The Evil that Men Do

The terror attacks in Mumbai. I don't have to go into details. Yes, I condemn the crime. Why bother about capturing all terrorists. Catch just one and kill 'em all. Simple.

I grew up in Chandigarh. The 1980's were troubled times in Punjab. I remember mom and dad talk about curfews without realizing what the commotion was all about. In or around 1992, a certain Beant Singh was assassinated. The fact that he was Chief Minister of Punjab is the reason I used the word "assassinated" instead of "murdered". I grew up not understanding why someone had to die for someone else to live in peace.

Osama Bin Laden did some marvellous prime-time action by taking the war back to the US of A. Why? I know the facts. But I don't understand the reason. Nor do I understand the reason why US thought it had any right to meddle in Afghanistan anyway. Why the hell did Dawood Ibrahim orchestrate the Mumbai blasts in '94? It couldn't have been religion. The bombs never discriminated against Hindus or Muslims. They just did their job; took away innocent lives. The tales of terror are endless. I don't feel the need to elaborate any.

Why does a man turn on his brothers? This so-called 'Jihad' everyone keeps talking about, do even know the meaning of the word? What can you achieve by killing people who haven't done anything to you? What is the purpose of this mindless bloodshed? Does killing actually resolve any issue? Can you quote a single example where shedding the blood of innocents is demanded by GOD?
You can leave your answers as comments, maybe if I forget to delete them, I might even read them.

On 26 November, India (not including Kashmir. No need to count it in India, let Pakistan have it. I don't bloody care!) faced the biggest terror attack in its history. At night, a few armed men arrived in Mumbai. They killed many civilians and officers before they were finally subdued. The death toll stands at 195 (currently. That's 1 more than Saeed Anwar's world record). Intelligence officials claim that the terrorists came from Karachi. I don't bloody care. They may be residents of Papua New Guinea for all I care. What I want to know is the reason why? What did these madmen set out to prove? How can people be so dumb. They are fooled so easily by the pretense of Jihad. Heck, If you want to organize a Jihad why don't to start a few missionary hospitals and orphanages.

A lot of lives were lost. There is a lot of difference between laying down your life for a cause and dying for nothing. The NSG commandos and armed forces along with the police officials made our country proud. True sons of the soil. But what about the 40 or so terrorists who wreaked havoc on the City of Dreams. What was their cause? They were scumbags before they attacked and they are still full of crap. I have spoken a lot more curses than I'm writing down. Why can't people just understand? L-e-T denied any responsibility for the attacks. And they can wash their hands off the matter. A terrorist is a terrorist. If you have a problem with the system, why don't you stand up? Heck, kill any corrupt politician but spare the innocents.
Its easy to break bricks with bare hands because bricks don't fight back. If these terrorists have any self-respect, accept my challenge.

Stop hiding in foreign countries. Come here, and fight like real men. Cowards! You require truckloads of ammunition to disturb one city. Why don't you try to fight mano-a-mano; man to man unarmed. These guerilla tactics only prove your impotence. May God (or Allah or whoever you worship) cast you into the burning fires of Hell (or Jahannum or Hades or simply stick you up in purgatory)!

And Raj SOB Thakeray, just keep your mouth shut for at least one week. The common man's really pissed off. Just hope that you don't get burned down by the fury surging through our souls!!!

Love Story II

Friendship is a word used by boys to start a relationship with a girl. Alas, its the same word used by a girl to end a relationship with a boy.

Can you be so close to a person that the person feels that if you come any closer, it might jeopardize your relationship? No, I don't care about what your answer might be because in my case it was a resounding YES.

The thing still feels like a bad dream. I can't believe that a girl could say something of the sort that she said to me. There was only one girl whom I truly loved. Its true that I ogle at hundreds of pretty girls, flirt with dozens but at the end of the day, I know that there's only one girl in this world without whom my life is meaningless. And that's her!

We have been friends for like ages. I guess that's the root of my problem. We were talking about our future together when she spoke her heart out. She said (not in her own words), "We are like best friends. At least I consider you my best friend. And I'm afraid that if we make a commitment, we might fall out and distances between us would tear us apart. In short, I'm too afraid of commitments and I don't want to lose you.!" And guess what, I know that she was telling the truth (A direct hit right below the belt!).

So, she stuck to the cliched "Just friends" because she did not want to lose me. Oh bother! No wonder I have such a low opinion of women. Not in a bad way, in case you misunderstand me. To me, it seems that girls and boys are tuned to entirely different frequencies. Neither can understand the other. Sometimes, this simple fact pushes me over the edge. Why can't I make her understand...understand that I'll be there for her...I want to be there for her forever...that I love her.

Anyways, it doesn't matter now. I've finally accepted defeat. So, we are now "just friends". She wanted us to be "just friends", "just friends" is how we will stay. I guess that my search for that special someone never did end. Damn, I was ready to spend an eternity with her! But she wasn't.

Oh well, maybe now I have to find my soul-mate. Or hope that she finds me. Those mushy Mills and Boons love stories have started giving me the creeps. I pray that the concept of soulmates is not simply a figment of someone's imagination. Or I'm screwed, bigtime.

Anyways, this is to certify that I, Anurag Saxena, will not resume my search for a soulmate (at least not until I complete my degree). My soulmate would have to make all the efforts to find me herself. Too bad!


Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - Anonymous

Tears in Heaven

Oh crap! Another entry about ISTE. But what can I say? I'm the President, this is my blog and my country's constitution currently grants me the freedom of speech.

This story begins about six months ago in one of our government engineering colleges, NIT Kurukshetra. A technical fest called Literati - 08 was being organized there. Sure as hell, a team from Mullana was there. Our team consisted of about nine students from Computers branch. On Saturday, there was an event called Junkyard Wars. The participating teams had to build a rocket out of scrap. The concept involved was very simple. A 2-litre PET bottle was to become the projectile. We had to build a launcher out of cardboard and plywood. Lots of duct tape was provided along with saws and hammers. The mode of propulsion was hydraulic pressure. The bottle's cap was replaced by a cork fitted with a valve. Once air was pumped into the bottle, it was only a matter of time before the cork popped out of the bottle and the bottle was on its way. Our team managed a measly 59 feet as horizontal range (The winning team got 106 feet!).



The one doing all the explaining is me. And the person pumping the air is NISHANT.

Anyhow, its quite painful to see big events being conducted in other colleges while MMEC is stuck up with Group Discussions as a mega event. I always wanted to do something that would leave a mark. Something that could give me the satisfaction that I contributed towards the upliftment of my fellow MMECians. And I found my quantum of solace in Tech-Yard.

My stint as President had been marred by arguments and controversies. 'The laziest President ever' was the most polite tag I came across. So, I decided to show the nay-sayers that I was a force not to be underestimated. Three weeks before the semester ended, a bunch of events were organized. The bundle of events was to last for one working week and was imaginatively titled "ISTE Week".

All the executive members were assigned roles as event coordinators for various events. The previous best for maximum number of events (Non-Fest) was five (in Synergy - 2K8). The record went one notch higher with ISTE Week's grand total of six. There was only one event that I was interested in organizing. That was something based on "Junkyard Wars". Now, easy as it may sound, creating a junkyard requires a lot of effort. I had to think of the different things that had to be provided to all students. N. K. Batra, the faculty advisor of ISTE and HOD of Mechanical Department was quite dazed when I told him about my intentions. He is a very nice & cool person and gave his full support. However, he was quite apprehensive about the success of the project. Anyhow, I began collecting the required materials for building the rockets and the launcher. Heck, the fact that most of the stuff we needed was supposed to be junk, we had to shell out a lot of dough (over a thousand bucks!!!).

The work that I did can be summed up in a few bullet points. However, bullet points do not convey the toil and the hard work that we did.

• I had to got to various eating joints (canteen, Indian Kitchen etc.) to collect the PET bottles.
• To get plywood (6 mm thick 2'X 2'), I had to make rounds of Mechanical department, Store (near Hostel No. 3), Diploma block and Accounts branch (about 1 km from rest of the college) on foot.
• For hammers and saws, recursion was applied between ME department, Diploma Block and first year engineering block.
• A trip to Ambala (25 kms away) was imminent, considering the fact that there is a Science street in Sadar Bazaar there. We found duct tapes, corks and most importantly, corks.
• In all, thousands of kilometers on foot (I can exaggerate a little, can't I?) were travelled by me.

On D-Day, (20 November 2008) the event started off right on time, materials were provided in the right amount (except for hammers and saws). Pumps for the final judgment were arranged from God-knows-where by good old Nishant. Heck, Nishant is a great friend and fellow Infoscion. He deserves an entire blog dedicated to him. Anyways, the event was a huge success. Mr. Batra brought teachers from Mechanical Department to show them a whole new perspective.

The students enjoyed to the fullest and learnt something basic to engineering (Newton's Third Law of Motion) practically. Students came and told me how much they enjoyed the event. Seriously, I wept. Not in front of everyone, thankfully. I had achieved what I had set out to do against all odds. For once, I could say that I had given back to this world for all that I had taken. For once, I could afford to be proud of myself. Ahh, the sweet smell of success!

To have and to want more that is life. - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche