Voting

I must confess that I have never voted in my entire life.
I mean I just saw my Voting I-Card and it is dated 3rd November 2009.
I mean I suppose I could have voted in this 2014 elections in my native place of Odisha.
Earlier to 2009, it could be possible that I did not have a Voting I card but I had my name in Electoral Rolls.
Though I have stayed in Bangalore for about 10 years now and I have stayed in Hyderabad for 2 years and in Mumbai for 4 years, the maximum I have stayed is in Bhubaneswar. I can split 36 years of my life as below:
Mumbai - Stayed for 9 years
Hyderabad - Stayed for less than 2 years
Chennai - Stayed for less than 1 year
Bhubaneswar - Stayed for 16 years
Bangalore - Stayed for 10 years and still staying here.
I turned 18 in 1995 and 1996 onwards I could have voted in elections. At least 2014 I could have.
There was also the system where we SMS our Voter ID number and we get SMS reply back having details of Polling booth and stuff. I sent that SMS and got reply as well.
I guess if I don't vote I am in majority.
In fact I will say that a minuscle percentage would be voting. We can see data that 50-60% or even lesser sometimes would be voting.
Earlier a lot of people were excluded from "exercising their franchise". It was permissible in Colonial times where the voting was done abroad by "controlling Parliament" like in the case of British India where Parliament of Great Britain dictated most of the policies for India. Or it was permissible in Aparthied era South Africa where whites controlled the country.
Even in present day developed countries, females were excluded from 'right to vote'.
It was justified I feel. A few people who matter voted and then the Govt. was decided. And now there is "universal suffrage", And  I will say it leads to "universal suffering".
It could be recommended that only few 'intellectuals' can vote and decide like in the case of Supreme Court where few judges gather and decide the future outcome of cases.
Anyway, I did not vote and compared to earlier I am feeling sad about it. Earlier I was least interested. Now also I am only interested "for the experience". I do not want it as my power to exercise my right or te elect a Govt. of my choice. Only the fact that I 'missed the experience' I am feeling sad.
But many people will not be voting and I join their category.
In addition to the registered and genuine voters who did not vote, we have,the following
-->Citizens of other countries cannot vote and that will include Population of the World minus Population of India. These people are ineligible to vote in Indian elections anyway.
-->People who are not of voting age. At least 40% of India would be that young.
-->People who are 'gone'. Death is an ultimate reality. People who leave the Planet and their lives never to return can never vote. I can at least vote in next elections provided I survive for that. But people who are gone can never do so unless they cross voting age in next birth (rebirth).
-->All species apart from human. These include billions and trillions of life form who are not human and hence cannot take part in elections anyway.

Bigg Boss Vs Wrestling Vs IPL

Friends now I am in a position where I have watched one full season of Bigg Boss and at least 3 seasons of IPL and today when IPL 7 is about to begin I must say that there is something else which is far more interesting than both Bigg Boss and IPL and that is Wrestling.
Yes people I am watching Wrestling these days.
Last week I watched Wrestlemania 30. It was on in Ten Sports Channel and was from 6:30 PM till 11Pm. I will say watching those wrestling matches is far more interesting than cricket or Bigg Boss.
All are like reality TV and though some say Wrestling matches may be fixed or 'orchestrated' I guess it is okay. Better to watch such kind of 'orchestrated sports' than real sports where entire matches "might be fixed" or TV serials and movies which are played by actors anyway.
Wrestling was being telecasted by Satellite Channels since 1990's when Cable and Satellite made a way into peoples homes. It was through WWF which is now WWE. In addition to WWE there is TNA Wrestling and UFC Championship as well as Boxing matches. All can be watched.
I used to watch it occassionally though due to my 'raging hormones' I was more into MTV and other stuff which provided 'fodder for the senses'.
Now when adult stuff was unavailable on TV due to strict laws passed by Govt. and MTV became "Hindi-ised" and much foreign stuff was not available on TV anymore, I turned to internet where I used to watch movies and not TV programs. Actually my life became like that. 8 AM-7 PM was usual office time. It was always more, never less. After returning home, I used to have just enough time to watch an English movie as English movie was of lesser duration. And then go to sleep.
I never could watch wrestling even if I had the desire and inclination. There was never enough time.
Then I got married and then after my job I did SAP Finance Course. During this time also, I did not have any 'luxury time to watch TV'.
Then we had two TV connections which I got cancelled due to SAP Exam and then we had one which usually was occupied by my wife. So I was spending time on Laptop (Broadband Internet). recently just last month, we took another connection and that was Tata Sky in addition to Videocon D2H.
Then I took package in which in addition to base package we had HD channels active in Videocon D2H. What I found that four were Sports HD Channels and it was there that I watched Wrestling and liked it.
Trust me people, this Wrestling is far (100 times) better than Bigg Boss. What happens Bigg Boss is watched on Internet and usually a Medium Quality video. But we can watch Wrestling on Full HD on TV. And that is better. Bigg Boss also is like a "dysfunctional house", it is not a normal house. Also one cannot touch anyone there in anger and only way fights happen is through mouth and that is also 'censored'. That is in contrast to Wrestling where full contact happens.
IPL one can watch but again one can watch highlights on Internet and that will be a good way to save time. I feel Wrestling is good way to spend time and time well spent.

What We Eat

I know a lot of people eat Non-Veg.
Now non-veg consists of meat, fish and eggs.
Meat consists of pork, beef, mutton and chicken, mainly, additionally there may be duck, rabbit, pigeon.
Fish consists of crab, prawns and fish both freshwater and saltwater.
Eggs is purely a poultry item and comes from chicken.
Now my question is what do we eat?
More specifically do we eat a male or female of the species?
Why I thought about this?
Well I read this article on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India
And then what I thought about it.
As I have told earlier that I eat beef sometimes here in Bangalore but only in hotels. I do not bring it to the home or cook it myself. I leave the job of cooking to the experts who are the hotels and trust them that they are doing a great job. At least they make it taste good.
In the above article what I found that male cattle, i.e. bullocks and male buffaloes and females beyond procreation age can be slaughtered easily. But it is not that easy to slaughter cows who are of prime age.
From the article I read that in abroad, cows as young as 3 to 4 year old are being slaughtered but in India in most states where cattle slaughter is permissible, they have to be 12 to 15 years old.
And most of the beef could be buffalo or oxen meat and not cow meat.
Which made me think. Is the meat I am eating coming from a male or female.
We can say that almost all chicken meat would be female meat. Because male of a chicken is known as rooster and rooster cannot lay eggs.
Thus I will say as below:
Almost all chicken people eat would be female.
Most pigs or rather pork would be female.
At least 50% of lamb and goat will be female. We do not know exactly.
At least 50% of fish would be female.
But we can say that in India less than 50% of the beef would be female. The beef which comes from cattle (both buffalo and cow) would be overwhelmingly male.
I know from experience that in those beef hotels 99% of the public which comes to eat there is male. I have very rarely seen women or girls going into these hotels and eating beef. Thus we can say that males are eating males of the species. And females are avoiding eating the male cattle.
But see who are eating chicken. Chicken is the "seasoned choice of non-veg food" in India and maybe around the world. Chicken is available in all non-veg hotels and malls across the length and breadth of the city. Because chicken is available in plenty and will not face any religious objection from any religion.
So what we can say that all people including females and males devour the meat of the female of the species of the bird which is the chicken. And they love it. They have in McDonalds and KFC and with kids and grand parents.
Now we do not know where or from which animal the meat has come. What is the source and what was the age of the animal. Chicken usually comes from farms where they are mass-produced and so we can say with 90-99% certainty about its origin. Rest of the meat the certainty goes on decreasing.
Maybe lesser for pig as pig suppliers are known to the shop owners and mutton which is usually slaughtered in the shop where it is sold. But for beef the origin will remain a mystery. Was it male or female? Was it a cow or buffalo? Maybe experts can tell it from the taste. But I can't. Where it comes from will be a mystery?
The trick is to not think about it and enjoy the food, the taste and smell. I sincerely think that since the meat I am eating is in Muslims hotel those would be "Halal meat" (slaughtered or obtained in 'decent manner') and not from diseased or dead animals which would be 'Haram' i.e. not permissible due to religious restrictions.
But I will say finally if you want to avoid meat, you should avoid all meat and not just beef or pork. Pork additionally has the label of being 'unclean' as the hog will 'eat anything'.
But still we do not know what diet much of chicken is having. Or if differs from farm to farm.

3 movies

Yesterday, i.e. in 1 day I have watched 3 movies.
"Toonpur Ka Superhero"
"Singh Saab The Great"
and "Chillar Party".
All three movies were enjoyable and good way to pass the time.

Priyanka vs Rahul: Press

The biased and the very divisive and destructive Press has found a new way to attack the Congress Party. It is pitting brother against sister i.e. Rahul vs Priyanka.
It does not matter to the Press how it is done. It wants Modi to become PM and it does not matter how it is achieved. The Press has already gone to great lengths to project Modi as the "best PM" India can ever dream of.
In fact for the Press, Modi as PM will be the best leader in the history of the World. The Press has gone to great lengths to project this. Now to Pitt brother against sister is a very small thing for them.
They don't care for either brother or sister. They want only the Congress Party to suffer and BJP to gain as a result.
The BJP also knows that Congress is the main threat to them. Rest of the Parties can be "tamed" if they emerge as a single largest party. Hence, they have adopted this strategy of 'divide and rule'.
In fact politics of hatred is visible even before BJP has assumed power. What will happen if it actually comes to power.
There will be "total elimination" of all Muslim elements including people like Omar Abdullah. BJP will not only target the 'poor Muslims' but will also 'strive to eliminate' the MP's and leaders who are Muslims or Muslim oriented.
Let us not forget Ehsan Jafri ex-MP who was murdered in cold blood in Ahmedabad in 2002 riots. Sort of similar future awaits the "rich and powerful" Muslims when BJP comes to power.
I would say that we had read that earlier British Rulers of India were pioneers of 'divide and rule'. Now we know that this strategy can be followed by all including "hardcore nationalist parties". They also follow 'divide and rule' policy. For them it is the shortest path to survival and revival and "thrival (act of thriving)".
We need to guard against this.
We need to realise that Modi is actually a "wolf in sheeps clothing". All those feeling 'lovey dovey' about Modi will realise the folly after they comes to power. There is going to be significant damage to the country both morally and physically.

2 movies

Meanwhile I have watched 2 more movies.
First movie was "Humko Tumse Pya Hai" (2006 movie)
Next movie was "Dhadkan" (2000).
Both movies I liked. Typical Hindi/Bollywood movies. Enjoyable.

Jajiya/ Blood Donation/High BP

This is my second post for Jaziya. The first post was here. In my earlier blog, I had written that I was unaware about the system of Jaziya for the majority part of my life.
I can say with somewhat of confidence that I was unaware till 2009. Since 2009, though I was unaware of Jaziya for what it means in the Muslim context, I was aware that "we have to pay a price".
And that is not just Muslim or Hindu or Christian, it is applicable to all. As part of human race we have to pay our obligation, that is what I felt.
After windshield-incident, in May last week 2009, during which time I also had severe back pain I went to my native place and since my body was bent means I could not walk straight and then my mom and dad were deeply saddened by watching my condition and they took me to the Doctor and he began treatment for treating back pain. Side by side I also came to know I had high BP and then I began to take drugs for high BP. But I did not like being dependent on drugs and so innocently I thought, by donating blood my high BP condition will reduce. So I began donating blood.
Though according to law we can donate once every 3-4 months, I sometimes donated when it was lesser than 3 months. Actually I read in internet that in 56 days, blood recuperates and so I began the act of donation.
I donated nine times in Bangalore and twice in Bhubaneswar. The below album is attached
https://plus.google.com/photos/+AnupSabat/albums/6000915355741845169
Dates on which I donated in Bangalore is as below:

• 25-Jul-2009
• 19-Sep-2009
• 12-Dec-2009
• 04-Apr-2010
• 26-Jun-2010
• 02-Sep-2010
• 06-Nov-2010
• 22-Jan-2011
• 10-Apr-2011

Then due to my mom's cancer, I went to Bhubaneswar in August 2011 and I donated there twice as below:

• 27-Aug-2011
• 10-Jan-2012

Thus 3 times I donated in 2009 and 4 times in 2010, thrice in 2011 and once in 2012. Earlier to 2009, I had never donated blood except once when I was in college in B.Com and that was in the year 1997.
After 2012, I have not donated blood even once. It is thus now more than 2 years 3 months since I last donated blood.
What happened, after April 2011, I went for infertility treatment where my sperm was found to be of inferior quality and that was due to not able to father a child after marriage in February 2010. And now it is April 2014 and I still have not become father and I am still into fertility drugs. While some drugs are to boost sperm quality, some are to boost virility.
But in April 2011, what I felt that is it because due to excessive blood donation that my sperm quality reduced we can never know.
I thought that as a human being I am dischaging my moral obligation by donating blood. Ultimately the blood I donate voluntarily will come in the work of someone.
Though the company I was working for had 'internal blood donation club' where people who required blood could ask for that and voluntaries from inside the company can help in achieving that, I never donated the blood through that. Most of the cases was 'walk-in' where I walk into a Blood bank at a famous hospital and ask them to take my blood. My choice was to be the 'anonymous blood donor' where I do not know where my blood is going and the other party also does not know where from it is coming from.
But the hospital will surely be charging for that though I gave it for free.
Now since February 2014, I am also taking high BP medication, namely Tazloc. It was after the Doctor warned me that my kidneys would get ruined if I lived continuously with high BP.
2009-2011, I though that I was paying in blood as 'tax' or 'Jaziya' for living as human being. I was paying the 'Jaziya' to other humans who were needy for a very precious commodity and that is human blood which can only come from another human. But my company still gave me harsh treatment and removed me or forced me to remove myself.
Guess paying the Jaziya/Tax in blood was not enough for my company.