s see what I’ve been up to in the last few months, and what am I into these days..! Among other things by the way, one reason for me not being here is my laziness. So I winder if I should go back to my old blog and call myself a bludger again. haha.. anyway, let's get on with it..:

Poetry found a new home.. I mean my new poetry blog. I started it months ago, but just the way this blog has been deserted for months, so has the poetry blog. I will get back to it though. I have added a link here though. So anyone interested can click on the link on the left of this screen and have a look.

A few things I’m confused about once again are study, Australian citizenship and the job. Did I ever mention on here that I refused to go to the citizenship ceremony after they approved my citizenship application? Well I did. I found out that if I gave up my Indian citizenship (or even if I had dual citizenship), I had no right to own or inherit our agricultural land back home. Not that there is a lot of it, but whatever there is, why lose the right to own it. I think it’ll be the saddest thing not to be able to inherit the very land I feel so close to. There’s an English song I heard the other day called “Sicilian Born”. The words that had my attention were, “Home is not where you’re born. Home is, where you’re prepared to die.” And I wish to be reunited with that village soil before I die. Anyway, without getting to sentimental here, I should move on. So the next issue was job. The current job is great. I don’t have to work too hard and it pays well. But it’s not something I wish to do forever. But the only other jobs I am currently interested in are Federal Government jobs and they require me to be an Australian citizen. So there is a clash of interests. Thirdly those jobs ask for a degree whereas my Indian degree is not considered a degree here. So that brings up a question of further education. I’ve always wanted to go back to university. The only issue is to decide what to study, and where to study. My options there are limited again, because I can only study through correspondence. Attending uni is no possible with my current “FullTime Plus” job.

Okay so that’s all about my confused state of mind and the issues confusing me. It’ll be silly to pledge more time for my blog again. I know and you know that I won’t be writing here all that often. Time doesn’t allow me that. But anyway, I will try to get back to you all sooner than the last time.

So for now, goodbye
Cheers

A lost friend..

“I’m sorry to have ever know you." Those were a friend's words. My brain didn't know what to think and my hands froze.. fingers didn't know what to type in reply. It came as a surprise, but for someone who talks as much as I do, who preaches as much as I do.. it had to happen sooner or later. Sad it happened this way, and sad that it happened with one of my closest friends. But pherhaps it had to happen to make me realise how wrong I can be sometimes.

This is one of the saddest days in my life. What’s worse is the knowledge that I’ve caused it. I lost a friend today. Perhaps forever. I hope it’s not forever.. but is that wishful thinking..? I don’t see much hope of putting the pieces back together. Besides, I think she deserves better friends. People who can treat her better. I'm sure I would if I get another chance, but I don't think I'll ask for one. Not at this stage anyway.

This was a friend I had known for many years, and I’ve loved her as a friend. For some reason, I never thought I could ever lose her as a friend. But I’m sure some of you can relate.. that when such a close friend tells you that he/she is ‘sorry to have ever known you’, it hurts a lot. But then if such a friend says that and pledges never to speak to you again, it tells you how much you must’ve hurt him/her to have caused them to say so.

I’ve never tried to portray myself as a perfect man. Nor do I say that I’m always right. But according my newly lost friend, that’s exactly what I do. I know that my thoughts are very idealistic and I tend to often preach such a living. But that’s because I believe that if my thinking is not idealistic, I will not try to be a better man. I don’t think one can improve by compromising with the basic thoughts. By the time we put those thoughts into practice, they are adulterated by evils around and inside us anyway. So why start with polluted thoughts? But according to my friend, that’s what I do.. portray myself as a perfect man. Maybe I do though. I know we can’t always see our own faults and we need someone else to tell us when we are wrong. I know I don’t readily accept my faults. I am a man of many questions. I reason everything I am told and if I can be shown that I am wrong, I have no problem in accepting when I’m wrong. But maybe I am too insistent about me being right. Maybe I do come across as someone who’s trying to portray himself as a perfect human being. Sad if I come across like that.

The mistake I made was using some very rude words in describing my friend. We’ve been so close that I always tell her where I think she is wrong. She does the same. I don’t think there was anything wrong in what I was trying to say. But the words I used were no doubt very rude and uncalled for. I’m generally told by my friends that I can be quite diplomatic in the way I talk. But I was obviously not that in this case. From what she said, it appeared she was implying that I always talk like that.. or at least often do. I hope that isn’t true, because I’d hate to be like that.

I just hope I can take some good out of this grim day of my life. I hope I can learn something from it.. never make the same mistake again and never lose a friend again

Anyway, for once, I really need feedback on this post. If you are someone I know, and/or someone who knows me, please post your comments. Please try ‘n be honest and straight forward. I need some constructive criticism on the issues I discussed above or any related issues.

Back at work..

The trip to India was great. And now that I'm back at work, I miss home. It's hard to come from a month long holiday and get back into routine at work. I've been back at work for some time but still feels strange to be back. I wish the holiday was longer and that I had heaps more money to stay back home.. travel around India and do many other things that I wanted to do. But I guess we have to work.. life has to go on.