This is a grave situation demanding round the clock vigilence and prep on a wartime-basis. Millions of lives are hanging in the balance; still the matter is kept postponed and the multitudinous voice hushed. Procrastination is of little help any more. If the state leaders- ruling and opposition- don't have the political will, call C.K. Janu for our aid; she, for sure, has the ghuts to rescue the state of Kerala and its people in an emergency like this...or ask Hazare to intervene for us.
Thanking you,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLJlbCkhek4&feature=related
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Experts predict:
Organized religion is driven towards extinction.
This has to happen in at least nine countries – Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland. All organized religions will vanish eventually from nine western-style democracies, a team of mathematicians predict in a paper based on census data stretching back to a hundred years.
They can’t make a prediction about the United States because the U.S. census doesn’t ask about religion, lead author Daniel Abrams said. But nine other countries provide enough data for detailed mathematical modeling, he asserted. “If you look at the available data, ‘unaffiliated’ is the fastest-growing group" in those countries, he remarked. “We start with two big assumptions based on sociology,” he explained.
The first is that it’s more attractive to be part of the majority than the minority, so as religious affiliation declines, it becomes more popular not to be a churchgoer than to be one, he said – what Abrams calls the majority effect. “People are more likely to switch to groups with more members. Social networks will have a powerful influence, he said. “Just a few connections to people who are (religiously) unaffiliated is enough to drive the effect,” he added.
The other assumption underlying the prediction is that there are social, economic and political advantages in being unaffiliated with a religion in the countries where it’s in decline – what Abrams calls the utility effect.“The utility of being unaffiliated seems to be higher than affiliated in western democracies,” he said. Abrams and his co-authors are not passing any judgment on religion, he’s quick to say – they’re just modeling a prediction based on trends. “We’re not trying to make any commentary about religion or whether people should be religious or not,” he explained.
" I became interested in this because I saw survey data results for the U.S. and was surprised by how large the unaffiliated group was,” he said, referring to a number of studies done by universities and think tanks on trends in religion. Studies suggest that “unaffiliated” is the fastest-growing religious group in the United States, with about 15% of the population falling into a category experts call the “nones.” They’re not necessarily atheists or non-believers, experts say, just people who do not associate themselves with a particular religion or house of worship at the time of the survey.
Abrams had done an earlier study looking into the extinction of languages spoken by small numbers of people. When he saw the religion data, his co-author “Richard Wiener suggested we try to apply a similar technique to religious affiliation,” Abrams said. The paper, by Abrams, Wiener and Haley A. Yaple, is called “A mathematical model of social group competition with application to the growth of religious non-affiliation.” They presented it this week at the Dallas meeting of the American Physical Society.
Only the Czech Republic already has a majority of people who are unaffiliated with religion, but the Netherlands, for example, will go from about 40% unaffiliated today to more than 70% by 2050, they expect. Even deeply Catholic Ireland will see religion die out, the model predicts. “They’ve gone from 0.04% unaffiliated in 1961 to 4.2% in 2006, our most recent data point,” Abrams says. He admits that the increase in Muslim immigration to Europe may throw off the model, but he thinks the trend is robust enough to withstand some challenges.
“Netherlands data goes back to 1860,” he pointed out. “Every single data that we were able to find shows that people are moving from the affiliated to unaffiliated. I can’t imagine that will change, but that’s personal opinion, not what the data shows.” But Barry Kosmin, a demographer of religion at Trinity College in Connecticut, is doubtful. “Religion relies on human beings. They aren’t rational or predictable according to the laws of physics. Religious fervor waxes and wanes in unpredictable ways,” he said. “The Jewish tradition that says prophecy is for fools and children is probably wise,” he added.
And Abrams, Wiener and Yaple are not the first to predict the end of religion. Peter Berger, a former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, has said, “People will become so bored with what religious groups have to offer that they will look elsewhere.” He said Protestantism “has reached the strange state of self-liquidation,” that Catholicism was in severe crisis, and anticipated that “religions are likely to survive in small enclaves and pockets” in the United States. He made those predictions in February 1968.
This has to happen in at least nine countries – Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland. All organized religions will vanish eventually from nine western-style democracies, a team of mathematicians predict in a paper based on census data stretching back to a hundred years.
They can’t make a prediction about the United States because the U.S. census doesn’t ask about religion, lead author Daniel Abrams said. But nine other countries provide enough data for detailed mathematical modeling, he asserted. “If you look at the available data, ‘unaffiliated’ is the fastest-growing group" in those countries, he remarked. “We start with two big assumptions based on sociology,” he explained.
The first is that it’s more attractive to be part of the majority than the minority, so as religious affiliation declines, it becomes more popular not to be a churchgoer than to be one, he said – what Abrams calls the majority effect. “People are more likely to switch to groups with more members. Social networks will have a powerful influence, he said. “Just a few connections to people who are (religiously) unaffiliated is enough to drive the effect,” he added.
The other assumption underlying the prediction is that there are social, economic and political advantages in being unaffiliated with a religion in the countries where it’s in decline – what Abrams calls the utility effect.“The utility of being unaffiliated seems to be higher than affiliated in western democracies,” he said. Abrams and his co-authors are not passing any judgment on religion, he’s quick to say – they’re just modeling a prediction based on trends. “We’re not trying to make any commentary about religion or whether people should be religious or not,” he explained.
" I became interested in this because I saw survey data results for the U.S. and was surprised by how large the unaffiliated group was,” he said, referring to a number of studies done by universities and think tanks on trends in religion. Studies suggest that “unaffiliated” is the fastest-growing religious group in the United States, with about 15% of the population falling into a category experts call the “nones.” They’re not necessarily atheists or non-believers, experts say, just people who do not associate themselves with a particular religion or house of worship at the time of the survey.
Abrams had done an earlier study looking into the extinction of languages spoken by small numbers of people. When he saw the religion data, his co-author “Richard Wiener suggested we try to apply a similar technique to religious affiliation,” Abrams said. The paper, by Abrams, Wiener and Haley A. Yaple, is called “A mathematical model of social group competition with application to the growth of religious non-affiliation.” They presented it this week at the Dallas meeting of the American Physical Society.
Only the Czech Republic already has a majority of people who are unaffiliated with religion, but the Netherlands, for example, will go from about 40% unaffiliated today to more than 70% by 2050, they expect. Even deeply Catholic Ireland will see religion die out, the model predicts. “They’ve gone from 0.04% unaffiliated in 1961 to 4.2% in 2006, our most recent data point,” Abrams says. He admits that the increase in Muslim immigration to Europe may throw off the model, but he thinks the trend is robust enough to withstand some challenges.
“Netherlands data goes back to 1860,” he pointed out. “Every single data that we were able to find shows that people are moving from the affiliated to unaffiliated. I can’t imagine that will change, but that’s personal opinion, not what the data shows.” But Barry Kosmin, a demographer of religion at Trinity College in Connecticut, is doubtful. “Religion relies on human beings. They aren’t rational or predictable according to the laws of physics. Religious fervor waxes and wanes in unpredictable ways,” he said. “The Jewish tradition that says prophecy is for fools and children is probably wise,” he added.
And Abrams, Wiener and Yaple are not the first to predict the end of religion. Peter Berger, a former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, has said, “People will become so bored with what religious groups have to offer that they will look elsewhere.” He said Protestantism “has reached the strange state of self-liquidation,” that Catholicism was in severe crisis, and anticipated that “religions are likely to survive in small enclaves and pockets” in the United States. He made those predictions in February 1968.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
To share; to give
I remember how fascinated I was when I read about the Dead Sea for the first time. As you may probably recall, the Dead Sea is really a lake and not a sea at all.
Its so high in salt content that the human body can float easily in/on it. You can almost lie down on its waters and read a book! The salt content in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost ten times the usual ocean water. And all that saltiness has made sure the non- existence of any life in the Dead Sea- no fish, no vegetation, no sea animals: nothing lives in the Dead Sea.
And hence the name, Dead Sea.
While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don't seem to recall reading about the Sea of Galilee in my younger days. So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea and the tale of the two seas... wait a minute... I was intrigued.
It turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea intake water from River Jordan. Yet they are very, very different.
Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colorful marine life. There are lots of plants... lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different species of fishes.
Same region; same source of water : yet while one sea is vigorous with life, the other is dead- but why?
Here, apparently, is the reason. The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee in, then out - and that keeps the sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.
But the Dead Sea is far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet. The water flows in from the River Jordan but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams. It is estimated that over a million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea on any given day. Leaving it salty and too full of minerals- unfit for any marine life.
Let me repeat!
The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give out.
And the result?
No life springs forth.
Just think about it.
Life is not just about getting. Its also about giving. We all need to be like the Sea of Galilee.
We are fortunate in having wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don't learn to give, we would all end up like the Dead Sea. Love and respect, wealth and knowledge- all could evaporate, like the water in the Dead Sea.
If we maintain the dead sea mentality of merely taking in more everything... the result can be disastrous. Its a good idea to make sure that in the sea of your own life, you create outlets... not one but many. Give vent to love, respect and wealth along with your other intense feelings... its capable of cooling you down.
Make sure you don't just get, you give too.
And may you open the floodgates to happiness.
Enjoy your week-end,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Share; give.
Experience life.
Experience the magic!
Its so high in salt content that the human body can float easily in/on it. You can almost lie down on its waters and read a book! The salt content in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost ten times the usual ocean water. And all that saltiness has made sure the non- existence of any life in the Dead Sea- no fish, no vegetation, no sea animals: nothing lives in the Dead Sea.
And hence the name, Dead Sea.
While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don't seem to recall reading about the Sea of Galilee in my younger days. So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea and the tale of the two seas... wait a minute... I was intrigued.
It turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea intake water from River Jordan. Yet they are very, very different.
Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colorful marine life. There are lots of plants... lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different species of fishes.
Same region; same source of water : yet while one sea is vigorous with life, the other is dead- but why?
Here, apparently, is the reason. The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee in, then out - and that keeps the sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.
But the Dead Sea is far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet. The water flows in from the River Jordan but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams. It is estimated that over a million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea on any given day. Leaving it salty and too full of minerals- unfit for any marine life.
Let me repeat!
The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give out.
And the result?
No life springs forth.
Just think about it.
Life is not just about getting. Its also about giving. We all need to be like the Sea of Galilee.
We are fortunate in having wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don't learn to give, we would all end up like the Dead Sea. Love and respect, wealth and knowledge- all could evaporate, like the water in the Dead Sea.
If we maintain the dead sea mentality of merely taking in more everything... the result can be disastrous. Its a good idea to make sure that in the sea of your own life, you create outlets... not one but many. Give vent to love, respect and wealth along with your other intense feelings... its capable of cooling you down.
Make sure you don't just get, you give too.
And may you open the floodgates to happiness.
Enjoy your week-end,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Share; give.
Experience life.
Experience the magic!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Andy Rooney 'Hospitalized in Serious Condition'
92 year-old Andy Rooney, who delivered his last essay on '60 Minutes'; the reputed CBS magazine three weeks ago, was in the hospital on Tuesday after developing serious complications following a minor surgery. His family does not want to reveal his medical condition. It was on October 2nd that he gave his 1097th address- a moment he said he often dreaded. His fearlessness, style, humour and charm will live through journalistic history... Dear Andy, get well soon.
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kakkanadan passed away.. obituaries in Manorama...
When I read Kakkanadan's works one after another while in the department in the early 80's my colleagues used to tease, asking me if I was researching in Kakkanadan.
In a way, I was: Babelinte(?) theerathu njangal irunnu, Orothaye orthappol njangal karanju... I was charmed with his style and ease of writing...
I just loved him; nay, love him. My heartfelt condolences! The gap he left in Malayalam is difficult to fill-
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Alex Abraham, Chengannur, 19Oct'11 11:05:00
I have met kakkanadan with his family at the Bahrain airport just an year back.From his conversion with me, I learnt that, he is a good social human being with out any sort of artificiality. May his soul rest in peace.
C P Rajendran, Oman., 19Oct'11 10:57:10
Malayalathinu nashttam......
nijilvaidehi, Calicut, 19Oct'11 10:56:15
great personalty ..and simple life..my hearty condolence..
rajeev, dubai, 19Oct'11 10:56:08
One of our Our great and Excellent novelist and good human being. Its a huge loss all malayalees
Sreekumar, Kollam, 19Oct'11 10:52:18
Malayala sahithyathil aadhunikathakku thudakkamitta sahityakaran. My hearty Condolence.
Rakesh Thambiath, Saudi Arabia, 19Oct'11 10:49:57
In a way, I was: Babelinte(?) theerathu njangal irunnu, Orothaye orthappol njangal karanju... I was charmed with his style and ease of writing...
I just loved him; nay, love him. My heartfelt condolences! The gap he left in Malayalam is difficult to fill-
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Alex Abraham, Chengannur, 19Oct'11 11:05:00
I have met kakkanadan with his family at the Bahrain airport just an year back.From his conversion with me, I learnt that, he is a good social human being with out any sort of artificiality. May his soul rest in peace.
C P Rajendran, Oman., 19Oct'11 10:57:10
Malayalathinu nashttam......
nijilvaidehi, Calicut, 19Oct'11 10:56:15
great personalty ..and simple life..my hearty condolence..
rajeev, dubai, 19Oct'11 10:56:08
One of our Our great and Excellent novelist and good human being. Its a huge loss all malayalees
Sreekumar, Kollam, 19Oct'11 10:52:18
Malayala sahithyathil aadhunikathakku thudakkamitta sahityakaran. My hearty Condolence.
Rakesh Thambiath, Saudi Arabia, 19Oct'11 10:49:57
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Hang on!
One day I decided to quit...
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...
I wanted to quit my life too. I went to the woods to have one last word with God.
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me.
"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of both.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew out of earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo".
"In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo".
"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit. And the same in year four".
Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.
Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.
But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 90 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots.
Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
"I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.
Do you know, my child, that all the time you were struggling, you have actually been growing roots?
I would not quit on the bamboo... And I will never quit on you".
"Don't compare yourself with others", he said.
The bamboo has a different purpose than the fern to fulfill.
"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high".
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high would the bamboo rise?" he asked in turn.
"As high as it can?" I quipped.
"Exactly". He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."
I left the woods, realizing that God will never give up on me.
And He will never give up on you.Guaranteed!
Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you happiness;
Bad days give you experience; Both are essentials to life.
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Bamboo: Eco-wonder of the world
-------------------------------
What is stronger than hardwood, can grow up to 4 feet a day, and survived the bombing in Hirsohima? That's bamboo.
But that's not all. Bamboo gives us clean air to breathe, consumes carbon dioxide and returns 35 percent more oxygen to the atmosphere than trees.
Wait! there's more! Because of its rapid growth and root structure, it can, in a very short time, reclaim land destroyed by overgrazing and over-building and clean the soil of toxins.
Plus, it grows so fast, that it can be harvested sustainably for thousands of products from chop sticks to mansions. What's not to love about bamboo?
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...
I wanted to quit my life too. I went to the woods to have one last word with God.
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me.
"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of both.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew out of earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo".
"In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo".
"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit. And the same in year four".
Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.
Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.
But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 90 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots.
Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
"I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.
Do you know, my child, that all the time you were struggling, you have actually been growing roots?
I would not quit on the bamboo... And I will never quit on you".
"Don't compare yourself with others", he said.
The bamboo has a different purpose than the fern to fulfill.
"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high".
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high would the bamboo rise?" he asked in turn.
"As high as it can?" I quipped.
"Exactly". He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."
I left the woods, realizing that God will never give up on me.
And He will never give up on you.Guaranteed!
Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you happiness;
Bad days give you experience; Both are essentials to life.
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Bamboo: Eco-wonder of the world
-------------------------------
What is stronger than hardwood, can grow up to 4 feet a day, and survived the bombing in Hirsohima? That's bamboo.
But that's not all. Bamboo gives us clean air to breathe, consumes carbon dioxide and returns 35 percent more oxygen to the atmosphere than trees.
Wait! there's more! Because of its rapid growth and root structure, it can, in a very short time, reclaim land destroyed by overgrazing and over-building and clean the soil of toxins.
Plus, it grows so fast, that it can be harvested sustainably for thousands of products from chop sticks to mansions. What's not to love about bamboo?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Dear All
Recently a friend wrote to me, "I was told by a Chartered Accountant friend from Kerala that the average monthly income of a bishop amounts to anywhere between Rs. 30 lakhs to 45 lakhs or more". I dont know the truth in it, BUT...
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread”, said Mahatma Gandhi. Now there are 963 million undernourished people in the world. That means one in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide: greater than AIDS- malaria- tuberculosis combined.
And you don't have to go all the way to Haiti or Nicaragua to see it.
Earth's problems can be solved only if we really want to do it and if we understand that after us will come our children and the children of our children who will need to live as good as we live today.
If you have the time (12 mts, 31 secs), please see this presentation and shed a tear for the unfortunate.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/69625-MEALS-READY-An-excellent-short-film
( you may have to copy it into your search bar and hit enter)
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread”, said Mahatma Gandhi. Now there are 963 million undernourished people in the world. That means one in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide: greater than AIDS- malaria- tuberculosis combined.
And you don't have to go all the way to Haiti or Nicaragua to see it.
Earth's problems can be solved only if we really want to do it and if we understand that after us will come our children and the children of our children who will need to live as good as we live today.
If you have the time (12 mts, 31 secs), please see this presentation and shed a tear for the unfortunate.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/69625-MEALS-READY-An-excellent-short-film
( you may have to copy it into your search bar and hit enter)
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Friday, October 7, 2011
RIP: Also of Old Beliefs, Dead Customs and Out-dated People.
Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes ...
the ones who see things differently--- they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo...
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them...
because they change things...
They push the human race forward, and while those retarded may see them as the bad ones, we see the genius
in them because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Here I pay homage to one of them, the greatest 'dreamer-doer' of our times and of whom two centuries were fortunate to know.
Steve Jobs is his name. He said, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything... all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure... these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogmas - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - he stressed.
So, here I endorse my heart-felt grief at the sad demise of Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple Inc, who died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. History never can afford to forget this GREAT MAN.
Thanking you,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
the ones who see things differently--- they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo...
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them...
because they change things...
They push the human race forward, and while those retarded may see them as the bad ones, we see the genius
in them because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Here I pay homage to one of them, the greatest 'dreamer-doer' of our times and of whom two centuries were fortunate to know.
Steve Jobs is his name. He said, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything... all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure... these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogmas - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - he stressed.
So, here I endorse my heart-felt grief at the sad demise of Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple Inc, who died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. History never can afford to forget this GREAT MAN.
Thanking you,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Saturday, October 1, 2011
TV (NET) work?
On my return after a sojourn (only fourteen years!) abroad, I started looking for some engagement, besides my teaching profession, that will satisfy my taste in creativity and fulfill a mental urge yet to be satiated. It was then that a close friend of mine suggested the starting up of a new TV channel which will provide me with maximum exposure in addition. I regarded it an idea and a half.
That made me do some research and I'll tell you what I found. It may help the Mar Thoma Church in freeing itself from the agony of being ignorant about the pros and cons of the Channel Affair, especially so when I hear a lot of talk about its desire to start a new channel though it was earlier given out to be just a channel programme.
I started out by looking at the current scenario in Kerala with regard to the televised medium.
My inquiry revealed to me that there are 18 channels on the air in Kerala at the present time, broadcasting all sorts of programmes in Malayalam. Of those, 10 belong to the GEC (General Entertainment Channel) category, 5 in the NC (News Channel) category and 3 in the RC (Religious Channel) category.
Asianet, Surya TV, Asianet Plus, Kiran TV, Kairali TV, WE Channel (Kairali), JaiHind TV, Jeevan TV, YES TV (India Vision), and Amrita TV come under the head GEC.
AsiaNet News, India Vision, Manorama News TV, People TV (Kairali), and Reporter TV come under NC.
Shalom TV, Powervision TV and AYTV (owned by Bishop K.P. Yohannan) come under RC.
The two channels that are making commendable strides are AsiaNet and Surya. AsiaNet bags 400 crores and Surya takes 300 crores out of the total 780 crore Television Advertising Market in Kerala. The balance amount of 80 crores is snatched among the remaining 16 channels which struggle for their daily existence.
To make things worse, 7 more new channels are in the pipeline. They are Kerala Kaumudi, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam, Manorama GEC, Janapriya (owned by K. Muraleedharan), an RSS- owned channel etc. That will increase the count to 25. Aren't they too many?
Having said that, let us now look how cost effective the channel spectrum is. Cost-defective may be a more apt word!
To start a channel, an investment of 25 to 50 crores is needed for software alone, ie. programme production, serials, films etc. Experts say that more than 100 crores will have to be expended before the 5th year is out. If a reasonable income is to come in after an year or so, the channel should have an excellent TPR (Television Program Rating). For that to happen, a channel will have to broadcast Cinemas (certainly not 'Snapaka Yohannan') and other Reality Shows. Can and will the Mar Thoma Church do that? ( there are people who ask what they will not do, I hear). Know that the current average satellite cost of a Malayalam cinema is anywhere from 75 lakhs to 2.5 crores.
Without this- viz. the airing of cinemas and reality shows- happening, the proposed Mar Thoma Channel will remain at the rock-bottom of the TPR, calculated through Television Audience Measuring. Be informed that the Jeevan TV of the Syrian Catholic Church, Amrutha of the Amrutananda Madom and Jai Hind of the Congress- all are struggling for existence. They are still alive only because they have the strong base of a funding group. You may remember how the Middle-east TV, started by Gulf Malayalees found its demise within a very short time.
At this juncture, the question as to why the Orthodox and Jacobte churches- who are by far richer than the Mar Thoma Church- never jumped into the turmoil of starting a tv channel makes sense.
A friend humourously said that we would need 10 channels now and 3 more within the next 3 months to defend our bishops against various charges. Even if we admit that for the sake of argument, tell me how many Marthomites are there among the total 50 lakhs of Cable TV/ Dish TV subscribers at present (a negligible number, right?) and how many of them will switch to a channel getting started by the Mar Thoma Church? (undoubtedly electro-microscopic, right?)
Notwithstanding, it may be noted that the modern generation- irrespective of caste, colour or creed- turns to Face Book, Orkut, My Space, Linked In, Twitter and such other social sites for giving expression to their ideas, likes and dislikes...
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
That made me do some research and I'll tell you what I found. It may help the Mar Thoma Church in freeing itself from the agony of being ignorant about the pros and cons of the Channel Affair, especially so when I hear a lot of talk about its desire to start a new channel though it was earlier given out to be just a channel programme.
I started out by looking at the current scenario in Kerala with regard to the televised medium.
My inquiry revealed to me that there are 18 channels on the air in Kerala at the present time, broadcasting all sorts of programmes in Malayalam. Of those, 10 belong to the GEC (General Entertainment Channel) category, 5 in the NC (News Channel) category and 3 in the RC (Religious Channel) category.
Asianet, Surya TV, Asianet Plus, Kiran TV, Kairali TV, WE Channel (Kairali), JaiHind TV, Jeevan TV, YES TV (India Vision), and Amrita TV come under the head GEC.
AsiaNet News, India Vision, Manorama News TV, People TV (Kairali), and Reporter TV come under NC.
Shalom TV, Powervision TV and AYTV (owned by Bishop K.P. Yohannan) come under RC.
The two channels that are making commendable strides are AsiaNet and Surya. AsiaNet bags 400 crores and Surya takes 300 crores out of the total 780 crore Television Advertising Market in Kerala. The balance amount of 80 crores is snatched among the remaining 16 channels which struggle for their daily existence.
To make things worse, 7 more new channels are in the pipeline. They are Kerala Kaumudi, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam, Manorama GEC, Janapriya (owned by K. Muraleedharan), an RSS- owned channel etc. That will increase the count to 25. Aren't they too many?
Having said that, let us now look how cost effective the channel spectrum is. Cost-defective may be a more apt word!
To start a channel, an investment of 25 to 50 crores is needed for software alone, ie. programme production, serials, films etc. Experts say that more than 100 crores will have to be expended before the 5th year is out. If a reasonable income is to come in after an year or so, the channel should have an excellent TPR (Television Program Rating). For that to happen, a channel will have to broadcast Cinemas (certainly not 'Snapaka Yohannan') and other Reality Shows. Can and will the Mar Thoma Church do that? ( there are people who ask what they will not do, I hear). Know that the current average satellite cost of a Malayalam cinema is anywhere from 75 lakhs to 2.5 crores.
Without this- viz. the airing of cinemas and reality shows- happening, the proposed Mar Thoma Channel will remain at the rock-bottom of the TPR, calculated through Television Audience Measuring. Be informed that the Jeevan TV of the Syrian Catholic Church, Amrutha of the Amrutananda Madom and Jai Hind of the Congress- all are struggling for existence. They are still alive only because they have the strong base of a funding group. You may remember how the Middle-east TV, started by Gulf Malayalees found its demise within a very short time.
At this juncture, the question as to why the Orthodox and Jacobte churches- who are by far richer than the Mar Thoma Church- never jumped into the turmoil of starting a tv channel makes sense.
A friend humourously said that we would need 10 channels now and 3 more within the next 3 months to defend our bishops against various charges. Even if we admit that for the sake of argument, tell me how many Marthomites are there among the total 50 lakhs of Cable TV/ Dish TV subscribers at present (a negligible number, right?) and how many of them will switch to a channel getting started by the Mar Thoma Church? (undoubtedly electro-microscopic, right?)
Notwithstanding, it may be noted that the modern generation- irrespective of caste, colour or creed- turns to Face Book, Orkut, My Space, Linked In, Twitter and such other social sites for giving expression to their ideas, likes and dislikes...
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27
The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
The one issue that attracted the attention of many in the last mandalam meeting was the Kuwait Episode. A perusal of the Questions & Answers printed and circulated among the Mandalam Members will prove this. Those questions were raised by:
1. Mr. Sajan Veloor of Dubai Mar Thoma Church(Qn. 6.II; Page: 5),
2. Mr. Shibu Oommen of Prayar Sehion (Qn.14.I; page: 10),
3. Mr. Samkumar G. of Pazhinjam St. Paul's (Qn. 20:II; page: 18),
4. Prof. Koshy Mathai of Othera St. Pauls (Qn. 24.III; Page: 22),
5. Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil (Qn. 31: III; Page: 28),
6. Rev. Koshy C.K. of Channappetta Bethany (Qn. 41. I; page: 37),
7. Mr. K.P. Philip of Kuriannur Mar Thoma Church( Qn. 47.II, page: 43), and
8. Mr. M.C. James of Vallamkulam St. Lukes (49.1, page: 44).
If 8 out of 49 were to seek answers to one single question, that's too many people and too big in terms of proportion and percentage.
If so vast a number had concern over this issue, it had to be of paramount importance and the Sabha leadership should have been upright and honest in their response.
But did we get any satisfactory answer to those questions enveloping such a grave matter? What are our rights and privileges as Mandalam members?
The Metropolitan told this asker that he does not want to talk about it as it is a matter of sub judice. Believing it, I withdrew my question but when I later found that he is evading questions, I got on my feet with a sub-question to another's but he said everything is done in order and claimed that the diocesean episcopa maintains a proper file for it, to which the concerned bishop nodded with grace. Then, waving the Kuwaitee brochure above my head, I asked it be put on the table when the Metropolitan said he has many copies of the same and that Kuwait people who are rich can afford to print such colorful notices, feigning(?) ignorance of the parliamentary procedure. Then we were told how the Kuwait marthomites sent a pentecostal emissary for compromise talk but how he refused to yield and threatened to take steps against Kuwait people to get them extridited from Kuwait for collecting money using Sabha's letter-head etc.- something that discounts the very decorum of the house. Since I did not have any further information on the subject, I had to leave the matter there but was tempted to think the reference to 'nanjool' and 'cultic movements' along with the statement, " à´ˆ à´¸ുà´ിà´•്à´·à´¤ à´Žà´¨്à´¨ും à´¨ിലനിà´²്ലക്à´•ും à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´µിà´šാà´°ിà´•്à´•à´°ുà´¤്, സമൃà´¦്à´§ിà´¯ുà´Ÿെ à´®േà´š്à´šിà´²് à´¸്ഥലങ്ങളിà´²് à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨ുà´•ൊà´£്à´Ÿ് à´¸à´à´¯ുà´Ÿെ ദര്ശനതെà´¯ും à´¶ിà´•്ഷനത്à´¤െà´¯ും അവഹെà´³ിà´•്à´•ുà´¨്നവര് തങ്ങളുà´Ÿെ à´œീà´µിതത്à´¤ിà´²് വന് à´µീà´´്à´šà´•à´³് à´…à´¨ുà´à´µിà´•്à´•ുà´¨്à´¨ു à´Žà´¨്നതിà´¨് നമ്à´®ുà´Ÿെ തലമുറയിà´²് തന്à´¨െ à´§ാà´°ാà´³ം à´¦്à´°ിà´·്à´Ÿാà´¨്തങ്ങള് ഉണ്à´Ÿ്" in the presidential address was aimed at Kuwaitee Marthomites- a cheap and hollow threat resorted to by ecclesiastes from time immemorial for emotional and psychological upper hand over their opponents; an exercise in futility and of little significance and of zero effect, anymore.
Sabha, as mentioned above, has a vision? discipline? a BIG joke, it is!
For me, this is by and large, a privilege issue.. which needs to be settled... once and for all.
Now, there is this Big New Question in Kuwait:
Why did the three Marthomite priests in Kuwait boycott the Viewing/ Homage Service of a deceased Marthomite?
Were they expressly told/ ordered to keep away?
Who do the priests owe allegiance to- their superiors, Mar Thoma Church or a Higher Power? Who pays them for their services in their capacity as priests?
Please re-read my subject line:
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27
And what are the allegations surrounding the stone-laying of the brand-new Pandanad Immanuel MT Church by the Suffragan Metropolitan? Defy the law of the land, including but not limited to, the encroachment of public property?
I am eager to know...
Thank you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
The one issue that attracted the attention of many in the last mandalam meeting was the Kuwait Episode. A perusal of the Questions & Answers printed and circulated among the Mandalam Members will prove this. Those questions were raised by:
1. Mr. Sajan Veloor of Dubai Mar Thoma Church(Qn. 6.II; Page: 5),
2. Mr. Shibu Oommen of Prayar Sehion (Qn.14.I; page: 10),
3. Mr. Samkumar G. of Pazhinjam St. Paul's (Qn. 20:II; page: 18),
4. Prof. Koshy Mathai of Othera St. Pauls (Qn. 24.III; Page: 22),
5. Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil (Qn. 31: III; Page: 28),
6. Rev. Koshy C.K. of Channappetta Bethany (Qn. 41. I; page: 37),
7. Mr. K.P. Philip of Kuriannur Mar Thoma Church( Qn. 47.II, page: 43), and
8. Mr. M.C. James of Vallamkulam St. Lukes (49.1, page: 44).
If 8 out of 49 were to seek answers to one single question, that's too many people and too big in terms of proportion and percentage.
If so vast a number had concern over this issue, it had to be of paramount importance and the Sabha leadership should have been upright and honest in their response.
But did we get any satisfactory answer to those questions enveloping such a grave matter? What are our rights and privileges as Mandalam members?
The Metropolitan told this asker that he does not want to talk about it as it is a matter of sub judice. Believing it, I withdrew my question but when I later found that he is evading questions, I got on my feet with a sub-question to another's but he said everything is done in order and claimed that the diocesean episcopa maintains a proper file for it, to which the concerned bishop nodded with grace. Then, waving the Kuwaitee brochure above my head, I asked it be put on the table when the Metropolitan said he has many copies of the same and that Kuwait people who are rich can afford to print such colorful notices, feigning(?) ignorance of the parliamentary procedure. Then we were told how the Kuwait marthomites sent a pentecostal emissary for compromise talk but how he refused to yield and threatened to take steps against Kuwait people to get them extridited from Kuwait for collecting money using Sabha's letter-head etc.- something that discounts the very decorum of the house. Since I did not have any further information on the subject, I had to leave the matter there but was tempted to think the reference to 'nanjool' and 'cultic movements' along with the statement, " à´ˆ à´¸ുà´ിà´•്à´·à´¤ à´Žà´¨്à´¨ും à´¨ിലനിà´²്ലക്à´•ും à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´µിà´šാà´°ിà´•്à´•à´°ുà´¤്, സമൃà´¦്à´§ിà´¯ുà´Ÿെ à´®േà´š്à´šിà´²് à´¸്ഥലങ്ങളിà´²് à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨ുà´•ൊà´£്à´Ÿ് à´¸à´à´¯ുà´Ÿെ ദര്ശനതെà´¯ും à´¶ിà´•്ഷനത്à´¤െà´¯ും അവഹെà´³ിà´•്à´•ുà´¨്നവര് തങ്ങളുà´Ÿെ à´œീà´µിതത്à´¤ിà´²് വന് à´µീà´´്à´šà´•à´³് à´…à´¨ുà´à´µിà´•്à´•ുà´¨്à´¨ു à´Žà´¨്നതിà´¨് നമ്à´®ുà´Ÿെ തലമുറയിà´²് തന്à´¨െ à´§ാà´°ാà´³ം à´¦്à´°ിà´·്à´Ÿാà´¨്തങ്ങള് ഉണ്à´Ÿ്" in the presidential address was aimed at Kuwaitee Marthomites- a cheap and hollow threat resorted to by ecclesiastes from time immemorial for emotional and psychological upper hand over their opponents; an exercise in futility and of little significance and of zero effect, anymore.
Sabha, as mentioned above, has a vision? discipline? a BIG joke, it is!
For me, this is by and large, a privilege issue.. which needs to be settled... once and for all.
Now, there is this Big New Question in Kuwait:
Why did the three Marthomite priests in Kuwait boycott the Viewing/ Homage Service of a deceased Marthomite?
Were they expressly told/ ordered to keep away?
Who do the priests owe allegiance to- their superiors, Mar Thoma Church or a Higher Power? Who pays them for their services in their capacity as priests?
Please re-read my subject line:
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27
And what are the allegations surrounding the stone-laying of the brand-new Pandanad Immanuel MT Church by the Suffragan Metropolitan? Defy the law of the land, including but not limited to, the encroachment of public property?
I am eager to know...
Thank you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Monday, September 19, 2011
Got a minute to think again?
I hear the metropolitan has been found guilty of not paying 85.51 lakhs to the Indian Income Tax Dept (tell me what's the total amount flowed in if that's only the tax due to the government? and how much money has come into the country without the IT Dept ever knowing it? So its only the tip of the iceberg!) and that he has bought land and cars in his own name though funded by the church and that the Disciplinary Directorate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants has found Mr. K.I. John of Cherian & Cherian (Mar Thoma Sabha auditors) prima facie guilty of professional misconduct in his audit of accounts. I hear a bishop with 25 cents of land at the time of his episcopal ordination is now the owner of more than 10 acres of prime river- front property. I hear another bishop has undisclosed amount of money given to businessmen to fetch higher interest and to conceal its existence. This goes on and on.....
I have heard about priests stealing big bills from the offertory... I have heard that when a bishop died several years ago, his family came up with a demand that the bundle of gold in his safe and the huge amount of money he had invested in blade companies belonged to that family. Another bishop who had been in that office only for a few years, and reportedly an honest one, had a lot of money in his accounts too when he passed away which convinced Mar Thoma Sabha about the large income that each bishop comes in charge of- the reason why the late Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan called for joint accounts of bishops with the metropolitan. A friend reported to me the statement of the owner of a leading private bank in Kerala that its big pool of money is from the priests and bishops of Kerala.
This issue was raised recently by Mr. P.P. Achenkunju, No. 18 ( see page # 15 of Questions and Answers of this year's Prathinidhi Mandalam).
His question:
" Who are the episcopas that have put into practice the joint account system as declared in the times of the late Most Rev Dr Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan?"
And the answer from the officialdom?
" Episcopas who were there in the times of Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan have put it into practice".. (Who are they, we ask again, don't they have names?) Unfortunately that leaves a lot of episcopas out of its ambit.
The Question is WHY?
Notwithstanding, the present Metropolitan said in the Mandalam that it is difficult to follow that rule as a bishop will have to see the Metropolitan each time he wants to withdraw money... which falls short of credibility. This would have been deemed true a hundred years ago, but not any more. Almost all of you have joint bank accounts: most commonly between husband and wife. Please tell me if one has to see/ meet/ get the concurrence/ clearance of the other to do banking... Nope.
Its called "Either/Or".
Joint depositors of an account have to agree only in the context of the premature closing of a fixed deposit.
So, the question is all the more relevant:
What is the degree of accountability by Bishops in the use/ misuse of the money that's entrusted with them? Does the money belong to them or to the Mar Thoma Sabha? To what extent is manipulation a probability? What can we do as a civilized body to oversee the proper use of our money? If you and you and you and I and Europe and America and the Gulf stop contributing limitless money to the church, where from do you think money will flow into their hands unnecessarily? Then only will they realize that YOUR MONEY RUNS THE CHURCH AND YOU ARE ITS BOSS with the inherent power to fire.
So once again, as the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention, by all comprehension, a yard sale; most of those books are not worth the paper on which they are printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors, writers and thinkers within no time... it's indeed a source of illusion and a subject of wonder that need to be researched into. And it's a shame to see a few of them in seminaries- I was enthralled to read an e-mail from Rev. Sunni E. Mathew recently which befits the criterion for correction work in English composition by primary school students...
Here, will somebody tell me the meaning of the 8th para of the Metropolitan's presidential address in the Mandalam on 6/09/2011 which reads:
".... à´•ാà´¨്സര്, à´µൃà´•്à´•à´°ോà´—ം, à´¹ൃà´¦്à´°ോà´—ം, HIV/ AIDS ആദിà´¯ാà´¯ à´°ോà´— à´¬ാà´§ിതര്à´•്à´•് സഹാà´¯ം നല്à´•ുà´µാà´¨് à´’à´°ു corpus fund à´°ൂà´ªീà´•à´°ിà´•à´£ം à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´¨ാം à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാà´¨ിà´š്à´šു à´Žà´™്à´•ിà´²ും കണക്à´•ുà´•à´³് à´¨ോà´•്à´•ിà´¯ാà´²് à´† à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാà´¨ം à´•à´Ÿà´²ാà´¸ിà´²് à´®ാà´¤്à´°ം à´’à´¤ുà´™്à´™ി à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨് à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´•ാà´£ാം. à´ˆ à´µേളയിà´²് à´à´¦്à´°ാസനങ്ങള് à´µിà´µിà´§ à´ª്à´°ോà´œെà´•്à´Ÿുà´•െà´³്à´•്à´•ും ഇതേ ആശയങ്ങളിà´²് à´¨ിà´² à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨് à´«à´£്à´Ÿ് à´¶േഖരണവും à´µിതരണവും നടത്à´¤ി à´Žà´¨്നറിà´¯ുà´¨്നത് ആഗ്à´°à´¹ിà´•്കതക്കതല്à´². à´•ൂà´Ÿ്à´Ÿാà´¯ à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാനങ്ങളിà´²് ഉറച്à´šു à´¨ിà´²്à´•ുà´µാà´¨് à´¨ാം à´œാà´—്à´°à´¤ à´ªുലര്à´¤്à´¤േà´£്à´Ÿà´¤് à´…à´¤്à´°േ...."
Question: Means what? So the episcopas of each diocese raise and utilize funds according to their whims and fancies? With absolutely no joint responsibility? Can you imagine another agency where it happens? Impossible!
Now you think about it again...
Thank you,
love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
I have heard about priests stealing big bills from the offertory... I have heard that when a bishop died several years ago, his family came up with a demand that the bundle of gold in his safe and the huge amount of money he had invested in blade companies belonged to that family. Another bishop who had been in that office only for a few years, and reportedly an honest one, had a lot of money in his accounts too when he passed away which convinced Mar Thoma Sabha about the large income that each bishop comes in charge of- the reason why the late Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan called for joint accounts of bishops with the metropolitan. A friend reported to me the statement of the owner of a leading private bank in Kerala that its big pool of money is from the priests and bishops of Kerala.
This issue was raised recently by Mr. P.P. Achenkunju, No. 18 ( see page # 15 of Questions and Answers of this year's Prathinidhi Mandalam).
His question:
" Who are the episcopas that have put into practice the joint account system as declared in the times of the late Most Rev Dr Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan?"
And the answer from the officialdom?
" Episcopas who were there in the times of Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan have put it into practice".. (Who are they, we ask again, don't they have names?) Unfortunately that leaves a lot of episcopas out of its ambit.
The Question is WHY?
Notwithstanding, the present Metropolitan said in the Mandalam that it is difficult to follow that rule as a bishop will have to see the Metropolitan each time he wants to withdraw money... which falls short of credibility. This would have been deemed true a hundred years ago, but not any more. Almost all of you have joint bank accounts: most commonly between husband and wife. Please tell me if one has to see/ meet/ get the concurrence/ clearance of the other to do banking... Nope.
Its called "Either/Or".
Joint depositors of an account have to agree only in the context of the premature closing of a fixed deposit.
So, the question is all the more relevant:
What is the degree of accountability by Bishops in the use/ misuse of the money that's entrusted with them? Does the money belong to them or to the Mar Thoma Sabha? To what extent is manipulation a probability? What can we do as a civilized body to oversee the proper use of our money? If you and you and you and I and Europe and America and the Gulf stop contributing limitless money to the church, where from do you think money will flow into their hands unnecessarily? Then only will they realize that YOUR MONEY RUNS THE CHURCH AND YOU ARE ITS BOSS with the inherent power to fire.
So once again, as the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention, by all comprehension, a yard sale; most of those books are not worth the paper on which they are printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors, writers and thinkers within no time... it's indeed a source of illusion and a subject of wonder that need to be researched into. And it's a shame to see a few of them in seminaries- I was enthralled to read an e-mail from Rev. Sunni E. Mathew recently which befits the criterion for correction work in English composition by primary school students...
Here, will somebody tell me the meaning of the 8th para of the Metropolitan's presidential address in the Mandalam on 6/09/2011 which reads:
".... à´•ാà´¨്സര്, à´µൃà´•്à´•à´°ോà´—ം, à´¹ൃà´¦്à´°ോà´—ം, HIV/ AIDS ആദിà´¯ാà´¯ à´°ോà´— à´¬ാà´§ിതര്à´•്à´•് സഹാà´¯ം നല്à´•ുà´µാà´¨് à´’à´°ു corpus fund à´°ൂà´ªീà´•à´°ിà´•à´£ം à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´¨ാം à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാà´¨ിà´š്à´šു à´Žà´™്à´•ിà´²ും കണക്à´•ുà´•à´³് à´¨ോà´•്à´•ിà´¯ാà´²് à´† à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാà´¨ം à´•à´Ÿà´²ാà´¸ിà´²് à´®ാà´¤്à´°ം à´’à´¤ുà´™്à´™ി à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨് à´Žà´¨്à´¨് à´•ാà´£ാം. à´ˆ à´µേളയിà´²് à´à´¦്à´°ാസനങ്ങള് à´µിà´µിà´§ à´ª്à´°ോà´œെà´•്à´Ÿുà´•െà´³്à´•്à´•ും ഇതേ ആശയങ്ങളിà´²് à´¨ിà´² à´¨ിà´¨്à´¨് à´«à´£്à´Ÿ് à´¶േഖരണവും à´µിതരണവും നടത്à´¤ി à´Žà´¨്നറിà´¯ുà´¨്നത് ആഗ്à´°à´¹ിà´•്കതക്കതല്à´². à´•ൂà´Ÿ്à´Ÿാà´¯ à´¤ീà´°ുà´®ാനങ്ങളിà´²് ഉറച്à´šു à´¨ിà´²്à´•ുà´µാà´¨് à´¨ാം à´œാà´—്à´°à´¤ à´ªുലര്à´¤്à´¤േà´£്à´Ÿà´¤് à´…à´¤്à´°േ...."
Question: Means what? So the episcopas of each diocese raise and utilize funds according to their whims and fancies? With absolutely no joint responsibility? Can you imagine another agency where it happens? Impossible!
Now you think about it again...
Thank you,
love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Your money runs the church ! You are the employer !! With the authority to say "You are fired" !!!
As you are aware, I made a gamble for the office of Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary but my wager did not carry the weight of currency as I asked the Episcopal Synod to intervene on my behalf by withdrawing two of its official clergy-nominees to the same office to exhibit at least an outward appearance of propriety and semblance of justice: since the laity have been kept out of this "sensitive office" (as emphasized by a priest - meaning what?) for more than four decades. They not only were in non-compliance with my demand which was the need of the hour but also made the election of a clergy as Sabha Secretary double-sure by rejecting my nominations on flimsy and frivolous technical grounds which will not stand either in fact or law about which I wrote to you earlier. That base and mean trick will not be resorted to even in panchayat elections, I'm pretty sure. The Metropolitan who thereafter told me that he will look into the matter more closely for evident foul play and will call me has not contacted me till date.
At this point, I have a few questions for those of you who attended the Prathinidhi Mandalam from the 6th to the 8th of this month:
How often the bishops and clergy transgressed into your self- esteem within the course of those three days?
How much did they trespass into your personal freedom?
To what extent did they deprive you of your constitutional rights?
How often did they try to tarnish your reputation and smother your voice?
How repeatedly they lied to you, knowing those were lies?
e.g. Kuwait issue, bribery in admissions and appointments in colleges and other institutions, the question regarding the total number of Marthomites before multiplication by three due to membership is several parishes at the same time...
How many times did they evade your questions with answers like "yes", "no" and "its not a question" like you are that negligible?
How far did they succeed in brainwashing you and buying you into their line of thought with day-labour speakers ?
How calculated were they in smothering your spirits? in stifling your beliefs?
in suffocating your interests? in gagging your opinions?
in suppressing your legitimate right to be informed?
Why did they disallow a point of order from an intelligent member- priest?
Do they know the meaning and significance of a point of order? For their information, let me state here that a POINT OF ORDER is a question as to whether the present proceedings are in order or allowed by the rules of parliamentary procedure. They should have known that a point of order, in other words, is a question raised in a meeting or deliberative assembly by a member as to whether the rules governing procedures are being breached. This is an essential element in Law and Parliamentary Procedure. If they are ignorant about it, they have no moral right to the office to which they are hanging to.
And, what is the logic in the ruling that there is neither point or order in it even without hearing it?
I urge you to ask these questions to your esteemed self and then aloud...
Let it thunder like the voice of the Baptist in the desert- "Make the way for the Lord" and see if you'll ever get an answer.
They were practising the art of elusive existence.
But those days are numbered.
The reason why I withdrew from presenting my Resolution Amendment on the floor on the second day was to protest against the authoritarian attitude of the church leadership, for not upholding the decorum of the body, including the many questions that were unanswered and the enigma surrounding the 'point of order' I referred to.
And I repeat, the privilege of its members was transgressed into:
Not a few... but many a time...
I need to reiterate here that I was standing for a cause. I have/ had nothing to gain by becoming the Secretary of the Mar Thoma Church as I had said that I will not accept salary if I am elected. It was not for fame as I already have it in abundance- in the East as well as in the West. Further, no prestige goes with the title of the Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary any more since it has lost its face and identity.
Perhaps my losses would have been trebled as now I believe that I would have lost my conscience, rationale, sincerity, innocence and intelligence, once I got elected as the Sabha Secretary. I believe in the honor that springs out of one's conduct; not titles. To me, character is destiny.
And to be at the helm of a Sinking Christian Denomination with no more than 4 lakh members is no honour as far as I am concerned. Whoever tells you that there are more than four lakh Marthomites on the globe is telling you a blatant lie. Its falsehood, full-blown.
Or, here I challenge anybody to prove that bogus, irresponsible, unsubstantiated claim. (A friend of mine who is a professor of Economics with a Ph.D. tells me that he will do the count in two months if he is furnished the answers to a questionnaire by the respective vicars of each parish).
So, brothers and sisters,
I am asking you to take up this legacy and go forward. Our Sabha, nurtured with the labour, sweat and money of the laity is an Augean stable now. The mortar used in the construction of this institution, viz. Mar Thoma Church, was mixed with the blood and sacrifice of the laity. Its fruit is now being swallowed by a few drones.
Let this fight for law, order, freedom, justice and self-worth continue.
Like Alfred, Lord Tennyson's brook that chirps:
"For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.."
This fight has to continue and it will continue...
Laity, a day not far from now, one of you will preside in the Mandalam Meetings and another from you will be the Secreatay of the Mar Thoma Church if it has an entity of its own then for which you have to sow the seed of a new creed. This continuity, this flow should go thicker and stronger.
I request all the laity and the clergy to join this struggle for equal rights, opportunity and justice. And I would like to remind the clergy that they will lose their voice for ever if they are silent and reluctant to stand up for the right cause now. Don't be an accomplice to be the receiver of instant benefits for which you are ineligible. And those clergy with a conscience, tell me for once: who are you afraid of and what are you scared about?
As the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention; most of them are not worth the paper on which it is printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors and thinkers within no time... its indeed a source of wonder and a matter of magic that need to be researched.
And you heard the statement from the dais how the church played safe by contributing only Rs. 10,000 to the Jeevan TV and getting a representation on its Director Board but got some of you to contribute lakhs of rupees which is now on the verge of extinction. Will Mar Thoma Church pay back your money if they asked you to contribute it in the first place?
You have been ill-tutored to make those big contributions in the name of God...
Believe me, the Preserver of Israel doth not need your money. He is rich on his own.
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber";
no matter, you give the church your money or not.
So keep your money with yourself.
Give it to your neighbor to build a house, to educate another's child, to get yet another's daughter married of...
Remember:
"And the King shall answer and say to them, truly I say to you, in as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me".
I repeat, I am only a symbol representing an idea.
I am shapeless energy.
The race is not done; the fight is not finished.
Its a relay race... no more start-signals, get the baton... on your heels to get ahead in the next lap.
Thank you for being my reader...
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
P.S. If anybody wants his/ her name removed from my mailing list, please let me know and I will be too happy to do it.
At this point, I have a few questions for those of you who attended the Prathinidhi Mandalam from the 6th to the 8th of this month:
How often the bishops and clergy transgressed into your self- esteem within the course of those three days?
How much did they trespass into your personal freedom?
To what extent did they deprive you of your constitutional rights?
How often did they try to tarnish your reputation and smother your voice?
How repeatedly they lied to you, knowing those were lies?
e.g. Kuwait issue, bribery in admissions and appointments in colleges and other institutions, the question regarding the total number of Marthomites before multiplication by three due to membership is several parishes at the same time...
How many times did they evade your questions with answers like "yes", "no" and "its not a question" like you are that negligible?
How far did they succeed in brainwashing you and buying you into their line of thought with day-labour speakers ?
How calculated were they in smothering your spirits? in stifling your beliefs?
in suffocating your interests? in gagging your opinions?
in suppressing your legitimate right to be informed?
Why did they disallow a point of order from an intelligent member- priest?
Do they know the meaning and significance of a point of order? For their information, let me state here that a POINT OF ORDER is a question as to whether the present proceedings are in order or allowed by the rules of parliamentary procedure. They should have known that a point of order, in other words, is a question raised in a meeting or deliberative assembly by a member as to whether the rules governing procedures are being breached. This is an essential element in Law and Parliamentary Procedure. If they are ignorant about it, they have no moral right to the office to which they are hanging to.
And, what is the logic in the ruling that there is neither point or order in it even without hearing it?
I urge you to ask these questions to your esteemed self and then aloud...
Let it thunder like the voice of the Baptist in the desert- "Make the way for the Lord" and see if you'll ever get an answer.
They were practising the art of elusive existence.
But those days are numbered.
The reason why I withdrew from presenting my Resolution Amendment on the floor on the second day was to protest against the authoritarian attitude of the church leadership, for not upholding the decorum of the body, including the many questions that were unanswered and the enigma surrounding the 'point of order' I referred to.
And I repeat, the privilege of its members was transgressed into:
Not a few... but many a time...
I need to reiterate here that I was standing for a cause. I have/ had nothing to gain by becoming the Secretary of the Mar Thoma Church as I had said that I will not accept salary if I am elected. It was not for fame as I already have it in abundance- in the East as well as in the West. Further, no prestige goes with the title of the Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary any more since it has lost its face and identity.
Perhaps my losses would have been trebled as now I believe that I would have lost my conscience, rationale, sincerity, innocence and intelligence, once I got elected as the Sabha Secretary. I believe in the honor that springs out of one's conduct; not titles. To me, character is destiny.
And to be at the helm of a Sinking Christian Denomination with no more than 4 lakh members is no honour as far as I am concerned. Whoever tells you that there are more than four lakh Marthomites on the globe is telling you a blatant lie. Its falsehood, full-blown.
Or, here I challenge anybody to prove that bogus, irresponsible, unsubstantiated claim. (A friend of mine who is a professor of Economics with a Ph.D. tells me that he will do the count in two months if he is furnished the answers to a questionnaire by the respective vicars of each parish).
So, brothers and sisters,
I am asking you to take up this legacy and go forward. Our Sabha, nurtured with the labour, sweat and money of the laity is an Augean stable now. The mortar used in the construction of this institution, viz. Mar Thoma Church, was mixed with the blood and sacrifice of the laity. Its fruit is now being swallowed by a few drones.
Let this fight for law, order, freedom, justice and self-worth continue.
Like Alfred, Lord Tennyson's brook that chirps:
"For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.."
This fight has to continue and it will continue...
Laity, a day not far from now, one of you will preside in the Mandalam Meetings and another from you will be the Secreatay of the Mar Thoma Church if it has an entity of its own then for which you have to sow the seed of a new creed. This continuity, this flow should go thicker and stronger.
I request all the laity and the clergy to join this struggle for equal rights, opportunity and justice. And I would like to remind the clergy that they will lose their voice for ever if they are silent and reluctant to stand up for the right cause now. Don't be an accomplice to be the receiver of instant benefits for which you are ineligible. And those clergy with a conscience, tell me for once: who are you afraid of and what are you scared about?
As the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention; most of them are not worth the paper on which it is printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors and thinkers within no time... its indeed a source of wonder and a matter of magic that need to be researched.
And you heard the statement from the dais how the church played safe by contributing only Rs. 10,000 to the Jeevan TV and getting a representation on its Director Board but got some of you to contribute lakhs of rupees which is now on the verge of extinction. Will Mar Thoma Church pay back your money if they asked you to contribute it in the first place?
You have been ill-tutored to make those big contributions in the name of God...
Believe me, the Preserver of Israel doth not need your money. He is rich on his own.
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber";
no matter, you give the church your money or not.
So keep your money with yourself.
Give it to your neighbor to build a house, to educate another's child, to get yet another's daughter married of...
Remember:
"And the King shall answer and say to them, truly I say to you, in as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me".
I repeat, I am only a symbol representing an idea.
I am shapeless energy.
The race is not done; the fight is not finished.
Its a relay race... no more start-signals, get the baton... on your heels to get ahead in the next lap.
Thank you for being my reader...
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
P.S. If anybody wants his/ her name removed from my mailing list, please let me know and I will be too happy to do it.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
How old is too old and how senile is senility?
I'm getting a lot of queries as to why my nominations were rejected.
Answer: Fear of the Known.
And a forensic expert adds," Because the human body is not a machine, every person has variation in his writing. No two signatures written by the same person are exactly the same. External factors such as age, illness, writing position, writing instrument, and care of execution could affect a person's writing."
The signature in question is that of a 65 year-old retired post-mistress and a past member of Ranni- Pazhavangadi Panchayat, who is the sister-in-law of a respected retired priest of the Mar Thoma Church. If the Returning officer wanted to verify her intent, he could have called her over the phone which would have taken only a few minutes. She was only a phone call away. So, evidently, the returning officer has acted outside his jurisdiction. And the reason? A few self-styled leaders of the Mar Thoma Church were scared at the sight of the vast majority of laity and priests rallying behind me under the slogan of "Change" and anticipated the defeat of their two official clergy-nominees. They smelt in the wind that I am going to win the election, nothing less; nothing more.
The question follows if I am going to get my grievance redressed through a court of law. In my mind, the pendulum swings in between two questions:
1. Is it necessary to put a stop to the church-hierarchy's obstinacy and self-righteous attitude?
2. Is it worthy on my part to spend any more time on a rotten machinery, viz., the Church?
Will keep u posted on further steps.
In the meantime, I'm posing a question for you to contemplate:
Why don't our bishops retire at the age of 65 if the priests under them have to retire at 65?
Thanking you,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A thought, not so latent.
Self-consciousness and self-awareness lead to self-knowledge that instills self-trust and self-reliance which in turn generate self-confidence leading to self-worth/self-integrity/self-esteem blending with self-respect and culminating in self-realization which, essentially, is the psychological growth and maturation that represent the awakening and manifestation of the latent potentialities of a human being: viz. ethical, aesthetic, and religious activities and experiences. So join the bandwagon.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
In reply to
Sara Bhuyan, a friend asking the following question:
How do you perceive Anna Hazare's campaign from a lawyer's point of view ? No doubt, corruption is rampant. From the perspective of an ordinary person like me, it looks like a small child kicking and screaming and spitting in a shipping mall when he does not get what he wants. May be I am trivialising the scene, but cannot help it ....
Here you go: the qn is difficult to answer in the limited time-frame as the issue is multi-faceted and an honest answer is time-consuming.
Still, I'd venture to say:
1. at the social level everybody except the immediate beneficiaries will fall in line with Anna's bold step of challenging corruption.
2. at the political level, its a time-bomb and no political parties will endorse it as they all are immersed in corruption... all parties need money to exist/ function- to fight the elections, they need money and there's no magic wand that will generate money other than corruption in the given circumstances. So this may be called 'functional' level as well.
3. at the constitutional level, it brings forth a few delicate issues- are laws to be made in the streets by social leaders or in the parliament by elected representitives of the people called law-makers.. how can democracy survive if Anna's demands are acceded to and what good legislatures are then???
(then the counter qn- Gandhiji and Jaya Prakashji led the people against governments to attain positive results for the people: Aren't all established bodies, including religious, corrupt? Dont they have to be corrected?)
The forth-going is the rule in my eyes as a lawyer too.
Remember- "No pain, No gain"
4. at the ethical level, hallelujah, we need more Annas.. He's doing it for a better tomorrow.. to get the country out of the filth she's in... "the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish" but shall perish if its not so... somebody has to bell the cat... he's doing my job when I'm sleeping in the safety of my home, may God guard him.
And what's ethically right is morally right too.
A child needs to be attended to when he/ she screams, period.
thanks..
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Is Democracy, as we know it, on its way out?
Let me re-phrase,
Is Democracy, as we know it, on its way out?
A decade ago, only paranoid alarmists would have posed that question.
Today, it is an expression of cold, brutal realism, and no more cynicism.
On both sides of the Atlantic -- from the fires that raged in large stretches of London, to the political chicanery that brought the U.S. economy to its knees in early August -- the institutional framework that came to define modern democracy in the 19th century is in deep trouble.
The principal organs of financial oversight and management are in tatters. Ferociously xenophobic political movements now play important roles in nearly every European nation, as well as the United States.
Faith in elected leaders and legislatures, the central and defining institutions of democracy, has never been lower.
According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of the U.S. public expressing trust in the federal government has fallen from just under 80 per cent in the late 1960s to barely 20 per cent today.
A European Union poll last September found that only 29 per cent of the voters in its 27 member-states trust their own national government. Less than 20 per cent believe that their elected representatives are capable of successful action "against the effects of the financial and economic crisis."
A meagre seven per cent trust the United States, the West's political and economic giant, to address the crisis -- a resounding vote of no confidence a year before the disastrous U.S. Congressional budget struggle.
These numbers, put bluntly, are staggering.
Angry, violent civil disturbances, first in Paris and now in London, have revealed enormous tinderboxes of alienation. With the gap between rich and poor -- between philosophical democracy's matchless promise and contemporary democracies' transparent inequities -- expanding at a dizzying pace, more explosions are likely and perhaps inevitable.
Again, in the Middle East and Central Asia, and at home in its urban streets, the Western Alliance is increasingly unable to maintain its values or defend them.
Think about it..
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Friday, August 12, 2011
Who rules the world?
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
How Much Wealth Do The Economic Elite Have?
While 68.3 million Americans struggle to get enough food to eat and wages are declining for 90 percent of the population, US millionaire household wealth has reached an unprecedented level. According to an extensive study by auditing and financial advisory firm Deloitte, US millionaire households now have $38.6 trillion in wealth. On top of the $38.6 trillion this study reveals, they have an estimated $6.3 trillion hidden in offshore accounts.
In total, US millionaire households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth, the majority of this wealth is held within the upper one-tenth of one percent of the population.
If all this isn’t obscene enough, to further demonstrate how the global economy has now been completely rigged, Deloitte’s analysis predicated, based on current trends, that US millionaire households will see a 225 percent increase in wealth to $87.1 trillion by 2020. Accounting for wealth hidden in offshore accounts, they are projected to have over $100 trillion in total within the next decade.
Most people cannot even comprehend how much $1 trillion is, let alone $46 trillion. One trillion is equal to 1000 billion, or $1,000,000,000,000. To put it in perspective, last year the entire cost of feeding all 40 million Americans on food stamps was $65 billion.
Now consider, according to the latest IRS data, only 0.076 percent of the population, less than one-tenth of one percent, earned over $1 million in 2009.
The highest bracket for annual income is $50 million or more. Only 74 Americans are in this elite group. The average income within this category was $91.2 million in 2008. As astonishing as that is, in 2009 they averaged $518.8 million each, or about $10 million per week. This means, in the depths of the recession, the richest 74 Americans increased their income by more than five times within this one year. These 74 people made more money than 19 million workers combined.
In context, overall, the richest 400 people in the US have as much wealth as 154 million Americans combined, that’s 50 percent of the entire country. The top economic 1 percent of the US population now has a record 40 pecent of all wealth, and have more wealth than 90 percent of the population combined.
Who Rules America? Its the The Economic Top 0.1 Percent -
Here is an analysis from an investment manager with mega-wealthy clients breaking down the economic top 0.5 percent of the population, recently published by William Domhoff, sociology professor and author of Who Rules America?:
How Much Wealth Do The Economic Elite Have?
While 68.3 million Americans struggle to get enough food to eat and wages are declining for 90 percent of the population, US millionaire household wealth has reached an unprecedented level. According to an extensive study by auditing and financial advisory firm Deloitte, US millionaire households now have $38.6 trillion in wealth. On top of the $38.6 trillion this study reveals, they have an estimated $6.3 trillion hidden in offshore accounts.
In total, US millionaire households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth, the majority of this wealth is held within the upper one-tenth of one percent of the population.
If all this isn’t obscene enough, to further demonstrate how the global economy has now been completely rigged, Deloitte’s analysis predicated, based on current trends, that US millionaire households will see a 225 percent increase in wealth to $87.1 trillion by 2020. Accounting for wealth hidden in offshore accounts, they are projected to have over $100 trillion in total within the next decade.
Most people cannot even comprehend how much $1 trillion is, let alone $46 trillion. One trillion is equal to 1000 billion, or $1,000,000,000,000. To put it in perspective, last year the entire cost of feeding all 40 million Americans on food stamps was $65 billion.
Now consider, according to the latest IRS data, only 0.076 percent of the population, less than one-tenth of one percent, earned over $1 million in 2009.
The highest bracket for annual income is $50 million or more. Only 74 Americans are in this elite group. The average income within this category was $91.2 million in 2008. As astonishing as that is, in 2009 they averaged $518.8 million each, or about $10 million per week. This means, in the depths of the recession, the richest 74 Americans increased their income by more than five times within this one year. These 74 people made more money than 19 million workers combined.
In context, overall, the richest 400 people in the US have as much wealth as 154 million Americans combined, that’s 50 percent of the entire country. The top economic 1 percent of the US population now has a record 40 pecent of all wealth, and have more wealth than 90 percent of the population combined.
Who Rules America? Its the The Economic Top 0.1 Percent -
Here is an analysis from an investment manager with mega-wealthy clients breaking down the economic top 0.5 percent of the population, recently published by William Domhoff, sociology professor and author of Who Rules America?:
"Unlike those in the lower half of the top 1%, those in the top half and, particularly, top 0.1%, can often borrow for almost nothing, keep profits and production overseas, hold personal assets in tax havens, ride out down markets and economies, and influence legislation in the US. They have access to the very best in accounting firms, tax and other attorneys, numerous consultants, private wealth managers, a network of other wealthy and powerful friends, lucrative business opportunities, and many other benefits..."
Just take a minute to think about this.
Just take a minute to think about this.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week,
Love,
Love,
Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Me kidding..
Vodka and ice will ruin your kidneys.
Rum and ice will ruin your liver.
Whisky and ice will ruin your heart.
Gin and ice will ruin your brain.
Coke and ice will ruin your teeth.
Hey guys, warn all your friends:
That bloody ice is lethal..Lay off ice..
But you know that I'm kidding,
But you know that I'm kidding,
stay away from all alcoholic beverages, please.....
Saturday, August 6, 2011
You will it!
The more time you spend feeling sorry for yourself, the more things you'll have to be sorry about.
If you insist on seeing yourself as a victim, you'll end up experiencing your life as a victim.
It doesn't have to be that way because you can choose right now, and every day, to see yourself
in a positive, delightful and empowering light. The way you see yourself is up to you. It doesn't have
anything to do with the circumstances you happen to be facing.
See yourself as the unique, beautiful, creative and effective person you know you are.
See yourself as a bundle of positive, inspiring and meaningful possibilities that are well
on their way to be fulfilled.
See that you are able to successfully handle whatever it is that life sends your way.
See that you are able to thrive and grow and make positive meaning out of the world
in which you live.
See yourself as constantly moving forward through it all, with love and joy and purpose.
And what you see, you will be.
See yourself as constantly moving forward through it all, with love and joy and purpose.
And what you see, you will be.
They say you are what you eat.
I say you are what you honestly believe yourself to be.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
None Can Hurt Us Without Our Consent
On his first day in office, as President Abraham Lincoln entered to deliver
his inaugural address, a man stood up- he was a rich aristocrat.
He said, "Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make
shoes for my family".
The whole senate laughed, they thought they had made a fool of Lincoln.
But certain people are made of a totally different mettle.
Lincoln looked at the man directly into his eyes and said:
"Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes for your family,
and there will be many others like you, because he made shoes
in a way nobody else could. He was a creator.
His shoes were not just shoes. He poured his soul into them.
I want to ask you, have you any complaint about his work?
And because I know how to make shoes myself, I can make you another pair.
As far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father's shoes.
He was a genius and I am proud of my father".
The whole senate was dumb-struck.
They could not comprehend Lincoln's personality.
Remember: None Can Hurt Us Without Our Consent.
It's not what happens to us that hurt us..
It's our response to a situation or stimulus that hurt us.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader.
Our ATTITUDE determines our ALTITUDE
Thanking you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Why are our brains prone to procrastination?
Sorry, but I don't think you are that smart !
It's not just laziness; nor is it due to lack of willpower.
Tell me why you have made the same resolution for the tenth year in a row?
Wrong: You procrastinate because you are lazy and can’t manage your time well.
Right: Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking.
Netflix reveals something about your own behavior you should have noticed by now;
something which keeps getting between you and the things you want to accomplish.
If you have Netflix, especially if you stream it to your TV, you tend to gradually accumulate a cache of
hundreds of films you think you’ll watch one day. This is a bigger deal than you think.
Take a look at your queue. Why are there so many documentaries and dramatic epics collecting virtual dust in there?
Psychologists actually know the answer to this question, to why you keep adding movies you will never watch to your
growing collection of future rentals, and its the same reason you believe you will eventually do what’s best for yourself
in all the other parts of your life, but rarely do.
A study conducted in 1999 by Read, Loewenstein and Kalyanaraman had people pick three movies out of a selection of 24.
Some were lowbrow like “Sleepless in Seattle” or “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Some were highbrow like “Schindler’s List” or “The Piano.”
They were to make a choice between movies which promised to be fun and forgettable or would be memorable but require more effort to absorb.
After picking, the subjects had to watch one movie right away. They then had to watch another in two days and a third two days after that.
Most people picked Schindler’s List as one of their three. They knew it was a great movie because all their friends said it was.
All the reviews were glowing, and it earned dozens of the highest awards. Most didn’t, however, choose to watch it on the first day.
Instead, people tended to pick lowbrow movies on the first day. Only 44 percent went for the heavier stuff first.
The majority tended to pick comedies like “The Mask” or action flicks like “Speed” when they knew they had to watch it forthwith.
Planning ahead, people picked highbrow movies 63 percent of the time for their second movie and 71 percent of the time for their third.
When they ran the experiment again but told subjects they had to watch all three selections back-to-back, “Schindler’s List”
was 13 times less likely to be chosen at all.
The researchers had a hunch people would go for the junk food first, but plan healthy meals in the future.
Many studies over the years have shown you tend to have time-inconsistent preferences. When asked if you would rather have fruit or cake
one week from now, you will usually say fruit. A week later when the slice of German chocolate and the apple are offered,
you are statistically more likely to go for the cake.
This is why your Netflix queue is full of great films you keep passing over for “Family Guy.” With Netflix, the choice of what to watch right now
and what to watch later is like candy bars versus carrot sticks. When you are planning ahead, your better angels point to the nourishing choices,
but in the moment you go for what tastes good.
As behavioral economist Katherine Milkman has pointed out, this is why grocery stores put candy right next to the checkout.
This is sometimes called present bias – being unable to grasp what you want will change over time,
and what you want now isn’t the same thing you will want later. Present bias explains why you buy
lettuce and bananas only to throw them out later when you forget to eat them.
This is why when you are a kid you wonder why adults don’t own more toys.
Hence my message for the day:
Don't get dispirited.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Hooker/ Rape/ Libel
When it comes to our bodies, women are often presumed to be liars. I know, there’s too many reasons no one should believe anything a woman has to say about what she has done with her body, what has happened to it, and what that means to her. If she tells you that she accepted money for sex, she might just be living under patriarchy or capitalism, or she might be an entrepreneur who couldn’t imagine working for anyone but herself. If she tells you she has been to hotels with wealthy or powerful men for this, she might be bragging while describing a normal day on the job.
At the base, though- if she tells you she is a prostitute- she would be sharing a point of fact. If she tells you she was raped, she is not offering something to be argued. She is not asking to be evaluated as a victim, in either instance, even though she can’t fully ensure that she won’t be. By saying any of this, she knows that she is putting part of her body in front of the public.
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
How the world is destroyed by fundamentalist religions.
The earth bursts with life.
Far right exclusionary religions burst with death.
If there is a creator of life, He/ She/ It must hate fundamentalist religions.
The countries in the world that are the most fundamentalist and religious, and those whose identify as most religious-based are the world's greatest troublemakers.
You doubt? Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Vatican City and Israel are just a few examples.
If the rest of the human race could find a time machine to roll back the clock and recreate a world where these countries never exist, we'd live in a better world.
Just take one example of religion's baleful influence:
President Woodrow Wilson's messianic religion-inspired intervention in World War I.
"My life would not be worth living" Wilson wrote, "if it were not for the driving power of religion, for faith, pure and simple." (Letter to Nancy Toy, 1915.)
Wilson's religious views were the driving force in his political career, satisfying his quest for world peace. And like all fanatics he decided to achieve this "peace" through war.
The devout Woodrow Wilson upset fellow Presbyterians as he moved the nation toward entering World War I, including William Jennings Bryan, who quit as secretary of state in protest.
What did Wilson's religious idealism actually achieve? Germany's loss of World War I led to the rise of Hitler, and the Second World War.
Wilson picked sides between two equally tarnished nationalistically-inspired colonial contenders and weighed in.
So Wilson set the stage for the rise of Hitler and World War II. In the absence of World War II, there would be no Israel because there would have been no holocaust.
Zionism would have simply become a forgotten quirk. And there would have been no Cold War either.
Maybe not even a Soviet Union.
The twentieth century began with wars rooted in religion and nationalism and ended as the century of wars rooted in ideological atheism led by the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Mao.
Now the twenty first century seems to be shaping up to be the age of renewed wars of religions led by fundamentalist fanatics on all sides who believe in the divine destinies of their
nations and/or religions.
These fanatics - they are all of the far right - have ranged from the Ayatollah Khomeini to George W Bush.
The deluded religious belief that any people or nation or church is a "chosen" people is the root of almost all our troubles. So is the lunacy of believing in "Truth" revealed through
one special prophet to one special peoples- be they Jews, Muslims or the Evangelical Christians of America, or the Conservative Roman Catholics who believe in the special primacy of their popes.
That's my premise.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week.
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Far right exclusionary religions burst with death.
If there is a creator of life, He/ She/ It must hate fundamentalist religions.
The countries in the world that are the most fundamentalist and religious, and those whose identify as most religious-based are the world's greatest troublemakers.
You doubt? Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Vatican City and Israel are just a few examples.
If the rest of the human race could find a time machine to roll back the clock and recreate a world where these countries never exist, we'd live in a better world.
Just take one example of religion's baleful influence:
President Woodrow Wilson's messianic religion-inspired intervention in World War I.
"My life would not be worth living" Wilson wrote, "if it were not for the driving power of religion, for faith, pure and simple." (Letter to Nancy Toy, 1915.)
Wilson's religious views were the driving force in his political career, satisfying his quest for world peace. And like all fanatics he decided to achieve this "peace" through war.
The devout Woodrow Wilson upset fellow Presbyterians as he moved the nation toward entering World War I, including William Jennings Bryan, who quit as secretary of state in protest.
What did Wilson's religious idealism actually achieve? Germany's loss of World War I led to the rise of Hitler, and the Second World War.
Wilson picked sides between two equally tarnished nationalistically-inspired colonial contenders and weighed in.
So Wilson set the stage for the rise of Hitler and World War II. In the absence of World War II, there would be no Israel because there would have been no holocaust.
Zionism would have simply become a forgotten quirk. And there would have been no Cold War either.
Maybe not even a Soviet Union.
The twentieth century began with wars rooted in religion and nationalism and ended as the century of wars rooted in ideological atheism led by the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Mao.
Now the twenty first century seems to be shaping up to be the age of renewed wars of religions led by fundamentalist fanatics on all sides who believe in the divine destinies of their
nations and/or religions.
These fanatics - they are all of the far right - have ranged from the Ayatollah Khomeini to George W Bush.
The deluded religious belief that any people or nation or church is a "chosen" people is the root of almost all our troubles. So is the lunacy of believing in "Truth" revealed through
one special prophet to one special peoples- be they Jews, Muslims or the Evangelical Christians of America, or the Conservative Roman Catholics who believe in the special primacy of their popes.
That's my premise.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week.
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Communism, an extinct species.
Tell me who murdered Che Guevara- that was his communist comrades, right? And tell me why the Keralite communists uphold the photograph of Che forgetting our own Stephen, Ajitha and Varghese? Com Varghese and Rajan, along with many others, became martyrs for the Keralite proletarians and this soil smells and tastes their blood to this day. Remember, Karl Marx was no proletariat, but the son of a high-profile lawyer and studied Roman Law at the University of Berlin. After all, is not communism an extinct species from the face of the globe? Its not wise to be in that track any more. And, bear in mind that if you are not a socialist before 30 you have no heart, but if your are a socialist after 30 you have no head which points to the time-tested fact that your current political views of revolutionary socialism is nothing more than a hormonal teenage rush that you'll just grow out of. If not, that's when we brand 'mentally challenged'.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
How's dat?
The group known as "Lulz Security" dumped more than 62,000 personal
details on Twitter yesterday, inviting people to try the passwords on
everything from bank accounts to online stores.
It is claimed the passwords were downloaded 2100 times in the first 4
minutes after release.
Twitter was soon flooded with claims from individuals who said they
had used the passwords to gain illicit access to Facebook and PayPal
accounts.
"I chatted with some girl's boyfriend (on Facebook) and told him that
I would never **** him again.
He said "no problem, I understand " wtf" - Twitter user @Pedacitodepan
Lulz: 'Boys with fake girlfriends'
"Cheers for the paypal account with £250 in it! ;)" - Twitter user @Murraaayyy
"Ordered a large pack of condoms for an elderly woman on Amazon" -
Twitter user @RDisher
Emails and passwords of University of Queensland students and a high
school student in central Queensland were also published along with
logins at seven other Australian universities.
Lulz Security took credit for crashing the CIA website for several
hours on Thursday and have also reportedly attacked Sony, Nintendo,
the US Senate, the US Public Broadcasting System and Infraguard, a
private company that works with the FBI.
The hackers said the attacks were "just for kicks" and that the
passwords in the recent leak were "a random assortment from a
collection".
"So don't ask which site they're from or how old they are because we
have no idea," the group said.
"Releasing 62,000 possible account combinations is the loot for
creative minds to scour; think of it like digging a very unique
mineshaft."
James Cook University and Griffith University logins were also
compromised but it is not clear if they were for students or faculty.
Representatives for both universities said there had been no intrusion
of their servers, while UQ's director of IT services Rob Moffatt said
none of the university's email addresses were breached.
Only one of the UQ addresses was still live and the password was
incorrect, he said.
"We have investigated these claims and have ascertained that the group
involved has not breached any active university accounts," Mr Moffatt
said.
"UQ staff and students should not be concerned about the integrity of
their university accounts.
"UQ takes these issues very seriously and will continue to monitor
developments."
Queensland police said they were monitoring the situation.
Fraud Squad Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said the hackers had
"delusions" they were helping people by exposing security flaws.
"They think they're clever and laughing now but they're taking on
organisations like the CIA and the FBI.The most cyber attacks on
Australians was reported last year and this year was set to be worse"
"Queenslanders should regularly change their passwords to their online log ins.
"You almost have to operate with the expectation that you will be compromised," Hay said.
"You almost have to operate with the expectation that you will be compromised," Hay said.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The fascinating reason why it's so hard to quit bad habits.
Bribe, corruption & favoritism- Do these have a scientific base to
refuse indulgence?
smoking and alcoholism; by extension bribe, corruption & favoritism.
If you stop engaging in a bad habit, the habit will gradually diminish
Any time you quit something cold turkey, your brain will make a
You’ve been there, perhaps more than once.
You get serious about losing weight and start watching every calorie.
If you stop engaging in a bad habit, the habit will gradually diminish
until it disappears from your life - False.
Any time you quit something cold turkey, your brain will make a
last-ditch effort to return you to your habit - True.
You’ve been there, perhaps more than once.
You get serious about losing weight and start watching every calorie.
You read labels, stock up on fruit and vegetables and hit the gym.
That afternoon, you decide not only will you eat whatever you want,
If you want some chicken nuggets, you know you can’t just snap your fingers and wait
In the 1960s and ’70s, Burrhus Frederic Skinner became a scientist celebrity by scaring
Everything is going fine. You feel great. You feel like a champion.
You think, “This is easy.”
One day you give in to temptation and eat some candy, or a doughnut,
One day you give in to temptation and eat some candy, or a doughnut,
or a cheeseburger. Maybe, you buy a bag of chips.
You order the fettuccine alfredo.
That afternoon, you decide not only will you eat whatever you want,
but also will celebrate the occasion by eating a pint of ice cream.
The diet ends in a catastrophic binge.
What the hell?
The diet ends in a catastrophic binge.
What the hell?
How did your smooth transition from comfort food to human dumpster happen?
You just experienced an "extinction burst."
Once you become accustomed to reward, you get really upset when you can’t have it.
Food, of course, is a powerful reward. It keeps you alive.
Your brain didn’t evolve in an environment where there was an abundance of food,
You just experienced an "extinction burst."
Once you become accustomed to reward, you get really upset when you can’t have it.
Food, of course, is a powerful reward. It keeps you alive.
Your brain didn’t evolve in an environment where there was an abundance of food,
so whenever you find a high-calorie, high fat, high sodium source, your natural
inclination is to eat a lot of it and then go back to it over and over again.
If you take away a reward like that, you throw an internal tantrum.
Extinction bursts are a component of extinction, one of the principles of conditioning.
Much of your behavior is the result of conditioning.
If you take away a reward like that, you throw an internal tantrum.
Extinction bursts are a component of extinction, one of the principles of conditioning.
Much of your behavior is the result of conditioning.
It is among the most basic factors shaping the way any organism reacts to the world.
If you get rewarded by your actions, you are more likely to continue them.
If you get rewarded by your actions, you are more likely to continue them.
If punished, you are more likely to stop. Over time, you begin to predict reward and
punishment by linking longer and longer series of events to their eventual outcomes.
If you want some chicken nuggets, you know you can’t just snap your fingers and wait
for them to appear. You must engage in a long sequence of actions – acquire language,
acquire money, acquire car, acquire clothes, acquire fuel, learn to drive, learn to use money,
learn where nuggets are sold, drive to nuggets, use language, exchange money, etc..
This string of behaviors could be sliced up into smaller and smaller components if we
This string of behaviors could be sliced up into smaller and smaller components if we
wanted to really dig down into the conditioning you have endured in order to be able to
get nuggets in your mouth.
Just driving the car from point A to point B is a complex performance which becomes
Just driving the car from point A to point B is a complex performance which becomes
automatic after hundreds of hours of practice. Millions of tiny behaviors, each one a
single step in a process, add up to a single operation you have learned will payoff in reward.
Think of rats in a maze, learning a complicated series of steps – turn left two times,
Think of rats in a maze, learning a complicated series of steps – turn left two times,
turn right once, turn left, right, left, get cheese.
Even microorganisms can be conditioned to react to stimuli and predict outcomes.
For a while in psychology, conditioning was the cat’s pajamas.
Even microorganisms can be conditioned to react to stimuli and predict outcomes.
For a while in psychology, conditioning was the cat’s pajamas.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Burrhus Frederic Skinner became a scientist celebrity by scaring
the shit out of America with an invention called the operant conditioning chamber –
the Skinner Box.
The box is an enclosure which can have any combination of levers, food dispensers,
The box is an enclosure which can have any combination of levers, food dispensers,
an electric floor, lights and loudspeakers. Scientists place animals in the box and
either reward them or punish them to either encourage or discourage their behavior.
Rats, for example, can be taught to push a lever when a green light appears to get food.
Skinner demonstrated how he could teach a pigeon to spin in circles at his command by
Rats, for example, can be taught to push a lever when a green light appears to get food.
Skinner demonstrated how he could teach a pigeon to spin in circles at his command by
offering food only when it turned in one direction. Gradually, he withheld the food until the
pigeon had turned a little farther and farther until he had it going round and round.
Hence my question to you:
Will they kick the habit of bribe, corruption and favoritism, once they are into it and have
accepted it as a reward? Will the thief stop his successful practice?
How far is Anna Hazare from his goal of a corruption-free India?
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week.
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Friday, June 17, 2011
hush... a secret
George Bernard Shaw once said,
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."
It's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.
It means that a person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that's what he's thinking about. So I repeat, we become what we think about.
Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing...he has to become nothing.
How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know at this point. For this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.
Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make that decision.
We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, period.
Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand - one is the seed of corn, the other is nightshade which is deadly poisonous. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds - one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted in there.
It's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.
It means that a person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that's what he's thinking about. So I repeat, we become what we think about.
Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing...he has to become nothing.
How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know at this point. For this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.
Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make that decision.
We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, period.
Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand - one is the seed of corn, the other is nightshade which is deadly poisonous. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds - one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted in there.
So it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."
Remember, the land doesn't care. It will return poison in as wonderful abundance as corn. So up come the plants - one corn, one poison. The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works almost the same way.
Remember, the land doesn't care. It will return poison in as wonderful abundance as corn. So up come the plants - one corn, one poison. The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works almost the same way.
It doesn't care what we plant-
Success Vs. Failure.
A concrete, worthwhile goal...
or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on.
What we plant, it must return to us.
See,
See,
the human mind is a great, unexplored continent.
It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams.
It will return anything we want to plant and nurture.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week-end.
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Thursday, June 16, 2011
A British tool!
Sibal gives a spin to college affiliation.
Kapil Sibal, as the chairperson of the Central Advisory Board of Education — the highest advisory body in education, urged states to reduce the number of colleges affiliated to universities.
Sibal as the chairperson of the Central Advisory Board of Education — the highest advisory body in education — urged states to reduce the number of colleges affiliated to universities.
Infact, he said: “ It started way back in 1857, before the Sepoy Mutiny”. Deaffiliation of colleges, however, has not found an all round support among academicians.
Sibal said: “ Affiliation had emerged in the period of colonial India for the rulers to control what was being taught. There has to be a change in the philosophy of affiliation to enable the power of independence, thought to flower in the collegiate system.” He said number of colleges affiliated to universities should be reduced, so that universities could become centres of learning.” According to Indian Council of Historical Research chairperson Basudev Chatterji, this is an “ erroneous view of history.” “ The British had set up colleges such as the three Presidency Colleges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and gone onto affiliate colleges to create a robust system.” Chatterji cited the example of Presidency College in Kolkata, which at present is to be upgraded to a university status. “ Deaffiliation,” said Chatterji: “ leads to whole lot of complications.” Reforms in the affiliation system in universities, was one of the crucial recommendations proposed at the VC conference of central and state universities, held in March.
Bestowing autonomy to top colleges such as St. Stephens in Delhi and St Xavier’s in Kolkata, and allowing them to give their own degrees has been one of the crucial issues that the ministry has been deliberating for some time now.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
To change the mindset..
A police officer in Toronto made a comment at the York University that 'women should avoid dressing up like sluts in order not to be victimised'.
And two months later on April 3, 2011, the city witnessed a thousand people on the streets protesting against this derogatory remark in the form of Slut walks. The women got down on the streets wearing revealing outfits and T-shirts with the word 'slut' written on them. Soon, people inNorth America, Australia and Britain began organizing slut walks on their own raising their voices against the men who blamed women for being raped.
Slut Walk, Delhi 2011 (to take place on June 25th, 2011 at 1:00 pm IST) aims to alter the definition of the word 'Slut', to eliminate the shame attached to it and restore it with dignity. Words like 'slut' insult a woman, makes her feel ashamed of her act and disgraces her. One does not become a slut if she has more than one sexual partner or wears whatever she wants or has dated a number of men in the past.
Every day we come across a number of news stories about the rape and molestation cases in the country. 'Delhi is unsafe for girls and women' is a statement that has become too common to the ears. Not just Delhi, things are pretty bad in other metros and several other parts of the country. Girls have to deal with harassment in buses/metros, on the roads, in the clubs, in daytime, and at times in full public view. Girls from a very early age are taught how to behave in public, how to dress up, not to laugh out loud, avoid men who stare them, learn 'karate', act in a sophisticated manner and hundreds of other things. Why? To prevent them from getting raped?
The female is blamed for the rape just because she was walking alone on a street, was wearing a dress in the night or wasn't accompanied by her father or brother? What kind of a place do we live in? One where all the girls and women are unsafe and prone to sexual assaults?
The whole idea of the walk revolves around the fact that no woman 'likes' to be raped and hence, would NEVER call for it in any manner. The problem lies in the minds of the rapists and not in what women wear and how they dress up or walk. There is nothing wrong in wearing short skirts or low cut tops and walking in high heels wearing make up. The people who experience such sexual assaults are not to blame. The thought process of this male-dominated society needs to be changed. Not women, but men should be taught not to indulge into the act of sexual harassment and look upon women as independent people and not as mere objects of desire.
This is definitely a bold and strong movement in a nation like India where female victim of rape is often excluded from the society.
Originated in Toronto, Canada in 2011, Slut Walk is a protest against the rigid mindset of people who believe that the women become victims of sexual harassments because of what they wear and do. It is scheduled to take place on the 25th June 2011 at 01:00 pm IST in Delhi.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)