How 'Social' are you?

   Nearly 3 years ago, I jumped into the social networking bandwagon out of sheer curiosity. I wanted to know what all the fuss was all about. Since then, I've been hooked on and how! For someone who never understood how orkut had the whole nation was bitten by the social networking bug, I surprised myself by getting so addicted to facebook and twitter that I hardly had time for other hobbies.

  Initially, I was too gauche in my conversations ; it took a while to get the hang of these sites, to learn to differentiate between the face to face conversations and the conversations which everyone in your friend list could read. I feel hugely embarrassed when I go through my really old comments & status updates. From being showered with messages every hour to every message going unnoticed, from unfriending to being unfriended, from blocking to being blocked and sending requests to the people whom I unfriended, from a message that completely altered the next six months of my life to the comments that made me laugh, cringe, sad, furious; I've seen it all.

  People whom I hardly interacted with in school became my closest fb buddies whereas the closest pals kept drifting away. Monitoring my then girlfriend's moves, stalking my high-school crush's photos had become my favorite pastime. Facebook for me is all about give and take; you like my status/photos, I'll like yours. Pulling each others' legs, making sarcastic remarks and ludicrous altercations were no less amusing than watching a high octane drama.

  Following influential people, interacting and debating with eminent journalists, professionals, armchair activists on twitter restricted me from saying things that were remotely chauvinistic, racist, misogynic, ageist or homophobic. All my feelings of repugnance and aversion towards the LGBT community because my ignorance and sheer conservatism were replaced by respect and sympathy for them who get unfair treatment in this country to this date. How even today the chauvinistic attitude of our society is evident in the very fact that children in school are still taught that the father is the 'head' of the family and not the mother.

 On twitter, I made some really all kinds of friends - funny, weird, bitchy, agressive, gossippy, intelligent, naive etc. Some of these friends are nicer than the so called 'friends' I have in real life. Not to mention that I made some enemies and some friends turned into foes. I enjoy twitter the most whenever I get to kick a troll's ass. I remember giving a troll such a tough time that he changed his colours and turned treacly sweet towards me .

 Whatever leisure time I used to have is now occupied by facebooking and twittering but the real life is so mundane and dull that the 1-2 hours of my trip to the virtual world everyday is my escape from the stress, complications and troubles of the real world to find some relief by having interesting conversations or reading funny stuff which actually is a huge stressbuster. Interacting with people or reading what they have to say makes you feel much better when you are utterly downcast. In my opinion, it's more entertaining than TV which is only a one way communication.

 As enlightening and entertaining these sites are, they can be equally dangerous if not handled properly. You may find it hard to believe, but I made one of the biggest blunders of my life on Facebook. An aquaintance once accused me of being a social media addict. I don't mind that. I guess it is alright for a teetotaller like me who is not addicted to anything to be infatuated with the new revolution that is social networking. If you're not on any of these sites, I assume you live in a cave.

Religious Atrocities

   It's 3 in the morning and all I'm doing is shutting my ears to save myself from the unbearably loud mantras/shlokas being recited by an elderly woman in the temple next to my lodge. I understand the religious sentiments of people who like getting up early in the dawn and praying to the deities. But why do they have to disturb other folks who are peacefully sleeping like logs? How did these bigots manage in the days when there were no microphones or loudspeakers? Haven't their religious teachings taught them to live and let live?

 In my 5 years of stay at Attukal, Trivandrum, almost every student I knew there complained how it was extremely difficult it is for them to concentrate on their studies because of the blaring speakers during the month of march due to Attukal Pongala. They install loudspeakers in front of almost every house in Attukal and play mallu film songs (Yes! Film songs and NOT devotional songs) in the name of God. Does God really ask these temple people to disrupt the Annual/Board exam preparations of the poor students?

  Luckily for me, I could shift to CRPF campus every march just before the final exams commenced. But what about other kids who are still silently suffering from all the noise pollution just on the previous day of their exams? I had experienced it once and the frustration and torture I went through was unbearable. The distraction was even more difficult to resist when they played my favorite tracks.  The response of parents when we ask them to take an action against such cruelty is appalling, 'How can we ask them to take out the speakers when nobody has any problem with it? You are not the only student here with exams. There are other kids who are studying (suffering). After all it is for the God.' I wonder if God asked the temple authorities to play ear-splitting filmy music and cause such nuisance.

  Some of you may accuse me of blasphemy but I've never been a religious person. I have never liked visiting temples, though I liked going to church/temple sometimes to ogle at my crush. I remember telling my mom I wouldn't mind changing my religion because I am a non-believer. Mother would give me a cold stare and preach me on how it is essential for every human being to be blessed by God to have happiness in life. I don't believe in the myth that God will be pleased with you only if you go to temples and shrines and beg them for what you want. Even terrorists and criminals pray, but in the end karma teaches everyone their lessons regardless of whether they worship God or not. Having humanity and kindness is matters more than being religious. Here are some of my favorite atheist quotes :

 
"An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.  "
                                        
     - Madalyn Murray O'Hair 

 "I brought this case because I am an atheist and this offends me, and I have the right to bring up my daughter without God being imposed into her life by her schoolteachers."
        
      - Michael Newdow 


"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"

  "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me."

       - Emo Philips

"So you really think that God would plant a bunch of bones in the earth to test your faith? Either you're in denial or God has some serious self-esteem issues."

       -Coral Yoshi

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe."

           -Carl Sagan 
 
 

Movie Review - The Woman in Black

 The movie belongs to the genre of the horror movies of the 60s, where there is haunted mansion, paranormal activities,  candles, graves and a incessantly barking dog. Daniel Radcliffe plays the role of Arthur Kipps, a father whose wife passes away during the the birth of  their son. He sees a mysterious woman in black who keeps appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. The children of the village are made to commit suicide by the woman in black as a revenge for her own child being taken away from her in the past. Arthur refuses to believe the villagers and rubbishes them as their superstitions until he goes to the mansion which is forbidden by the villagers and experiences paranormal activities. The film revolves around Arthur's spine chilling encounters with the ghost and his discoveries about the past of the people who once existed in the haunted mansion.

  In his first outing after the Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe gives a tour de force performance and is convincing as a widowed lawyer. Albeit too young to play a father, Radcliffe brings a certain amount of maturity and credibility to his role despite his approach to the character remaining the same as Harry's.  The streak of similarity between the character of Harry and Arthur is in their courage and curiosity. As someone who has seen all the Potter movies umpteen times, I missed watching the Emma Watson and Rupert Grint alongside Daniel Radcliffe.

   The woman in black remains a mystery and nothing about her past is revealed  except when she is captured in an old photograph that was probably taken centuries ago. The plot could have been more intriguing if the writers gave us some background about the woman in and how her child was taken away from her. A continuity issue occurs when a clean shaven Radcliffe is seen with a stubble in the very next shot. Kudos to the sound effects team for upping the horror quotient.  The breaking of the eerie silence with a deafening screech or the clatter of toys makes one flinch sporadically. The scene where Arthur is almost drowned in the swamp is one of  the striking scenes in the film and is well executed. The movie may have a hackneyed plot with a cliched ending, but it still manages to keep you at the edge of your seat throughout the film. Although the movie is ho-hum in the first half, it picks up tremendous pace towards the intermission. The predictability and the slow pace is a tad bit disappointing. The occasional chills and the impressive screen presence of Daniel Radcliffe makes it an engaging watch. Go for it only if you don't mind watching run of the mill horror movies and like Daniel Radcliffe.

Rating : **

Wherefore art thou, my Valentine?

Another Valentine's day has passed and I'm still single. It's that day of the year when I'm reminded how much being single, being alone sucks! While couples all over the the world go on dates, shower each other with gifts, here I sit alone in my room, blogging about it.

When I'm in a big city, guys constantly ask annoying questions like, 'You're single?' with such sympathy and concern. 'Really?You have no sex life? That must suck! Don't worry, you will find someone. Just be on the look out.' As if being single means being worthless and something to be looked down on. It has sort of become obligatory to be in a relationship even when they don't love each other just to show off their boyfriends/girlfriends. Other unnecessary questions involve, 'How many girls have you been with?' If your answer is less than 3, the response from the guys would be, 'That less? Come on dude, you gotta up your game'. However, the lesser number of ex-girlfriends you have had, the more impressed girls will be. If your answer is 'none', be prepared for the mundane question, 'Are you gay?'

 Contrary to those folks who nag me with uncomfortable and personal questions, there are others (the small town peeps) who exclaim in shock, 'What! You are in a relationship! You had sex?', as if I have committed a loathsome crime. Especially for girls, I've seen them being categorized as 'characterless' if they choose to be in a relationship or engage in pre-marital sex. Such backward, orthodox beliefs are mostly the products of their conservative background. These sort of pervasive thoughts lead to prejudicial fallacies which impede the growth of a modern society.

  What I would really like to ask these judgmental and narrow minded people is to grow up and mind their own business. Your being in a relationship or being single does not measure your value or worth. And for the Judgy Judgersons out there, being in love, losing virginity is one's own choice and it does not make them any less of a good human being.  Well, as for me, just when I was starting to think it was the end of the world for me and I would never find someone again, I fell in love again. My heart skips a beat every time I see her. Could she be the one? Or is it someone else for me?  You never know, she could be reading this post right now! Hopefully, I'll be celebrating Valentines day with her next year.