Sunday, December 24, 2006

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Untitled Album

Untitled Album

Location:
Date: Dec 24, 2006
Number of Photos in Album: 2

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Viperjazz in Petra

Jordan Trip to Petra & Dead Sea with Cathye and Khalil with us.

Viperjazz in Petra

Location: Jordan
Date: Sep 15, 2006
Number of Photos in Album: 5

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Viperjazz in Europe 06

Trip to Denmark, Berlin, Vienna and Salzburg, driving throughout upper Austria on the romantique road :)

Viperjazz in Europe 06

Location:
Date: Aug 4, 2006
Number of Photos in Album: 1

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Gita Pe Haath Rakh Kar...



B and i got talking today about religion and then were talking about how Hinduism is basically  a philosophy and not a  religion per say. We got talking about the holy book and realised that we have none! The
Bhagvad Gita isnt really a  holy book for Hinduism, at best it is codes and verses talking about philosophy and takes.I was wondering after that why do we use the "Geeta" in a  court of law and swear to say the truth based on it?? Technically it makes no sense at all. It all boils down to the Brit hang over still, we follow a  judicial system based on theirs and since they use the Bible we use the Gita. It does'nt make sense but we still do..why?? one wonders.Keeping my hand on the Gita and lying or telling the truth bears no significance to a  Hindu or anyone esle as it is not the significator in our case in India anyways. Such inanity. So many years after independence and we still tow the line.. or do we??

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Sunday, October 30, 2005

What for ?!! callous disregard for human life...

An injured person, medical condition not known, is carried to a hospital in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005.

Delhi Blasts Diwali October 29th 2005
Papia H. Sah

Dubai 4:15 PM

In the afternoon, Dad and i decorated the Diyas, i tried on the new floating candles and after a long time, being away from India , it felt like Diwali all over again! Diwali is so special for us, people get close, it lights up everywhere, and i waited till Pashu got back , for today we thought it being close to Dhanteras, that we would buy something for the house.
Pashu comes in and asks me if i know anything about the India blasts. I shake my head and we switch on NDTV and watch in horror!..mangled bodies of children and women, who were out for Diwali shopping just like anybody else.

New Delhi 6:05 PM

Sarojini Nagar Market, the market has so many memories, this is where i would have been if i was in Delhi!, I pick up the phone on instinct and dial my sis' number... she tells me in relief that infact she had been there and missed the blast by 10 minutes. I heave a sigh of relief, and then feel pathetic, about feeling better after i see so many people utterly devastated. I see pictures of the Chaat Corner i had frequented so many times !!
I switch channels, and there is horror in all.
After a few hours , they report the train accident in the south, mangled bogies, hundreds hurt and dead.

Hasn't the world seen enough natural destruction this year? Do more people need to die ?

Is this worth any cause!!??

Does any religion support this in the true sense?


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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Horror Camps & Dubai

Horror Camps & Dubai
Papia H. Sah

It was yesterday that someone pointed out this French Documentary to me on www.expatwoman.com

Visit this :::
link ::: and scroll down to see this "Dans les soute de l'Eldorado". You need a broadband connection to view this, or else wait for ages!, I do not understand French like a lot of people, but what the documentary was pointing out is quite plain to see.
Dubai, a modern city ... in respects,

The tallest.., the largest..., the newest..., the swankest...etc etc, the list goes on. But care to see the muck, beneath?90% or more of the labour force in Dubai is Asian origin, most Indians, Pakistanis & Nepali. The documentary features, living conditions and gross human right violations. Not like i don't see it around me all the time, but this on TV was so "in your face!"

To list some atrocities…

* An average labourer gets 400 AED [ 100 USD ] / month...IF he gets it
* Some do not get paid for 5 months at a time.
* They can not bring family, this privilege is only for expats earning more than 4000 AED / month.
* They go home after 2 years
* They do not have their passports on them
* They have no health benefits
* They work outside when it is 45 - 50 degrees Celcius, day time temperatures during summers
* 6 people share a room with no cooling other than a fan, remember in Dubai, night time temps are 38 degrees
* It's a concentration camp
* 50 people at a time share toilets and bathing Place with terrible hygiene
* An average suicide attempt every month amongst them
* In Dubai you have construction going on day and night, guess who does it?

I am not talking about small numbers, each “labour camp” as it is called can have more than 10,000 workers and there maybe many labour camps.
World Wars are over, Hitler is obsolete, Genocide is taboo, but here in the most modern cities of The Middle East, concentration camps continue and flourish, with more being recruited each and everyday.
In this day of science, technology, human rights, whats our excuse?

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Coming to America

Coming to America
Papia H. Sah

For reasons too many and too idealistic to pen, I have predominantly had very strong opinions about moving to the "land of opportunities". All said and done, and for those who have tolerated my monologues on how "stupid" it is to want to move out of India, I am much disgruntled with my 'catch 22' situation! If you haven't figured it out, I'm here! How? … Well, as couples stupidly says their vows together, most without realizing what it means (not the case for me, which is even more frustrating)… I said mine too, “For better or for worse,” ...so, that's how I'm here;
from what I gather it's not even a novel enough reason, 70% of people share that in common with me as a chief reason for immigration to the US! grrr … More insult to my "whatidliketobelieveasmyintellectualnonclichedpersonna" !(MS Word is having trouble with that word; on second thoughts, so am I-are you too?)
As I believe is natural, once out of synch with one's roots, one tends to be more ID fanatic; so me being no exception, I embarked on my journey to spread enlightenment about “India” to the so called ill-informed “junta” here. I had this strong urge to “educate” the “American” about “India.” You will soon realize reading more of my writing (not much reason to want to, but just in case being a fulltime miserable strikes you as a good profession) that I tend to use “quotes” around terms when I almost always have the deadly feeling that if someone asked me too closely about them, I will have trouble telling my elbow from my hind about it! Anyways, aren't I such a great digresser? Which makes me say, “…coming back to the point.” (Notice the “ ”)
Recap: Embarked on my journey to spread enlightenment…
A lot of the times I had a rapt audience who were genuinely enlightened with trivia about India. I think a significant reason for such ignorance has a very good reason… there still isn't a published “For DUMMIES -- getting to know the world” version in print. Hopefully, my entrepreneur will latch onto that in time (I should probably sue someone who steals my business idea, after all it's the US -- best way to handle bankruptcy. The juntaa here for sure has progressed from the days of visualizing snake charmers on the roads in India all the time. Thanks to CNN, they now think there are only Orange Bandanas and Devdases. It took me a long time to explain to explain to them that there are also a lot of Charan Dases and Hari Dases as Shekhar Suman put it in his interview with Sanjay Bhansali, and that someday soon Bollywood would put their stories also on the screen.
The informed socialite of the cultural capital (New York) here are the handful that do watch BBC news and participate in anti-war protest marches; it's even harder to convince this “informed” group that Dominique Lapierre wrote City of Joy based on a particular area in the world's most dreaded hellhole… Calcutta, and that all of India can't be described on the basis of that, even though poignant stories like that are based in real settings.
The “cultural capital” of the US brings to light an interesting conversation an Italian friend here narrated to me. Sandra… (I just remembered I'm in the USA! All characters mentioned henceforth are purely fictitious and a product of the author's imagination. Hey! After all I'm a designer; visualization is a honed skill I have)…
Where was I? … Yes… Sandra's mum was visiting from Italy, and since Sandra was at work most of the time, she suggested some Community College Classes to her mother to kill time. On visiting some of the best here, she brought back a 40-page catalog with 6-point text print on American History. The course was for 16 weeks and had 5 credits. Her mum summed it all in one go: “I had no idea Americans had enough history to cover that much course material.” Much as we disregard the outdated generation, that was wisdom pouring good and gold!
On one of my trips up North, I saw banners flashing “WORLD CANOEING CHAMPIONSHIP” all along the road to the prestigious Princeton University. My guide was showing me around the homes of some of the most famous characters in Princeton, Albert Einstein, John Nash, etc, but I did not want to miss out on any international event (I miss Cricket awfully!). I reached the canoeing competition and… “World” here means the 48 US States… Damn! Damn! Damn… the kids in the Kerela backwaters can canoe before the overgrown Ivy League intellectuals can spell their names!
Baseball… hotdogs… Baseball… cheerleaders, give me Cricket World cup any day! Truly world class. Okay, so the Indian team has been a shame, but what the hell… I'm very sore about the extra $150 for the world cup on TV!
By now you've probably figured out how convinced I am about my opinions about the land of opp…
Wait!
If you've stayed with me so far…
And you're sniggering just the way I am, wait to see what the “Indians” do to you.
Coming up in the next post…
Aah! But coming to America has to brush off somewhere! Welcome to over 400 satellite channels and a hands-free remote (it's possible, really it is)!
Merey paas hands-free remote hai… aur terey paas? See. There are some benefits after all.
As they say:
Phir miltey hain isi jageh isi samay agle hafte… Stay Tuned We Will Be Right Back After The Commercial Break
Coming up in the next post… or maybe not?

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Wednesday, December 31, 1969

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