December 7, 2011
The great moral police of India is at it again. A recent Slutwalk planned in Bangalore was blocked by the moral police working in tandem with the regular police.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the regular police recently arrested few members of a moral police group because they attacked an IT couple enjoying the local beach in their car. The couple had pleaded that they were married and the baby in the car was theirs. No use!
Justitia might only be blindfolded, but our local moral police is blind. Lady justice has her balance, these young men have none.
I guess rising unemployment will only led to swelling membership of these squads who find immorality in anything that they cannot have.
Talking of immorality, the Kazi (Islamic leader) of Delhi had refused to crown Aurangazeb (ornament of the throne) because his means for achieving the thrown were immoral. Not that he went to the beach in a car or attempted a stud walk, he had murdered his brother and imprisoned his father. Hearing this Aurangazeb had a new religious council formed who promptly dismissed the Kazi and appointed someone who could see divine hand in the events instead of applying silly instruments like moral compasses. Tavernier, being the jewel trader that he is, pours out pages detailing the emperor's finished throne.
In a rather inhuman attempt to irritate his old, imprisoned dad even further, Aurangazeb requests him for some jewels saying he has none for his coronation. According to Tavernier, this made Shahjahan mad for days. The imprisoned old emperor asked for mortar and pestle so that he could grind up whatever jewels he had and send the powder to his arrogant son. His daughter, who was imprisoned with him, talks him out of such destruction. She can, you know (Ahem!) After Shahjahan's death, she kept the jewels for herself.
It is heartening to see that the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program has come up with Kepler-22b soon after it was switched back on after the funding related shut down. When the telescopes are free, they should search the Indian media airwaves for signs of intelligence.
I enjoy the hour that I type out and edit this note. I like doing it daily. But I agree that it is not easy to create a cookery show daily. Even if it is only of 10 minutes duration. Couple of Malayalam TV channels have such shows around the lunch hour. The pressure of having to come up with something every day will eventually get to one, I suppose.
Yesterday one of the hostesses presented an amazing dish: tender coconut drink! I was hooked by the name itself. Tender coconut, naturally, is a great drink. How was she going to enhance it? I was intrigued.
For this "dish", she went about showing the ingredients first i.e. tender coconut, its water and flesh, some sugar! That took her about a minute. Next how the flesh of the coconut can be blended to a level of consistency (3 minutes), then added back to the coconut water (1 min) mixing in a tablespoon of sugar (1 min) and finally pouring into a glass (1 min). With the introduction, concluding instructions for enjoying the drink and the show's titles, a total of 10 minutes that I won't get back in my life.
Most of my day was spent reading about Shadow banking, Credit Default Swaps, Haircuts, Repo Markets, Derivatives etc. Mullaperiyar dam issue also remained an active topic. It is quite interesting that few days ago, nothing but my aches and pains bothered me. Now as health returns, so does my concern about matters happening far and wide.
In sickness, I remained unabashedly self-absorbed.
In health, apparently, I care about other matters.
I think rulers across the globe, dictatorial or otherwise, have recognized this fact to their advantage long time ago. Keep your population unhealthy and you can carry on with your shady dealings of exploitation risk-free!
It takes a healthy mind in a healthy body to be interested in the greater common good. I read recently that Vatican has called the yoga-assisted sense of physical well-being as the work of Satan and hence must be shunned. Couple of days back, a Kerala nun who has already trained thousands in yoga, was in the news here. More power to her.
The good old 'Krishi-Darshan' program on Doordarshan channel yesterday featured a show-chicken specialist from the city. He has over 10 varieties of beautiful chicken. Total of around 60 birds in his backyard. A pair of the amazingly long-tailed Onagadori chicken costs Rs. 25,000. He also has brilliant white Silkie chickens.Then there are the rumpless ones and others that lay blue eggs!
After retiring from the VSSC, he got into this hobby-business with the help of his son who mails him books on the subject from the US. The chickens are obtained through a dealer in Uttar Pradesh. I had no idea that bantam (miniature) chickens came into fashion after Southeast Asian sailors realized that these smaller versions were much better suited for long voyages.
The farmer mentioned that baby chics are fed boiled egg mixed with chicken feed for their protein requirement in the first week of their life. I hope the moral police didn't hear that!
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