Blog@GraceJunction

Barack Hussein Obama II, born on August 4, 1961 to a Kenyan father and White American mother has become the President of the United States of America, the first African American to do so. This news flashed on every news screen in the first week of this month. The President elect of the United States is all set to officially take over from George Bush on the 20th of January, 2009. (more…)

The pictures of half burnt bodies, torched houses, damaged churches in Orissa, is bound to send horrifying chills in anyone irrespective of what religion we follow. These acts makes one question, are we living in the most modern of centuries? Or are we in some savage land, where there are no morals, no humanity, no law and order. Eventually all our beliefs result in acts, we ultimately are transformed to the likeness of what we believe as truth, be it Jihad, Religious terrorism or any kind of evil. Clearly evident from the convictions and faith of the religious groups that participated in the recent riots, one can easily trace the roots of these actions/riots to the beliefs and faith of the people in the act – beliefs which state that there exists no absolutes, every one can be true in their own terms, ultimately there is nothing called reality and its all an illusion. (more…)

Every morning I approach the news papers with the fear of getting de-sensitized. Today for instance, The Times of India, Ahmedabad Edition carried news about an act of unnatural proportions – Man having sex with a calf! The matter was brought in to light due to the animal protection activists you may read the entire article here.

Thank God, there are at least some people in the society (People for Animal) who think that there is something called as evil / wrong and the matter was brought to light. A voiceless animal found some one who could fight for its cause; unfortunately our big mouthed society has none! (more…)

Is TRUTH Relative

I got on a airplane to travel up to a well known city. After a long wait the aircraft’s engines started to roar and the aircraft hit the runway, however I was startled at the unusual slow speed of the aircraft and guessed something was wrong. Then all of a sudden I saw that the aircraft was moving out of the airport gates and it hit the roads. I got up, the air hostess waved her hands and signed me, as if asking me to jump up, but then I realized that she was infact asking me to sit down. She said we are taking off in a short while, please be seated till the flight is stable and the seat belt signed is switched on.

While I was still trying to understand what was happening. The flight started to bend forwards and make a nose dive, that’s when I noticed, to my utter horror instead of flying up it was trying to dig itself in to the ground! I yelled “Hey what’s this! It was supposed to be a flight to this particular city, but you are hitting the roads and taking us in to the ground!!” (more…)

There is a magnificent story in Marie Chapian’s book “Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy”. The book told of the sufferings of the true church in Yugoslavia, where so much wrong has been perpetrated by the politicized ecclesiastical hierarchy. That which has gone on in the name of Christ for the enriching and empowering of corrupt church officials has been a terrible affront to decency.

One day an evangelist by the name of Jakov arrived in a certain village. He commiserated with an elderly man named Cimmerman on the tragedies he had experienced and talked to him of the love of Christ. Cimmerman abruptly interrupted Jakov and told him that he wished to have nothing to do with Christianity. He reminded Jakov of the dreadful history of the church in his town, a history replete with plundering, exploiting, and indeed with killing innocent people. (more…)

Usain Bolt is “too” tall to be a world class sprinter, Mike Friedman “too” fat to be an elite world class cyclist, Stefan Holm is “too” short to be a champion high jumper, and Erin Donohue is “too” short and stocky to be a star middle-distance runner. Yet all of them are Olympians, athletic anomlies, bucking conventional wisdom and somehow rising to the same arenas as Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.

Its amazing, how much man relies on statistics to make decisions, be it the vital or the numerical kind. But these wonderful people have attained that which has made experts revolve in their chairs and just confess, “It’s a mystery“!! (more…)

Mate,

It is nice to be able to write these letters to you from jail. I am awaiting the final decision on the mercy petition pending with the President of India. These days I am just reflecting on the days gone by and I can’t help myself from being nostalgic as hopes of a future life died when I was convicted.

I felt like a life wasted in the quest for being loved and wanted. There are many things that I could not have changed but there were many that I could have. I could not have changed my family, my parents and my upbringing. I could not have done much about my parents strained relationship or the inevitable pain of going through my parents divorce as a small child. (more…)

Dear Sis,

Am writing this letter at a time in life, where I have been overwhelmed by a sudden turn of events. Somethings which I never expected in my life, things that I thought were innocent have come back to haunt me. I need help.

I know, you would say ‘I told you’ but it is now too late to dwell on those issues. I am ready to take your counsel. All my life, you were the one who guided me and I was the one who always spurned the good advice thinking you were from the old school of thought, narrow minded.

Remember, Raj who used to be my research partner. Yes, one of the many boyfriends I used to date and the one you hated the most. Well, I liked the guy for his lavish spending and deep pockets. The relationship was just a way for me to enjoy life, the added advantage that he was a good student just helped. I always knew that none of these guys would be my life partner, I knew that marriage needed somebody who was more dependable, mature and understanding. (more…)

Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 8:00pm

The Manmohan Singh led UPA government finally did win the trust vote by a margin of 19 votes amidst the mudslinging and all the hoopla in House of the People (Lok Sabha). The victory they said was sure. They described it as a ‘convincing win’. Meanwhile the battered opposition almost predictably termed it as ‘corrupt victory’.

Over the past few days, the nation woke up to numerous stories about MPs switching loyalty for payoffs ranging from rupees 3 to 25 crores. Charges of horsetrading were doing the rounds since the past three days but the countrymen did not expect MPs to suddenly start disgorging wads of currency on the table of the House, allegedly given to them as a ‘bribe’ for abstaining from voting in the confidence motion moved by UPA government. The MPs also claim to have videographic evidence (Rajdeep Sardesai trying to earn some brownie points over Tehelka and Pranoy Roy’s NDTV, with a stunning sting operation) of the whole bribery deal. India was stunned (perhaps more by the flashing of the wads, in the sanctum sanctorum of world’s largest democracy, than by the allegation per se). This cash-on-table was the first for the Lok Sabha! (more…)

” ‘VIBGYOR’- this is how you will remember the color pattern of the rainbow, OKAY??”

” Yes, ma’am” said everyone in a uniform chorus.

“Gud”- smiled she.

“Ma’am when do we find the rainbow in the sky?” asked one.

“Oh, the rainbow appears during the rainy season or during the last days of the rainy season”

Everyone’s eyes still fixed on the teacher and wondering if she was telling us the truth or was she introducing us to some imaginary fairytale thingy.

“Ma’am, can you show us the rainbow during the rainy days?” asked another one. (more…)