tExas sizEd

There is a saying in Malayalam which I can roughly translate like this; when you are in the land of people who eat snakes, eat the centre piece itself. I would rather say this is the mallu ideology that has kept them going to all corners of the world and help them survive and thrive in entirely different cultures. to further nail down this point I will say that if you look into any overseas mallu community you will find that they are the ethnic group that have merged the most into the mainstream culture more than any other immigrant cultures. These mallus have embraced the alien culture as their own and by the time their second generation is mature, apart from the skin color, you don’t have anything to distinguish them from the mainstream populace. I have that mallu blood in me and that kept me going without any hassles in this land of Texas, us of a where I find many of my non-mallu Indian friends struggling with food, culture and anything conceivable American.

I should'nt have told all these for a silly matter as writing a blog about Texas. Well that’s the truth (about me and mallus), I always add extra to whatever I do.

Texas is the largest state in the American mainland (Alaska is the largest among all the states in US). By large I mean LARGE. Everything in Texas is huge. From the state, stores, population, roads, cars, trucks, people and even kids. There are vast stretches of open roads connecting big cities. People drive big trucks which consume big oil and eat foods which make them big fat. Texas is like a cruel joke played by the gods to make a state full of obese people. I will explain my conclusion. The state is too big for its already big population (unlike India). Stores are so huge so that you can measure their floor area in acres. And they live faraway from one another lest their big appetite may eat their neighbors. Residential areas are far away from all these commercial areas. So walking from one store to another and to home is impractical and unthinkable. So people move around in their cars. Besides according to American standards the food is cheaper and you get more food per penny. So naturally people eat a lot. No work and all eating make a Texan a fat boy. Thus Texas has one of the largest concentrations of obese people on the planet. No wonder...

In order to take on the vast stretches of roads and for outback riding trucks are the best here and in this land of plenty gasoline is the last concern and voila they have huge gas guzzling trucks and SUVs. After all these driving around and lazy life the only real work that they have is fornication and voila, u has the second largest state by population in US of A.

No wonder, they call something of enormous proportions, Texas sized...

changEling

Today I saw the movie changeling directed by Clint Eastwood. I am a big fan of Eastwood's movies (those he acted and directed). My immediate reaction was "wow", this is a wonderful bizarre and powerful movie. In fact the best movie I have seen so far after coming to the US. It is a depression era story about a mother whose son went missing and the police who wanted to shove another kid into her life as if that kid is her own son. The one-line plot summary may not look exceptional but the narrative sure does. I looked at it not like an abduction and violence themed drama but as a an opening into the struggles faced by the commoners at the hands of the establishment.

The establishment says we decide who your child is and who you are and you have to accept it. If not you are insane. There is a scene in the movie where the mother is in a mental asylum and she is given a choice; accept that you were wrong in accusing the authorities and you can go free, or else you will stay here for the rest of your life. It may sound as total nonsense to us in these times. But look at the bigger picture. They says look there are terrorists over there. OK, says we and they go after some hapless souls, destroys their family, livelihood and even a nation. People are guided into a false pretext of safety so that when they feel safe, sound a threatening alarm and then whatever you give them they will quite happily accept it. so that they can continue with their mediocre and carefree life inside the box. This element has gone so deep into the human psyche so that they hardly see or think outside the box and those who do so are framed insane.

For example look at the police encounters which happened in India. All these years we were told that they were terrorists. Thankfully a lot of them were. But what about the others? Political dissidents or personal enemies were portrayed as insane, crazy, wild enemies of the states and then the state machinery took care of them. What an ingenious way to get rid of one's enemies! As a matter of fact, labeling someone as insane is the best option to silence him. People no longer pay attention to them. How can you prove yourself sane once you are assigned the status of an insane? They say denying insanity itself is the best sign to identify an insane person. You will be doomed for eternity.

All these things again make me reiterate the prediction that governments get to gain more control over their people. Perhaps future will be inside Matrix, may not be the exact one we saw in the movie.

socialism in frEE markEt ?

if not then tell me whats happening in the US, with all the government bailout of big banks and probably the auto giants? i would like to see the staunch proponents of free market speaking out against this "ghastly" act of state intervention in the market. i once read about this guy who told that markets have the ability to correct itself and the big companies will always act in the direction favorable to consumers so that they wont lose the market. but what happened now will hopefully give Keynes the rest he deserved. After the financial institutions were bailed out of their misdemeanor its the turn of the big auto makers who are begging at Washington for financial assistance. Assistance for what? Flying back to Detroit on their private jets? or for a cocktail party at some posh golf course to celebrate the "victory"? Why should they be appreciated for mis-management and for the beleif and actions which was on the line that the American way of gas guzzling vehicles will go on for ever? and i don't see any difference between government owning industry or government intervening in industry whether it be a bailout or an emergency loan. What is this? A freaking subsidy to the big conglomerates from the same government which is pressurising the third world to cut down on subsidies that they give for their less-than-a-dollar-a-day farmers?

It seems that the anti-socialism running in the veins of those neo-cons is outright hypocrisy. Those who are unwilling to pay more tax so that his neigbour may have good health care is, shelling out his money for the big companies. This is all crap.

With the last fortress of "freedom" (the free market) also intervend upon by the government, what is left in the land of free? Already the various federal agencies are prying into citizens life. i wonder what kind of free speech it is in this nation, if someone expresses a different political view, he is spied upon. all these make me predict that governements all around the world , however freedom they may proclaim on paper, will cut down on freedom as humanity evolves and finally mankind will reduce itself to some vegitative state or Matrix itself may become a reality with machines and the governement machinery (if ever there will exist one) feeding and controlling the lives of hapless victims of civilization.

i'm hoping that these things wont happen even though the future looks bleak.