Thoughts on Child Labour...

Ok.... so i was in KFC the other day.... just hanging out with few friends....and waiting for my 'chicken'. across few tables there was a woman sitting.... and for some reason... maybe instinct... i didnt like something about her........ maybe it was just the fact that this woman had the biceps bigger than a watermelon... well... thats not a reason to dislike anybody.. i know! but something in this woman was not right.

She was sitting there munching her chicken away with her 2 children...... then out of no where i see this girl.... dressed in something i can only say is a little better than what the beggars on the roads do..... comes to this woman and starts talking to her... She is carrying a kid of maybe 3yrs with her...

My first impression was that this girl is actually a beggar and somehow has managed to slip her way in... and is begging for some money... or food probably......

And then the next thing i see is.... she is handing over the kid she was holding to the woman..... its only at that point did i realize that... this girl isnt any beggar... she is actually domestic help!!! or should i say servant!

Then it all made sense..... Maybe thats why i didnt like this woman.... she has actually got a girl in her early teens as her servant!

Im no activist or anything... but seeing such things really dissapoints me. Living in a city like bangalore... i would have guessed that ppl are educated and know better!

What came up next shocked me even more..... now this woman is there.. sitting with her baby.. and continuing to hog her chicken.... and she dosent even offer a piece of it to this girl.....

Ok... i'll give the woman the benefit of the doubt.... maybe the girl was vegetarian for religious reasons.... but the woman didnt offer a drink to this girl... or not even a single french fry.... when she was done with her dinner... she just got up... gave the kid back to the girl.... and they all left.... the poor girl did not get a bite of anything....

I cant imagine how she must have felt.... but back in the day.... when i was a kid.... when our car drove past KFC or McD or Burger King or Pizza hut.... my mouth always watered.... what would have this kid felt, when she was standing there right in the middle of KFC and watching other ppl eat?

Its stuff like this that really upsets me and spoils my mood..... Maybe that was the reason i couldnt finish even 2 pieces of chicken that day... naah... it must be the awful tasting KFC.......... Anyway....I hope one day things will change and ppl will stop hiring children for domestic help.... and i also hope that the little girl gets a better future.....

Thoughts on $100 Laptop

I was in bombay the other day, and i wanted to do one thing that i havent for over 5 yrs..... eat a wada paav....

So there i am, at this roadside wada paav stall. i almost asked this guy to make me a wada paav, and then the mobile goes off....not mine.... the wada paav guy's..... he removes a nice flashy mobile phone (which supports mp3 ringtones) from his pocket, and speaks for a good five minutes......

There i am completely irritated by this guy, wondering why mobile phones have become cheap. After five minutes, i get my wada paav... and while im eating it.... my mind cooled off... and i figured.... its a good thing that mobiles are cheap now.... everyone can afford one... and stay in touch.... thats the whole point of these nokia's isnt it..... Connecting PPL!

Then another 15 seconds passed by, and i realised something which is probably there somewhere future.... all because of the $100 Laptop.

Imagine this.... 10yrs from now.... owning a laptop will be like owning a tubelight.... infact... it shouldnt be shocking if a person has more than one laptop...... even the wada paav guy....

If you are able to picture that... then its not hard to see, free wifi all over india... an operating system thats got hindi as an option etc etc....

with all this commin up....maybe after 10 yrs... i'll have to wait a little longer for my wada paav... because the wada paav guy is having a video/voice chat with his family in some remote village in maharashtra....

Thoughts on Chess...

Chess.... aah... thats one game i probably will never be able to play..... for the only reason that i have a very very short attention span... and i cannot have 10 next moves planned in my head.... my memory is too weak for that.... and ofcourse i find the wooden queen very unattractive....

What made me write about chess today is that i came across this article about   Viswanathan anand becoming the world champion... yet again.... 

There is a small line in that article which says...

 ........"There is the odd country where there's some lingering doubt whether chess is art or sport," he says. "Quite clearly it is a sport."....

Hang on a minute! when did chess become a sport? ppl claim its a mind sport.... No disrespect to Mr. Anand, but that is soo lame! i dont think something like this should exist in the first place! Chess is a Game... lets leave it at that, shall we? lets call a person who sweats and works hard in the track, gym, court, ground a sportsman/woman.... If you dont do any kind of physical activity before/during the 'sport' then ur not a sports person and what u call 'sport' is not a sport!

While I'm on the topic, and if there is a term called mind sport, why don't i term some new sports!

Deception Sports - Poker and many card games come under this category.

Luck Sports - Snakes & Ladders, Ludo etc.

Geometry Sports - Snooker, Billiards, Pool, Carrom (because its all about the angles!)

Virtual Sports - all the football, cricket etc etc... u playon ur comp, ps2, xbox, etc.

Picnic Sports - Dog & the Bone, Lemon and Spoon.... 

Know more?? please feel free to add on....

Linux Eye-Candy anyone?

Right.... just thought it would be nice of me to introduce you to Beryl....



Beryl is a window manager for Linux. Im no fan of eye-candy (well i do love/use a little bit of it)... but it annoys me when im working.... but there are few (actually many) M$ Windows Worshippers who think Windows is the most user friendly OS in existance and .....hopefully this will change your mind....

ooh another thing.... Beryl is completely free of charge... i.e. you dont have to buy it to use it..... or more clearly.... you need to pay squat to use it...... only restriction is you have to run it under linux.... which is also free.... hell Ubuntu even ships the CD to you Free Of Cost!!!!