What is rape?

An interesting corner that caught my fancy in today's Times Life newspaper. I just wanted to share this with all. Here's the fact file:

What is rape?
According to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a man is said to commit 'rape' when he has sexual intercourse (penetration also qualifies) with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the six following descriptions:

• Against her will.
• Without her consent.
• With her consent, when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in whom she is interested; in fear of death or hurt.
• With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband, and that her consent is given because she believes him to be someone else to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married.
• With her consent, when, at the time of giving such consent, by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication or the administration by him personally or through another of any stupefying or unwholesome substance, she is unable to understand the nature and consequence of that to which she gives consent.
• With or without her consent, when she is under 16 years of age.

Pls. share with all those u care about.

I sketched a girl

Yesterday, I sketched a young woman. It is a rear view. She is wearing a halter top with a knot at the lumbar area. Rest of the back is plain skin (backless top). Then, I put a low-waisted flowing skirt on her.
Her hair is curly and in a lil bun (rest of the hair emerges from the bun and wriggle down upto the base of her neck).

Yes, that's it: she looks good, i admit. Then, I tried to sketch the same lady (front view). But it turned out crap. So I'm just gonna show everyone the seductive rear view...lol.

If I later take a DG Cam shot of this, I'l upload with this msg.

Finished Da Vinci code

Last week I finshed reading the masterpiece best seller "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.
What an awesome book !
What is most amazing is the extent of research that has gone into its making and also the way such a dry subject is fascinately projected...
Man ! it was really worth !

Today

Scene: Bus stop. Status: Bus hadn't arrived, I wasn't tensed (very uncommon of me).

I was fiddling with a crisp 100 Rs note which I think I picked up from my purse while removing the change required for the ticket. I later saw many ppl glancing at me as if to ask "Madam, are u in ur senses?"
What i was doing was rolling the note several times, then folding it, then straightening it, stroking it. What was I preoccupied with, even I don't know.
I was thinking, "this piece of paper, this snap of Gandhi, why do ppl value this so much? it's just a piece of paper, the only difference being its a bit ornamental !"
Money!! Money!! These kinds of crispy pieces of art determine whether one is a millionaire or a pauper. This is what ppl call money!

Times !!! Ahem!! I was clearly out of my mind! But sometimes it happens !

Himesh Reshammiya, the phenomenon??

This guy is seriously interesting. I used to think why is he spoiling his career like this by rendering his voice to every other song in the industry ! Even now, that opinion of mine hasn't changed but then his confidence quotient really amazes me.
He wants to become a 'brand', a 'phenomenon'. Just like A.R. Rahman, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson etc. have rocked the music industry, this guy wants to prove himself..... fine, but he's moving too fast. All the rockin ppl have slowly come up and this guy wants to build Rome in a day. He doesn't seem to take criticism to heart. He his really blinded by faith that some ppl show in him. True, he has become a phenomenon, but if he works too hard, ignores criticism and climbs the ladder too fast; he's sure gonna fail. What the hell is Lucky Ali doin nowadays?? U know wht I mean... the one-time wonder!
HR just has the same answers for all media ppl:
1)if u think my tone is nasal, y don't u ppl complain abt Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan similarly?
2) I compose 3 songs per day, no composer does that.
3) I have sung in all octaves so I can't be termed as a nasal singer.

Rubbish ! 1)For ppl to notice Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's nasal tone, did he make so many frequent appearances in videos?
2)If u compose 3 songs per day no matter what, we can predict the quality of those...lol.. no wonder, there wasn't much variation in his music among his recent songs.
3)Octaves have nothing to do with being nasal. The vocal chords in association with the upper palate and the tongue are responsible for the kind of tone we produce... u thought we were fools, right Himi?...lol. No doubt, he's got amazing confidence and all.... but i personally think he should mellow down.

Anuradha Krishnamurthy concert

Woh ! What a spell she cast yesterday!
There was a music concert of Smt. Anuradha Krishnamurthy of "SAHANA fame (Jaya TV, where she played the part of vocalist Indu)", here in Thane by Kala Mandal Association. I couldn't believe that it was actually her. We were so ecstatic as we got to sit in the second row among the audience. It was my second celebrity concert as an audience (I'd been to Nityasri's concert some yrs back, in Dombivli). It was a regular 3 hr Kutcheri. I'm spell-bound. Her rendering of Alapanas and swaras was so intense that it sent ripples through the body. The physical and emotional peak was reached in the higher octaves where I could see many in the audience breaking down (incl. myself). Truly, not many kinds of music can make you feel all the emotions in just 3 hrs.
And it is indeed a reward for any artist when he/she sees tears of ecstasy in the eyes of the audience.
I posed for a snap with Madam, but it hasn't come out too well cos of the cell phone-camera.
When I went up to her, I just couldn't say anything. But she noticed that I hadn't come out of the audio-visual blow she had given us; and smiled and blessed me. Man, she is so damn beautiful !
Those expressive eyes ! That dimpled smile! Madam, you rocked !

I joined Orkut; my dream; ++

Today, I joined the Orkut Community. I also have Hi5 groups but my activity has slowed down in hi5..........................................................
Yesterday, I saw a very interesting dream that a wonderful experiment protocol occurs to me. I mean, it was really a novel topic; and a novel way to perform the experiment occured in my dreams. I half-awoke. (a new word I think, hehe). I thought to myself, wow, wonderful, I'll surely work on this in future; but now lemme sleep it's just 6 am! I woke up at 9 am only to discover that I had lost all traces of my dream. The only thing that I could recollect was that I really dreamt something good.

I could kill myself to have forgotten such a thing! Damn, why did I not think of noting it down somewhere when I half-awoke!!! I find it hard not to associate this with superstition of the sort: I am shown my future in my dream and the dream memory is purposely erased from my mind...I can think of Lord Krishna's birth and the erasable dream that occured to his father/ mother (I used to watch Sri Krishna Leela of Ramanand Sagar as a lil child)... all those mysterious mythological Aakashwani's....good imagination...

Now, where imagination is concerned, I think JK Rowling is one of the best. Look at the way Harry Potter fictions are written, its incredible!

Sick and slack !

Eh, how I hate it when your teachers or ur guides are so passive in their approach towards students that they piss u off !
Today we went to check the list of students for TYBSc Zoology. First of all, the list which was to be displayed on 10 April was displayed only today, 2 hrs after the announced timimg! Tomorrow is payment of fees and the list was put up just today. How irresponsible !
We asked our HOD who's got the highest marks, among the students who've opted for Zoology (Obviously, it shd have come to his notice as list was displayed) The stupid answer was: Well, I'll have to see, I didn't check.... u ask the peon ......
Oh comon, are you not interested in knowing and shaping the future of prospective students? In this regard, the Chem dept., is 100 times better, they care for the students.

I wonder if I'm being too judgemental and biased

Personality test report

I got this website from my cousin's blog and thought "why not try it?" the results are near to accurate in my case. here's the site: http://www.personaldna.com/ and the link to my report is:
My Personal Dna Report.
Do check out the site for urself.
Well u can also check out www.tickle.com for various fun tests.

Maje mein !

Now I'm really gonna catch up on lost sleep, movies, fun, novels, TV and my hobbies. Ma cousin is here and we watched latter half of Bluffmaster, on the cable channel. Yeah, I can see you all laughing; but pls....thts wht i meant by 'catching up on my lost activities, lost time".

Shd I reduce internet time?? I wonder.

Concert for Limca Book of records

Yesterday, I went to a concert (Carnatic, Classical) at Chembur, Mumbai. The artist was Dr. Girija Seshamamba (M.A, Ph.D in Music). It was no ordinary three hour concert; but (hold on to your chairs)...... a 12 and half hour concert !!!!! yeah, u heard it right, a twelve and half hour concert !! Phew!
From 9am to 9:30 pm, non-stop. Believe it or not! And it was indeed a visual treat. The artist sang over 60 Apoorva Raga Thyagaraja Krithis and other Thyagaraja Krithis in the regular Ragas. Basically, she has written a thesis for Ph.D in "Apoorva Ragas of Saint Thyagaraja's compositions."

She has entered the Limca Book of records (for 2007 edition). I was spellbound. We all know, its not feasible to sit through 12 hrs. So to play a lil game, we went at 6pm to see how the artist was faring at the fag end of 9 hrs. I can't find the right words to complement her. She sang all Thyagaraja Krithis with such a grace, determination; and was not fatigued as we expected. She survived through the concert only on fluids.

The sets of accompanists changed every three hours. So in all, four sets of accompanists. And to compensate for the time (5min) required during the change of each set, she sang for 20 more minutes as against the stipulated time of 12 hrs. And when she was done with her record, the humble nature that she maintained throughout; was something! No airs; the amiable confidence; the determination that this lady displayed.........ya, i'm still overwhelmed by what i saw and heard yesterday....... all the time I was thinking: it's so difficult to keep ur voice from cracking for a 3-hr concert; man; what should u call a 12 hr one?

Moksh and death

Recently, one of my Mom's aunts passed away in a heart attack. She was perfectly well, I mean, no serious old-age illness or any symptoms of any disorder. Her husband is a Alzheimers' sufferer.
So, when she passed away suddenly, my Dad, Mom and all were saying:
She's really lucky to have died without confining herself to the bed. She died peacefully, leaving everybody else in the lurch. She died without having to go through the agony of being with her husband through his sickness.
She is indeed lucky. Nowadays, it is very rare that one dies without suffering. Now she has got the 'moksh' and need not bother about any life on the earth.

This line of thinking struck me.
My first question: Who thinks dying due to the first heart attack is no suffering? Definitely, it is suffering. Whether it is pain for a second or pain for life, pain is pain! It is okay to say that she is lucky not to have confined herself to the bed, but then regarding the 'moksh' part:

If dying is so liberating, then why not we commit suicide and die as quickly as possible to get moksh? Why do we rejoice when a child is born in the family. Because we are bringing a life to earth to make him 'suffer' as well ! Why do we cry when a close one dies? Is it because we are jealous that he has got 'moksham?' This is as absurd as it can sound! Now someone is surely going to say "Karmaphalam" or "destiny." Destiny is fine (I believe in luck coz of my experience) but then that doesnt explain why we should rejoice at a birth and mourn a death. What does it matter to you whatever my destiny may be. If I'm destined, I'll suffer. Why should you take part in my emotions? Now here's my own explanation:

Because folks, more than anything, it is the human feel. It is the attachment: emotional, physical, psychological, etc. When one passes away, these attachments cannot be broken immediately. When a person is alive, we find it hard to think about the death of that individual. But when he dies, we console ourselves by saying 'moksh', 'destiny' and all sorts of things.

It is just a matter of teaching our minds to deal with the situation; a method to help others carry on with their lives even after the demise of a close one. But all these things are farce. We know it is not true. But still we train our minds to believe in it; cos it is smart management. One may deny all these things and mourn lifelong; or believe in it atleast for the moment and get done with that;i.e., go ahead with your own life. The choice is yours !

Any comments?

Let me start my post on my result day

Today I got my results of SYBSc. Well, I got a First Class and have planned to opt for Zooloy for my TY. Last night I was just praying to someone, not to increase my score; but to give me a face to face whatever marks I obtained.

Well, that someone didn't let me down this time.

This week, well , I had to take the most difficult decision of my life till now: what subject to major in. I know it sounds funny, but believe me I was roped into Chemistry by not 1 or 2 but all my lecturers. I was made to believe that a graduation degree in Zoology is not gonna lead me anywhere. A 6-month long debate of conscience and a decision taken during the last few days. Phew! I'm tired. Chemistry is not a field I hate, mind u, but I think I have the natural taste for the life sciences.

Now lets c where I go. After a year long depression, I think, I'm now regaining my ground.

I tell u more tips to recognize signs of depression: taking solace of the internet; forgoing activities u used to enjoy be4, like playing; wanting to b alone, etc.... i myself didn't agree to this until now. i used to think "oh come on, net-surfing is fun...i sit for hours in front of my PC, does tht mean i'm depressed? naaaa".... but when it becomes an addiction, u certainly know what i mean...yeh, u r goin thru depression of some sort.... believe it or not.