To henna or not ? !

I used to colour my hair with henna. Because my hair is brown .I thought it suited my hair's colour. Slowly & surely, henna made my  hair go dry.My hair was increasingly turning white .The time needed for re colouring was getting shorter . 

And then, I saw this advertisement for a dye wherein, they showed an Orange aunty whose hair had become orange because of continued  usage of henna. That did it ! I was suspecting that my crowning glory was growing florescent with that bright saffron shade !!! And the commercial of Orange  aunty  (  teased so   by all kids in the commercial  ) confirmed my belief ! 

 I am sure, very soon, one party was going to use my saffron shaded hair to their undue advantage !! I was in two minds if I had done right, by deciding to go colour free  with my hair. Because if I can milk netas & their cronies, I could get even with them ? !

The fact, is that my hair strands had started looking orange as if they were  on fire...somewhat like the party, which is on ignition  ! And my hair strands are  always flying as if there is  a wild fire ! Maybe ,there's something in the air ? !

 That's why, my untamed  hair fire  could be mistaken for the party & vice versa ! And my  well wishers would try to douse the fire on my head with water to cool me off ....Then I could catch a cold .Now, only, if such strategies  worked for politics & yet, some things change for the worse.

My  hair  has many hues now, that it's trying to shed henna.White, whitish grey, grey, greyish white, brown, brownish white, brownish grey, brownish white, saffron white, & so on. In fact, if anyone needs to match colours, there are ample choices on my head ! Or, rather amidst my mop of hair ! On second thoughts, maybe, I  can find employment with any company selling paints .Maybe , even with any showroom selling clothes for ladies .

And yet, going off henna has some plus point.The other day, I was at the airport to bid goodbye to a guest.It was midnight, when I & my husband decided to return home. I asked a security guard if an auto rickshaw can be hired at the departure terminal itself. He reluctantly said, " No, madam. And yet, cannot  say, no to you as you are a senior citizen . "He was staring at my hair which was shining like silver against   the mid night sky . And he himself, hailed an auto & amidst protests by the auto driver, bundled me & hubby into the auto rickshaw.So much for being young & grey !

Parasite

Parasitism  as per Wikipedia ,the online encyclopedia, is a relationship between two organisms where one benefits at the cost of another.The organism which lives at the cost of the other organism is the parasite.The organism on which  the parasite thrives is the host.So the parasite is a guest  in one sense though a permanent one ! Examples of such parasites are plants like mistletoe,cuscuta, & in the animal world, the parasites are tapeworms,leeches,etc.Viruses & bacteria are parasites as they invade the hosts & thrive there in the host body.Some orchids are parasites, which just goes to show, that appearances are indeed deceptive !

No record about human parasites are listed.This is far from the truth.The word Parasite was first used in English 1539 .It is derived from parasite which is Medieval French .This is turn has come from Latin parasitus : latinisation of the Greek parasitos which means one who eats at the a table of another.Parasitism was coined in English in 1611 from the Greek words para & sitismos which means fattening , feeding.


In a sense, almost all humans can be classified as parasites - when adult children live in the homes of their parents & adults get dole from parents ,siblings ,etal as they remain unemployed to laze around. In one  sense, they are adelpho  parasites as  such parasites  resemble hosts so much so, that both may belong to the same family ! So its all, in the family !

The wife is a parasite on the husband as she expects him to be the provider,the protector, etc. The husband is the parasite  on the wife, as she cooks,cares, brings up children etc. These roles of husband & wife have undergone many changes in this age & still the mutuality of existence, which is the basic premise of parasitism continues.

People are kleptoparasites as in such cases,food gathered by one is appropriated by others.Some appropriate food,still others shelter,many others jobs & so on & so forth.So hard work by host  yields fruit to the parasite.In office,research,project,done by one is misappropriated by another leading to promotion of the parasite ! That is why parasitism is coveted by many !

Humans are social parasites as well. People  take undue advantage of the various interactions in society   to suck life out of their near & dear ones.Brood parasitism as seen in case of the cuckoo bird is  observed in the human race as well.Cuckoo bird  gives birth to young ones & instead of building nests & taking care,the cuckoo leaves its young ones in nests of others like the crow.In such cases,the crows are the baby sitters for the young ones of the cuckoo.Grandparents,neighbours ,relatives ,friends,are baby sitting for kids of their offsprings ,siblings,etal !


.Even our netas are parasites living off the country as they hardly do anything worthwhile for the nation.The members of our legislatures are  in fact, parasitoids as in this case,  the development of the  larva of the parasitoids  leads to the death of the host.Witness, where our nation is headed, all  thanks to the generation next of our netas. Our leaders  are predators, as they are killing the prey that is, our nation, slowly & surely. This predatory characteristic is  typical of parasitoids.


Parasitism leads to diseases like malaria, bacterial & viral infections,etc.It gets endemic & spreads widely & rapidly.Animal & plant hosts have developed mechanisms to repel & prevent parasites . Humans are yet in the dark, about the dangers of parasitism which has become  deeply ingrained.Or maybe, human hosts are addicted to their parasites & that's why they are unable to shake them off. Parasitism may sometimes lead to some benefits for the host.Grandparents enjoy company whilst taking  care of the grandchildren .Still benefits are few & far between.

Perhaps ,crusaders like Anna Hazare ,Arvind Kejriwal ,Kiran Bedi are telling us that we must rid our Bharat of parasites.The individual hosts must take cue from this & develop mechanisms to prevent if not repel parasitism.After all, prevention is better than cure !

Plagarism is mono parasitism as it is copying from one source while research is multiplagarism that is copy pasting from multiple sources !This leads us to the fact that,the parasitism of plagarism & poly ( multi )  plagarism is thriving  in this internet age, all thanks to copy & paste !

Last but not the least ,for this blog post ,the host is  Wikipedia ( Parasitism ) & the parasite is yours truly !

Twitter outsourced ? !

A news report said that, Twitter is seeking views from our honorable minister of State for External Affairs ,Mr Shashi Tharoor ,on the secret of having so many followers on Twitter.They are supposed to be more than six lakhs.An enviable figure indeed.But does the huge following represent our nation ? Very doubtful -it symbolises the haves who keep following a minister who is a rebel in the Cabinet but what he is up against is unclear.To be blunt,he himself is unsure, about what he wants.If he is against the party which  gave him a ministerial berth or against his boss,Mr.S. M.Krishna,is also very very hazy.The end result, is that, he is more talked about than our foreign policy or whatever is left of it.

He is perhaps so used to five star comforts that he made one suite his home during the supposed austerity drive by the Government .This embrassed the Sarkar very much but he retorted that he was paying for it.Now,as a minister he could have shown restraint on his personal expenses but alas that was not to be.Moreover,he was told to shift base to Kerala house ,which he refused saying that it had no privacy & no gym.If he wants privacy, then why is he going public by tweeting ? Maybe ,he is trying to tell that as a minister ,first his grievances be heard before he can lend  an ear to what is afflicting our foreign affairs !

Then,he tweeted about his flying in cattle class & later clarified that he meant the cramped conditions in the economy class.He opined that flying economy meant that ministers cannot do any work whilst they are on flight.But, then,he meant that unless they,the mantris  are flying ( physically as also mentally ) high up ,they don't get motivated to do any work whatsoever !

He   said  that  Haj issues were handled by him after keeping Mr S. M. Krishna informed .He did what he felt was fine as per his own ideas .This is because he follows a cliched saying which states that consult all but do as you wish .This is actually going against the Cabinet form of Government.But then,who will bell a cat who  till recently was hobnobbing with world citizens ?

His books "India : From Midnight to Millenium " were recently brought by his ministry for distributing to Indian Missions abroad.Of course,he denies any knowledge but then we are so used to our netas having no memories of such things .So in  this ,he behaves like others of his ilk.But by tweeting regularly ,he would have us believe that he is different ! As they say,the more things change,the more they remain the same !

But we must admit that he is a multitask master -he is a Minister ( of State ) handling External Affairs , a novelist of repute ( otherwise his ministry wouldn't have brought 150 copies of his book ) & now the latest- a twitterer !

He has had such huge following at Twitter, that a senior official from Twitter will soon be meeting Tharror to discuss how to address grievances via twitter.I have still to hear that any complaints have been addressed by the twitter minister but no harm in being optimistic.Do we have a choice anyway ?

For all we know,we may soon hear that, twitter has been outsourced to Tharoor  ! Tharoor will be the CEO of TPO ( Twitter Process Outsourcing ) .Obama may protest, but then we have nothing to complain as we have conquered  yet another avenue , never mind the pitfalls !

Redevlopment

The Mumbai High Court has ruled that even one member can stall redevlopment by refusing  the same.This gives a lot of power to members individually.Actually,it is a triumph for the  individual.It is against the builders lobby ( sorry renamed as redevelopers ).

Many re developers have become builders now, after redeveloping old buildings wherever possible or rather made possible by their own intrigue.Re developers are experts at developing themselves not the buildings ! If you need any proof,please have a look at the SRA  ( SLUM REHABILITATION AUTHORITY )scheme wherein  all involved, are millionaires now ! But have the slums decreased ? No, so you have it there. Slums have increased & at a faster pace after the SRA came into existence.So much for have nots- more of them now. Actually,after some time,even we, may be, staying in slums thanks to the builder-redevloper-politician nexus .Moreover,we do stay in buildings but the other conditions-the facilities ( if any ) are worse than available in slums .

One answer for the builders against this judgement would be to approach the Supreme Court in appeal but then they know that they may lose there as well hence,this request  ( read order )to the powers that be to pass ordinance.We always suspected that criminals ,antisocial elements,builders,redevelopers etal were unofficial consultants to the Government & this just confirms our suspicions.This also makes them official consultants ,isn't it Mr Sunil Mantri ?Ordinances are superb tools with the Sarkaar as the Ordinance is passed by the Governor when the legislature is not in session.Not that our legislatures, whenever they are on, have given us any reasons to be proud of them.How can we trust these netas-opposition as also the rulers as many of them remain absent even when their questions are up for answers in the Assembly or the Parliament ?

But obviously,they are so busy redeveloping the city,the slums,the market,the trade,so & soon & so  forth-that they cannot  attend mundane matters like the question hour -so what, even if, they had asked the questions ?All are land sharks & will go to any extent to redevelop themselves.

Why can;t we have buildings wherein we pay a reasonable rent to the Government, like say, in Singapore ? This is because our netas want private lobby to develop our metros,cities,slums etc.or whatever is left of them after they have had their shares.Our cities are hells & our villages have fared even worse.So,there is constant migration from the villages to the cities .For all this -our leaders are to be blamed.We should start a public campaign against all this redevelopment which is just an eyewash to bleed us all !

The High Court has taken the first step -let us take it further & prevent further degradation of our surroundings & ourselves.This will also be our contribution for greening Bharat & thereby the Brahmand !

Price rise.

The government finally admitted what we all had been suspecting.That prices have risen alarmingly in an year ! Obviously against mounting evidence ,the government had to agree that inflation is on an all time high.

But that doesn't seem to spur the governmebt into any action.The other day our honorable Finance minister got wild when Brinda Karat interrupted him about the issue.He argued that the shortfall of tur dal cannot be made up & hence he is helpless.Now if our ministers say so,then why are they in the government ? Moreover,suppose that we take his opinion as the fact about tur dal,what has he to say about rising prices of other food items like rice,vegetables,fruits,etal ?There are no answers.Actually,there are but then our netas choose not to answer them.

Really,if even a problem like rising prices cannot be brought under control,the less said about other problems,the better.This government has betrayed the voters who gave them such a thumping majority by inaction & indifference.There is not even a  pretentiuon of trying to sort out any problems including rising
prices.

As a member of middle class,I will just curse & move on .But the poor are the worst hit.Moreover,those who are just better off than the poor have already slid down to below poverty levels by now. Many lower middle class people also will come to be counted amongst the poor now.The government was voted to power by these very poor people.Really,how are the voters feeling now ?I think tired by the explanatiuons given of trying to control price rise.Because,there is no evidence -not even an iota of it to prove that somebody is on the job.

Retailers are having a whale of time stocking up on food & selling them at a premium.As my vegetable vendor told me,"Abhi election main jo paisa kharcah hua,vo kahan se nikalenge ? Aise he nekalenge hamarey neta-daam badhakar."

Hindi oath

Our representatives have done us proud- that is they are fighting it out for the matrubasha.One for rashtrabhasha & another for rajyabhasha.When we have such support for our lingua franca ,we should actually rejoice.Where would be we all if not for these netas ? I mean our books, dramatics,scriptures,etal would be so much less enriched if these leaders don't fight like this ?

Abu Azmi ,is a staunch loyalist of our national language -this is what he would like us to believe.Really ! How much has he done for Hindi other than just taking an oath,I don't have any idea.Moreover,he thinks that the support for Hindi ends after he has taken his oath in Hindi.Also,he has not enlightened the aam janta like me about anything else he has done which even remotely suggests that he has advocated Hindi.

The MNS members fare no better - they keep advoacting Marathi for official usage but if they were to fill up any government form in Marathi,they will know where they stand in all this language farcas.The same goes for forms in Hindi too.The MNS opines that MNS is finished with its duty in the Assembly by wildly protesting against Hindi oath taking.They have been suspended- they would have not done much else in the Assembly anyway after this.Good riddance,less nuisance for the ramaining of the session.Not that others are any bad at disrupting debates,proceedings etal.But ,atleast the security will have to deal with four people less.

Abu Azmi has not been elected for the first time -as a people 's reprenstative.It is his duty to learn the local language .I am sure, there are Maharastrians also who have voted for him.Talking to people, whom he claims to represent in their language is so very advantageous.So why,is there such a hostility to learn Marathi ? He will just get kudos for doing that.He knows,this for sure, but wants to play divisive politics so that he can turn one against the other.MNS is also just playing Abu Azmi's game-they are in it together.

So ironical-that they both shout from the rooftops that they are for the respective bhashas but do nothing other than rioting. They should know that language does not require support from anyone -least of all from our degraded netas .Language devlops only when it is spoken by many & starts becoming inclusive of words ,phrases etal from usage from other languages as well.These people are only bent on killing both Hindi & Marathi.Let us not let this happen.

After all,if Hindi has a mitr like Abu Azmi & Marathi has a sakha like MNS,there is no need for enemies !