Evil dies...SATAN lives on...

Saddam- the latest victim of US atrocities. They fed him with weapons, made him conquer his neighbours and even glorified him. Then they discarded him like a chicken's bones after taking all the flesh. They called him a threat to humanity, the cruellest dictator on earth after Hitler. They bombed his kingdom, made him flee to an underground hole. They killed his sons and displayed their bodies proudly before the whole world. Then, caught him alive and paraded him like a traitor. But still, he held his head high. He looked them straight in the eye. He spoke against Bush and the US in a court set up with the sole aim of giving him the death sentence. His angry words against the judge and the inpiring words for his folllowers are the stuff of legend. And finally, today his execution took place. He remained calm and composed when he was brought before the hanging ropes. And in one last act of defiance, he refused to have his head covered by the black cloth. The Holy Quran accompanied him to the gallows.

Am not trying to glorify a cruel dictator with this post. But, what am opposing is the fact that he was hanged by a group of men who are responsible for million more massacres than Saddam. I wouldn't have said anything if Bush was also hanged side by side with Saddam. But, if Bush can live after doing so much, then Saddam too should have the right to live. What Saddam did over the years pales in comparison to what Bush and all the preceeding US regimes did all over the world. He didn't go all over the world and impose his military might on other countries. And when he invaded Kuwait, the US was the one country which secretly supported him. But, I do agree that he did kill a large number of shias. But the US government has no right to capture him, trial him and then send him to the gallows. Its a matter of fact that the International court of justice at Prague is now just an organisation for the sake of it. It seems the US supreme court has become the supreme court of the world. Once the trial of Saddam started, it was a foregone conclusion that verdict would be to hang Saddam. Such a farcical trial was exhibited to the world as a fair trial by Bush and his legion of fools. A trial which saw the lawyer of the defendant changing many times, once even by the death of one of them.

The execution of Bush will see far reaching consequences in world political climate. There are bound to be more terrorist attacks too as a result of the 'Saddam effect'. Bush and co. again proved that they are big fools when they caught the execution on camera and decided to give it to the media. They also proudly displayed the body of Saddam. They don't realise that such acts will only add fuel to the fire. This will inspire the followers of Saddam to do more attacks to revenge his death. Already, the after effects of the execution are beginning to show with a bomb going off in a crowded shia town killing more than 40 people. More such attacks can be expected in the coming days. Am waiting with a prayer on my lips to see the white house burning one fine morning and the beheaded body of bush hanging from a tree. I know this is too much to expect but as u know there are no limits to dreaming and this is one of those horrific dreams which actually makes me smile. DOWN WITH BLOODY BUSH!!!DOWN WITH USA!!!

I would like to add one more thing about the protests in India, especially in Kerala. This morning when I took my bike on the road, I was greeted by youth carrying black flags closing down all the shops. By noon, the city wore a deserted look with even the petrol pumps remaining closed. There were only a few vehicles on road. I don't understand what do these guys actually aim to convey with such kind of protests. Do they think that Bush would actually travel in his limousine through the streets of Kerala and would realise his folly? I don't think this will even become a scrolling item in the national news channels. All that this protest serves is to prevent some poor souls from getting their daily bread, as even small pan shops were asked to close down. This will also cause some damage to our already falling economy. It is not going to affect the Americans, it is not going to affect Bush. Protests are good, but only to a extent. We've to think if the protest we are going to do can actually bring about a change in the present situation. In this case, can we bring back Saddam from the dead? Can we make Bush a good man? Will this protest mean something to the wrong doers? or Will they atleast know about these protests? The answer to all this is a big NO. The protests should've been limited to wearing of black bands, display of posters, black flags and some peaceful marches rather than the shutting down of an entire state.But there is one silver lining in this protests..All the political parties of the state were united in condemning the death sentence and then declaring the hartal..atlast we needed Saddam to lay down his life for the political parties to take a united stand.

So, now u undertand the title of this post, i guess...Saddam was cruel, a peronification of evil...he died..but the Satan Bush is still here to create more Saddams....SATAN lives on.....

here are Saddam's last words to his followers...

``Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if he wants, he will send it to heaven with the martyrs,''

I SALUTE SADDAM'S BRAVERY EVEN WHEN FACING DEATH
AND
ONCE MORE .......DOWN WITH BUSH...DOWN WITH USA


your crusader Praveen

Drug Addicts..Read On

Here's a song that i wrote some weeks back. Thought I'll post it now because as of now i don't have the time to write long elaborate posts. This song is about the last thoughts of a drug addict, the final minutes before his untimely death.

The Final High

As I lay there on the floor
Searching for a last straw to hold
As the sensation of tumbling down a hole
gave way to a ride up the mole.

Lifting me up from the depths of despair
With not even a tinge of perspire
As it later transpired
I was on a ride to the final pyre.

Giving me a false sense of freedom,
Never realised those were chains of slavedom
Rescuing me from my mind's battle bombs
Only to discard me in an unmarked tomb.

Speeding down life's glitzy highway
Confident that am on the one way
Late did i realise that I faced the wrong side
When I slammed into the oncoming tide


I dedicate this song to Kurt 'Nirvana' Cobain, the great rockstar whose life was ruined by drugs. I also dedicate this to all the drug adicts of the world....hope they will rescue themselves before they reach the final pyre...

with love,
your crusader Praveen

'Cheppu'- A movie for every student

Its been a long time since i posted something here and my friends been asking me to do it. And i was thinking on what to write. I was really in a bad mood after watching the new bond film first day itself, with my dear friends. It was such a damp squib of a movie, enough to dampen your high spirits. And the new bond guy Daniel Craigis an utter waste. The usual bond stuff were also missing, the suave looks of mr.bond and the usual steamy scenes were also missing[i think the guys at theatre cut out thosee....grrrrrrrrrr]..Ok, so now am back at my home and crying over the lost money. I switched on the TV and was just surfing through the channels and in asianet plus i saw my favourite actor Mohanlal. I was sure this was one movie which i havn't watched until now. The movie's name is ''Cheppu'', directed by Priyadarsan. I was planning to switch off after watching for a short time. But then it was late. I got really interested in the movie.

The story is woven around a college campus of the late 80's. Mohanlal plays the role of a lecturer. He is a righteous man and always raises his voice when he sees injustice. As I was watching the movie, I was astonished to find that the campus and the happenings had a close resemblance to my own college. The college party leaders , the 'chota netas', the spoilt kids of influential and rich people, the poor kids who come to college with the sole aim of studying and earning a good job so that they could bring prosperity to their poor household, the carefree guys who doesn't give a thought to the things around them ...u could find all of them there. Then there is the bloody campus politics, the unwanted strikes and violence. The lecturers waiting ,as eagerly as the students, for a strike so that they can attend their domestic jobs really made me laugh because i have seen that for real in my own college. The greedy nature of some of them who see teaching as a business to churn out money is also depicted in the movie.

The party leaders involve themselves in all kinds of atrocious activities in college. Still no one dares to raise their voices against them. Even those who were victims prefer to keep their mouth shut. And those who do dare to challenge them are dealt with cruelly. And when the main protagonist, played by Lal, takes a strong stand against them, the college management and others refuse to support him, because they also fear about their own life and livelihood. The picture of the principle blaming the lecturer instead of the real wrong doers[the party guys] was just like a scene out of our own college. There was another scene of the lecturers helping the student leaders during the exams by allowing them to do mass copying and even giving them the answers written in a piece of paper[as u all know, these things are still happening in some of the colleges here]. Its really amazing that a film made in the late 80's could reflect the present picture in our campuses in such a startling manner. This tells us that inspite of all the talk about changing times and all, we still haven't succeeded in wiping out certain evils from our campuses.

The film tells us how so many promising lives are ruined because of campus politics. The trouble makers won't realise it was all worthless until its all over. The movie was also a pointer to the helplessness of the laws of our country. Even if everyone knows who the culprit is, no one can touch him if there's no proof. The police can do nothing even if they want to beacuse their hands are tied behind by those in power. The climax also has a touch of reality with the righteous lecturer succumbing to the swords of the villanious student leaders and then a good student turning into a violent killing machine...those are the prices we have to pay for allowing
politics in campuses.. The film ends by asking to the viewer a question- ''is politics a necessity in our campuses?". Its been really been a long time since we watched such socially relevant films in malayalam, save the odd one in an year which even finds it hard to get into the theatres. We need this kind of movies to save the malayalam film industry, which is now plagued with crap actors mouthing double meaning dilogues in the name of comedy.

This movie is a must watch for every student. I recommend this to my young brothers and sisters that they should watch this before starting their college life so that they would stay clear of the evils in college. I also recommend it to our college political leaders so that they would realise how meaningless this life of enmity and bloodspill is and also how beautiful a
harmonious life in campus is. Don't watch the new bond movie...save the money and rent the vcd or dvd of this simple movie devoid of gadgets and skimpy clad gals....

with love,
your crusader Praveen

Adieuu....with tears 

ADIEU..

Life's chequered flag is finally waving in front of the great man who has seen more such flags in his life than any one has in the world of Formula one racing. But this flag has a difference from the eariler ones. The earlier ones were just signposts leading him on the way to racing immortality. This one is a sign that he's a mortal after all. And what a Mortal!!! I can undoubtedly say that a man like this would never again hold the steering wheel of any F1 Car. Men like this are born once in a millennium and we are all fortunate enough to be living in the same age as this colossus strode the F1 pantheon.

That 1st para was written just before I went to watch Schumi's last race. Now, am out of words to describe this driving genius. What more could one say of a man who started off his race from 10th position, maneouvered his way upto 5th position and then again dropped to the back of the grid to 17th place due to a tyre problem and from there racing all the way upto 4th position exhibiting a jaw dropping display of daredevil driving. It was Schumi at his best, giving one last shot at glory under enormous pressure. The way he cruised past the cars in front of him made me feel that he was actually lapping them. A drive so breathtaking, moves so unthinkable to the lesser mortals on the track, but he made it all look easy for us. This was one last gift from Schumi to his die hard fans. My heart really stopped when he squeezed past Raikkonen's Mclaren, through a space which looked like a pinhole to me. And believe me, if the race had 5 more laps, we would've seen him overtaking Alonso and taking the 2nd position. The last lap was a testimony to his 'fight until death' spirit- he set a lap record for the Interlagos circuit with that blazing lap. I can write in bold letters- NO ONE WILL DRIVE AN F1 CAR LIKE SCHUMI DID TODAY. This 4th place is far more sweeter than the numerous podium finishes he secured.

I've become used to watching Schumi and his red machine every weekend and now its hard to think of a weekend without him. He lighted up my sundays with the scorching sound of his scarlet Ferrari and his winning smile. He has provided me the inspirational spark when i was down and taught me to be level headed and motivated even if I am on top and has nothing more to achieve. His race today was a lesson to wannabe champions, not only in racing, but in this whole big race called life. He gave it his all even when he had nothing more to prove to anyone. I used to wonder where he drew all that motivation from when he kept on pushing the limits even after winning the championship 2 years back. Today I understood the reason- he never thinks he is the champion. He always tells his mind that there's more to achieve and what he have won until now is nothing. This enables him to raise the bar every time he puts on his helmet and enters the car.

Over the years, it has become difficult to separate the man from the machine. His ruthless efficiency is so machine-like that now I consider Schumi and his red Ferrari as one inseparable entity. And this is exactly what his critics have used to write against him. They consider him as an emotionless creature who will go to any lengths to win the race. They say that he's the unsportiest sportsperson. Even the new champion in the making Alonso had unkind words for him. But this is one allegation almost all champions had to bear with. Remember the immortal Sampras and the unbelievable Federer. True Champions will do all they could to win and Schumi did only that. He drove with all aggression and raw power whenever he came on the track. Why should he be thinking of his opponents when all he should be doing is to concentrate on his driving? Some prominent person connected with F1 was saying that the exit of Schumi is one of the best things to happen to F1. U got it really wrong man, this is one of the worst things that could ever happen to any sport, the exit of a champion who has grown beyond the sport. He's been the face of Formula 1 for more than a decade. He's the sole reason for millions of fans to flock to the arenas or sit glued to the television. He brings so much revenue to the sport. I want to see how many of these fans wil be there to watch F1 next year. Even am thinking whether to watch and if at all am watching, whom to support. Schumi was the reason why i started watching F1 regularly. Now I can't subsstitue anyone in his place as my favorite driver. I'll continue to support Ferrari, the team.

Schumi's greatness isn't limited to the racing tracks alone. He has donated large amounts to charity, most notable being the 45 million dollars that he donated to Tsunami relief. He's also involved in numerous other charity works. He's unlike other celebrities, who finds it cool to have a lot of wives. Schumi has been a loyal family man. He was never a regular feature in the glitzy n glamorous page 3 crowd, but has always preferred to appear in the last page, the sports page. A man with no airs of being such a superstar, but he comes across as a common man outside the tracks. He has utmost dedication to the sport. Remember his amazing performance just days after his mother died. Even coming to race in such a situation is in itself bravery and coupled with that he controlled his emotions and put in a wonderful driving performance as a parting gift to his dear mother. I would never forget the tears in his eyes after that race.

I have lotz more to say about this amazing person. But am stopping here. My eyes are filled with tears[am not exaggerating] as i bid adieu to a man who has given me so much joy, so much inspiration and taught me some great lessons in life. SCHUMI...U R ONE OF A KIND...I bow my head before thee...
Now,lemme sing a song 4 him...this is my reworking of the famous Queen song ''We are the Champions''

Here goes the champion - my friends
And he kept on fighting - till the end
He is the championHe is the champion
No time for losers
'Cause here goes the champion - of the world

and i hope this would be his answer to us.....the original queen song....

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
and everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the champions -We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world

Formula one and my weekends never gonna be the same without dear SCHUMI....adieu, adios, arrivederci, auf wiedersehen, au revoir....GOOD BYE

with tears,your crusader Praveen

Justice!!!...at last!!!

Recently some of my readers were feeling that the crusader's main job is criticising others. He never says good things about anyone. Only Bad things catches his eyes. And after reading his posts, you get a bad feeling that all's not well with the world we live in. Sorry friends, its because plain hard truth is a bitter pill to swallow. And just because the truth sounds bad, there's no use in hiding it. Only if we speak it out, do we get a chance to try and change that for good.

ok,guys and gals, enough of preaching. Today am gonna praise someone atlast. Yes, u heard it right...am gonna praise the Indian judiciary, which has also bore the brunt of my criticism some months back. Chkout- Supreme Farce Of India

Today, the Delhi High court made a landmark judgement when they convicted Santosh Kumar Singh, accused of raping and killing law student Priyadarshini Mattoo in 1996. Its now worth remembering that the famed Indian judiciary acquitted this same man 7 years ago, even after having clear evidence against him. But the thing that the judiciary tried to correct itself is really heartening. But the main reason for this retrial and conviction is the unprecedented public outcry and the media pressure. U wudn't have forgotten the candle lit vigils and the numerous
petitions that were flying through cyberspace demanding justice for Priyadarshini. Its now becoming clear that culprits can no more hide behind the veil of high connections of their illustrious parents. The convicted man in the priyadarshini case , Santhosh Kumar Singh, is the son of a former IPS officer. Its everybody's knowledge that his acquittal 7 years back can be attributed more to that than anything else. But that was way back in 1999, when DD was still a source of news and 'A Generation was still sleeping'. Now, lets zoom back to 2006. We have close to 50 channels dedicated to news and obsessed with breaking news. Yes, they are ready to even kill an ailing leader when he's still alive[remember our own Kairali TV reporting Yasser Arafat dead 30 minutes before his actual death]. And their another obsession is the hidden camera, which terrorised a lot of our members of Parliament sometime back. But, above all they are fearless and are sure to raise a question when justice is not served. Now, everyone is asking ''DD who?''..Coupled with all these aggressive news channels, there's 'a generation awakened' by the sight of basanti, the colour of revolution. Now the judiciary cannot just shut their eyes and act like nothing has happened. Thats exactly why this verdict has happened. They had no other way, but to relent. Hope this happens with similar cases like Jessica Lal, where the evidences are as clear as the light of the day. If only, the judges had eyes to see beyond the darkness....lets hope this verdict sets a good precedent..All Hail the Indian Judiciary[Never even in my wildest dreams have i thought that I would say this]

I dedicate this post to all those who contributed even in a small way to make a difference in this case...to those who stood candle lit vigils, to those who signed online petitions and above all to the media who fearlessly stood by the side of justice.....

with love,
Your crusader Praveen

Hoo Haa India...Who Haa Pepsi...

U wouldn't have missed this war cry like ad song. An ad lined up with stars from bollywood as well as the whole men in blue team. Do we need a US MNC to tell us to love India? And i would've forgiven if it was any other company. Here was an international giant which is famous for depleting India's ground water reserves and then giving us pesticides to drink in return. Do we need such a company to tell us about our motherland? Ok, agreed.. its their own business strategy. Afterll, they are here to sell...

But, wait...Why so many stars in that ad? It saddens me to watch the country's top movie and sports stars competing with each other to show their spirit. Will any of these stars please tell me how much money is enough for them. Doesn't anyone of them have a commitment towards the people of this country, to the soceity which they are also a part of? Or are they living in a cocoon of their own to miss all these controversy surrounding the cola giant. Haven't they seen the anti cola war led by the poor people in Plachimada and elsewhere? Are these celebrities really so insensitive to the feelings of the common man, who made them what they are today...and am really sad to say that the list of celebrities endorsing pepsi and coke includes my own idols Sachin, Aamir, Amitabh, SRK....hmmm....I feel sorry for them and to the millions of people who worship them, including myself.

Now am really beginning to believe that these celebrities are very much self centered. They don't even spare a thought before they endorse a product. The little kids who worship them will drink these pesticide filled colas just because their heroes said so. Don't these stars realise that they are feeding poison to these little fans of theirs? Am sure thay don't realise as of now...or so i like to believe... because even if they don't love me or you, i do love them...and is really sad about what they are doing.....If any of them is reading this[ha ha haaaa...as if they don't have any other job], plz withdraw from your cola contract for this poor fan.....

Once again to the Cola giants... We, know how to love our country and we have enough slogans here to show our patriotic spirit...we don't need your hoohaa thing, it feels like some jungle song 4 me.....maybe the celebrities will sing for the money...but for us, the common people of India, what matters is pride and self respect...and don't xpect an Indian with those to join what you call your blue billion...I challenge you to try and make it atleast a blue 100...But am still thinking...whose billion is it anyway..... hoo haa...aaya indiaa... jaaaooo pepsiii

whooo haaaaaa
your crusader Praveen

ROCKERS UNITEEEE

08/10/06..Note down this date. This day is gonna be a momentous one in the history of Trivandrum. A day which is going to change the face of the capital city as a true destination of rock music. Trivandrum has always been considered an ultra orthodox city not suited for stuff like rock. There are even rumours that the elders here associate rock musicians with sex and drugs[well, is thr any truth in tht...he he....i donnow]. Even now you maybe frowned upon by some people here if u say you are playing with a rock band or that you are a rock fan. And when we perform here for shows, what we get is pure ganamela sound system. The sound system guy don't even know the difference between bass guitar and lead guitar. For him, the distorted sound of the guitar is some unwanted noise within the amps and he would promptly be pulling down the volume. And when u start playing, you would be expecting headbangers at the front creating a mosh out there. But barring a few guys, what you get is an unresponsive crowd who will sit and stare blankly at you. Seeing that, whatever spirit you had in your mind will slowly drain away. And, if you are fortunate enough there would be the hip hop loving 'kewl' gals booing at you...ok enuf is enuf...Now its time for a change...

And thats exactly why i asked you to note down that date. This day marks a new beginning for us, trivadrumite rockers and rock fans. Today morning, TVM rockers met up at the museum grounds. It was really an enjoyable meeting. Its always a pleasure to meet people share the same thoughts as you, people who share a common love..a love for the pounding thrash of metals and the sound of the distorted guitar. Just as i thought about it, it struck me that dhwani may have served as a cause in uniting us all. What all we blame about that fest, i think this is one good thing that happened because of it. Beacuse, it is there at dhwani that we realised the problems that a rock band in TVM have to face. We realised the importance of being there for each other, not as competitors , but to help each other out. And moreover, we realised that we need to unite..and thus we united.... We have put forward some really great plans to be implemented in the near future. Am not revealing those here, as of now.... lets wait and see...

Those who attended today's meeting are as follows.... Nikhil, Raja, Basil and Pappu from 'K.OS'... Praveen from 'Stoneage'[hehee...myself]....Alex,Arjun,Anand and Vivek from 'Soulburn'...Clifford,Rajiv,Sujay,Henry, Sriram and Rohit from 'Black Pool'...Vivian and Rahul from 'Rocksault'.....and atlast, the great Nithin bhai and Arun MegaDutt....

so...lemme add thtt cliched sentence heree....well begun is half done...he heee

with love,
Your Crusader Praveen

DHWANI N CET SUCKS

Dhwani, the inter collegiate cultural fest conducted by CET was notable by its immense number of participants and vareity of the programs dished out. But, Its 'sad but true' that the Dhwani organisers were a bunch of losers...especially the main convenor Deepak benny.... here is a man whose main job is to help out and guide the participants... but this guy was the perfect xample of how an event organiser shud never behave like.... he created one or othr problem with almost all the rock bands which came to play thrr.... first of all, he had a tiff with 'Stoneage' and 'K.OS', saying tht 2 bands from one college are not allowed... he was talking at length about how he go only according to the rule book... then, y did they bend the rules by not going for a prelims round?.... He told that there would be some problems with the points distributuon to our college if he allowed both of us to play. But we said-'man, we don't want your points. We just want to perform. Don't award our college any points even if we win any prizes'. Still, he remained 'like a stone', sticking to his stand. We even thought of boycotting Dhwani and after several rounds of negotiations, in which our college team leader Sabareesh played a stellar role, they allowed us to play....

Their next target was soulburn...the band comprising of members from CET, Law colege and MBT... here, the bloody rule they put forward was that all members of the band should be from same collegee...c'mon man, is this a ballet troupe or something...a rock band happens wen a group of men sharing some common ideologies and attitudes join together... we don't team up as a band after asking-'dude, which college are u from'.... for a band, even language or country barriers doesn't matter...bcos we speak the language of music... this is an age when even indian and pakistani men jam together and form bands.... so, our respected CETian was there insisting on all us to be from the same college.....i felt like kicking the pulp outta his a** at that moment... Then he came with his friends and asked Arjun,the guitarist of Soulburn[a CETian himself] . ..''do u want to play''...in a threatening voice, as if arjun's there to kill somebody... Why don't these guys just understand that we all came there to help to make their own show a grand success? Instead, they beahved to us like we were their arch enemies. Atlast, they disqualified 'soulburn'. They played in the end, not as part of the competition...Ok, now i thought its all over...

But, more was to come on the last day... RAGE, the best rock band ever to come out of Trivandrum started the proceedings of the evening. Before that we had to endure a 'boring-like-hell' valedictory function, punctuated with some rubbish speeches. Now, Rage were rocking the capacity crowd out there. We, the rockers, were in the mood, banging our heads and screaming. But the CETians themselves were hell bent on spoling the spirit by singing 'Thithithaara Thithithey' and screams of 'stop it ****** '....Have u ever seen anywhere this rare scene of the hosts themselves insulting the guests? And to top it all, they allowed RAGE to play only 4 songs. Here was a band playing the metal anthems just like the original versions and rocking the whole crowd, but the organisers just wanted to stop the show. I raise both my middle fingers to them....DHWANI AND CET SUCKSSSSSSSSS....

Now i know, why this festival didn't happen for the last 2 years...Now I know, why strings din't come... This guy might have asked them their id cards. Maybe disqualified them because they weren't from the same college... KEEP UP THE SPIRIT CETians....U SUCK BIGTIMEEEEE.....As a kind of protest we all wore our participation cards just above our pant zippers....I think u all got what we meant by that, right?...Hope things clear up the next year and may the truth dawn up on the bloody head of the filthy organisers.....I RAISE BOTH MY MIDDLE FINGERS AGAIN...........DHWANIIIIIIIIIIIII...OH DHWANIIIIIIIIII....U SUCKKKKKKKKKKK

NB- I removed certain parts of this article after my good friends objected to the explicit language. I vow that i would never use too much explicit language in my future blog posts.[But i still do reserve myself the liberty to use an occcasional explicit word so that i could convey how much i feel about a particular issue]

Awaiting your valuable comments
with anger,
your crusader Praveen

Graph of our life...

Exams are coming up this monday.... So, its the right time to post something related to academics...This post is based on a photo that we took during one of the hours we bunked our class[this time, the labs..he hee]. This semester, we bunked more hours than we sat in the class[well, history repeats itself every sem]. But we never bunked labs. And this day, in the morning, we went to CAD lab as usual. But, our sir asked those without the text book to get out of the lab. He told us to buy a text book or get one from library and come back. The lazy guys that we are, we din't even care to check the library. Buying a new book was out of the question. So, we, the perennial bunkers, decided to go to our classroom for once. This was one of those rarest moments when, as we entered the classroom, we were as happy as sneaking out of the it. Ha.. The site of the empty benches and desks is one to behold. Even more beuutiful was the
empty platform and the lonely lecture stand. Seems like the lecture stand was happy that at atleast for once it was not standing near a jughead. Its better to stand alone than standing with an 'unbearable talkative nonsensical' person. And the front benches and desks had a smile on their face as now they need not bear the arrows of saliva that comes shooting from our faculty's mouth.

So into that abode of peace, we entered. We selected the smoothest benches to take a nap. Then we switched on the walkman and it started playing Metallica's ''Wherever I May Roam''.....''Anywhere I roam, Where I lay my head is home''...So now, the classroom is my home, if metallica is to be believed. As we lay there, we decided to take some snaps so that some years down the line, we can show to our kids how their dads 'studied' in college. After some snaps, we decided to take some weird pics. So 1st selection was my leg. I kept my leg on the 1st bench and sat on the adjacent bench. My friend Raja took the cam from me and focussed it on my feet. When we checked the pic after that ,we were really surprised to some strange coincidence in it. What amazed us was the graph in the background. As it turned out, the graph was a perfect replica of the curvature of my feet. Even the slope was same. It was our own classroom, but as always, this graph was unfamiliar to us. Maybe our sir[or teacher] had drawn it during the last period, the previous day, which we bunked. But, even then the similarity with my feet din't miss our eyes. Was the graph representing our falling attendance percentage? I felt that the Y axis read attendance percentage and the X axis the different semesters, the one close to the origin being the 1st semester. But it maybe ironical that my feet were responsible for this falling graph....Those pair of feet has travelled more distance than others, during classtime. As it always happens with any graph, in the end , i was left confused. Were the graph and my foot similar or were they a perfect contrast? God Only Knows....

O God, just came to know that i've to study this dirty graph for monday's exam[or was it tuesday's?]...Ok, now lemme learn my time table first....
bye for now

My frndz Raja and aneesh ... ''Education''

with love,
your crusader Praveen

Vande Mataram..... 

Vande Mataram...1 day 'late' Mataram.....

vande maataram, vande maataram
sujalam suphalam malayaja sheetalam
shasyashyamalam maataram, vande mataram

shubhra jyotsna pulakitayaaminim
phulla kusumita drumadalashobhinim
suhaasinim sumadhurabhaashhinim
sukhadaam varadaam maataram

sapta koti kantha kalakalaninaada
karalenisapta koti bhujaidhruta
karakarvaleabalakeno maa eto bale
bahubaladhaarinim namaami tarinim
ripudalavarinim maataram, vande maataram
tvam hi durga dashapraharanadhaarini kamala kamaladala vihaarini
vaani vidyaadaayini, namaami tvam namaami kamalam amalam atulam
sujalam suphalam maataram
shyamalam saralam susmitam bhooshhitam
dharinim bharanim maataram, vande maataram

I posted this not because some of our politicians forced us to sing the song yesterday. I posted this because some fundamentalists asked some of our indian brothers and sisters not to sing this song. But y did i do this one day late? Because I wanted to defy the orders of the Hindu fundamentalists who were hell bent on forcing us to sing this song. I pity those poor unlearned souls, who think that this song is against the laws of a particular religion. How can the national song of a secular country be like that? Our great leaders, foreseeing communal problems in the future, left out the lines referring to goddess durga , when they made this our national song. And we were left with 8 lines of pure magic and melody, praising our beloved motherland. And the fundamentalists, whose minds are narrower than the narrowest drainages in our country, finds a problem with that too. They object to the word 'vande', which means to bow or salute. But they think that this means to worship. According to their bloody laws from stoneage, they can't worship anyone other than their god, not even their own motherland. Shame on them.

Religion is a thing which is stamped on you by the soceity u live in. But U were first born as an Indian, then only u were classified into a religion. Do these guys know that the devotional songs sung by Yesudas are played at temples all over? Have these guys ever heard of the umpteen hindu devotional songs that the great Mohammed Rafi sang? Or what about music maestro A.R.Rahman? He poured his soul into a full musical album dedicated to our national song. Are these blessed souls any less religious than these so called leaders of the community? As far as i know, these personalities are pious and god fearing to the core. But they got a mind clear enough to think that singing a particular song would never mean disrespect to their own religion. Will God ever frame such outdated laws for his believers? Will a true God become angry with his believers for respecting their country? For Him, believers and non believers are alike. For Him, we are all just human beings, whether we believe in Rama, Allah, Budha or Jesus, because these are all just various forms of the one and only God. So by singing a hymn of lord krishna, you are also praising Jesus. By singing 'nuur-e- mohammad sallallah, haq laa ilaahaa illallaah'(Light of Mohammad, may peace be upon him, There is no other god except Allaah), you are also praying to Lord Shiva. Its when one forgets this oneness of God that one turns a religious fanatic.

And to the guys from the other side, the political fundamentalists, who were playing to the gallery by forcing everybody to sing the song, shame on you too. Anything forced on someone will never produce the desired result. Its the same with patriotism. It has to come from within your heart. Its another matter that these politicians never truly intended to instill some patriotism in all Indians. They just played petty vote bank politics as usual. They wanted to amass all the hindu votes by showing how non patriotic certain sections of the muslims are. These two extremes of people, the politicians and the religious leaders, could have led our country to some very serious communal riots. But thankfully their designs failed miserably, as most of the proud Indians, irrespective of religion sang this song, without being forced. Thus they proved that the country is above any religion or caste or language. Afterall, we r all INDIANS.... proud 2 be an INDIAN

Here is the English translation of VANDE MATARAM......
Mother, I bow to thee!

Rich with thy hurrying streams,

bright with orchard gleams,

Cool with thy winds of delight,

Dark fields waving

Mother of might,Mother free.

Glory of moonlight dreams,

Over thy branches and lordly streams,

Clad in thy blossoming trees,

Mother, giver of ease

Laughing low and sweet!

Mother I kiss thy feet,

Speaker sweet and low!

Mother, to thee I bow.

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands

When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands

And seventy million voices roar

Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?

With many strengths who art mighty and stored,

To thee I call Mother and Lord!

Though who savest, arise and save!

To her I cry who ever her foeman drove

Back from plain and Sea

And shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,

Thou art heart, our soul, our breath

Though art love divine, the awe

In our hearts that conquers death.

Thine the strength that nervs the arm,

Thine the beauty, thine the charm.

Every image made divine

In our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,

With her hands that strike and herswords of sheen,

Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,

And the Muse a hundred-toned,

Pure and perfect without peer,

Mother lend thine ear,

Rich with thy hurrying streams,

Bright with thy orchard gleems,

Dark of hue O candid-fair

In thy soul, with jewelled hair

And thy glorious smile divine,

Lovilest of all earthly lands,

Showering wealth from well-stored hands!

Mother, mother mine!

Mother sweet, I bow to thee,

Mother great and free!

****************************
Because i got a very poor voice, I played vande mataram on my guitar... that is my way of paying tribute to our
motherland...
VANDE MATARAMMM....Maa tuhe salaam....

with love,your crusader Praveen

A snap from our college during one of the political fights. U can see the policeman inside the red circle...a common sight in our college... 

CAMPUS POLITICS SUCKS

Campus Politics... the root cause of evil in all colleges around the country. The thing that makes close buddies go for each other's blood. The cause for unwanted strikes in the name of unheard of reasons. The unseen thing which supplies non existent power to unworthy students so that they can do whatever they want, including beating up their own guru. And mind you, according to the politicians[both budding and fading],politics in campus is necessary to address the issues concerning the students. Yes, the student politicians do address the burning issues. To elaborate, they would find the address of the guy they want to beat up and do what all they can to spoil his life.

The most recent example of how bad really is politics in campus is the killing of Professor Sabharwal at a college in Ujjain by some ABVP activists. For these budding political leaders, politics is a tool to make others act according to their whims and fancies.. its a tool of extortion for them.. its a tool to assert their supremacy in the campus... but alas, they don't realise that they themselves are tools in the hands of our older uneducated leaders, who are happy to see these kids spill their own friend's blood in the name of politics.

When a new academic year starts, the new batch would have a perfect mix of students, a handful of nerds, a handful of spoilt guys and another set who are out there to enjoy life. The spoilt guys are on the look out to gain a foothold in college and be famous[or infamous]. The easiest route is to join one or the other political party and involve in some fights. And in a few weeks, u'll get the whole college to look at u as u walk through the corridors. Then some of the guys who are there to enjoy would get attracted to this politics life. They get brainwashed by the so called leaders and atlast they too take the plunge. Sudddenly, the guy who sat next to you and shared his meal with you becomes your enemy because he's a member of the rival party. You would exchange angry stares when you come eye to eye. When the next big fight between the parties arises, you beat him up as if he's your enemy no.1. You don't see who he is because your eyes are clouded by the political dust. For the so called intellectual party leader, these
fights are just some ideological conflicts. The bonds of friendship give way to chains of fight.

In my own college too, petty politics has taken its toll on many warm relationships. Parties in our college have always struck discordant notes disrupting the perfect harmony among students. Many happy occasions have ended in big fights, the latest being yesterday's onam celebrations. The faculty members had decided to conduct the onam celebrations and constituted a committee of neutral students. Now some party guys din't like that and they decided to disrupt the celebrations. Their attittude was like ''If we cannot do it, we won't allow others too''. And so the last 2 days saw some great fights in college which atlast culminated in a grand finale on the D Day, the celebration day. The police entered the campus, trampled over the athappookalam[floral patterns] and drew everyone away from the college. The best way to celebrate a festival of unity and prosperity. This was a case of ''a handful of guys spoiling the happiness of the entire college''. And we do expect such amazing co-operation from the leaders in the future events too.

Its time we wiped out this evil from our country's campuses. Lets say goodbye to swords and country bombs[these are the things recovered from the party room of a prominent college here]. What we need is a common union of all students without any political allegiance. The issues concerning students can be handled by this union. There won't be any fights as in the case of a 2 party or 3 party system. As a step towards this, we are planning a signature campaign in our college to know how many of them are against campus politics....am sure tht wud be majority... hope something good comes out of this ...

chkout the new community in orkut and join in the fight against campus politics

http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=19800897

with love,

your crusader Praveen

Salutes to the maestro

This day is truly a sad one as one of India's best known musicians , the Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, passed away. A man who has spent more than 80 years of his life contributing pure music to the world, he was awarded the Bharat rathna for his achievemnts and dedication to music. To the younger generation[which includes me], he and his contributions may be unknown. And coupled with that, the Central Government ignored him on many occasions.

He was not one to go after luxury and lived in his adopted city, the holy varanasi till his death....

I bow my head before the memories of this great man...

I dedicate A.R.Rahman's Yeh jo desh hai tera[ shehnai version] to the departed soul....

your crusader, Praveen

Cry my beloved country...

21/08/2006.. the second darkest day in the history of Independent India comes 31 years after
the first one.... 26/07/1975, the day when Indira Gandhi declared emergency in our country. Today the Union Cabinet unanimously cleared the bill proposing 27 p.c. quotas in all
institutions of higher education under the central Government. The vote hungry politicians,
by clearing this bill, has taken our country some 50 years back in the road to development.
This piece of shit, called the quota, would better serve as some stuffing in the mouth of
our great HRD minister Mr. Arjun 'bloody' singh, rather than as a step towards social
equality in India.

The most interesting thing now is that the debate has shifted from whether the quota should be implemented or not to how the quota should be implemented. No politician is talking against the quotas. This includes all the forward caste politicians. Now, they are going to implement the quotas in a stagerred manner over 3-4 years. Even that is not acceptable to some filthy politicians. They want it all to be implemented in one go. what kind of social justice is this, i wonder.........

I salute all those lakhs of students who protested with all their might aginst the quotas, but were failed by the dark hands of our beloved politicians.... Hope they would come back strongly with more protests......

am not gonna say anything more... I've told whatever i had to say in 2 previous posts...chkout those

http://crusadertvm.blogspot.com/2006/05/quotas.html
http://crusadertvm.blogspot.com/2006/05/arjun-singh-and-obcingh-yes-its-now.html

with love,Your crusader Praveen

Happy Birthday....my beloved motherland

Its that time of the year again when we all send messages to each other with all patriotic fervour. Our minds are full of thoughts about our country. The streets are filled with flag vendors. Almost every passing vehicle has a tricolour at the front. We even hang the flag in front of our houses. The internet is full of forwarded messages about the long struggle for freedom and the greatness of our country. The political parties are not far behind, conducting meetings with fanfare.

But, beyond that are we doing anything worthwhile? yes, we do sit in front of the tv all day and enjoy all those film based programs and independence day special movie. In the olden days, atleast those movies used to be classic patriotic movies. But, now we get to see some crap romantic movie or maybe some steamy hot movie featuring the latest hottie in town. And if you are politician, you will be busy hoisting the flag and taking the customary salute. The salute may vary from politician to politician, from 5 outstretched fingers to 2 finger salutes. For the policemen, independence day eve is the busiest time of the year, searching the nook and corner of the cities for bombs. For the government servant, I day is the one as described above, best spent in front of the idiot box. For students, its a day to hangout with their buddies or catch the latest release at the nearest theatre[even am no different].

We remember our great country only twice in an year. And that day too is spent like this. Our patriotism is all about phoney forwarded messages and all that stuff. Come August 16th and we'll ask, ''what India, what independence, i got better things to think about''. We are not bothered that our bloody politicians looting our country in a bigger way than the british did. We are not bothered that by playing accoding to the whims of the US, our leaders are making our country more dependent than ever. We are always ready to vote the leaders who stunt our developmental policies, again to power. And most of all, we gave an Italian jughead, a place among the greatest leaders of our country. So much for the great Independent India.

We should be doing something more worthwhile like charity work or community service, atleast on this day. We should get outside our comfort zone and travel to see the other face of India..the ugly underdeveloped side. You may not believe that there are many people in rural India who donot know India's independnce day. And even more, there are some who don't know the know of the country they live in..Yes, its happening in our India...For all this to change, we should act...We, the more privileged should be there to help the underprivileged and help them to be self dependent. Only then will the word independence achieve its true meaning......

But, even me, who has blabbered this much is doing nothing...... Thats the sad part of it.....

So, as usal lets celebrate our independence with umpteen forwarded messages and some patriotic movie DVDs.

Salutes 2 OUR great country........Mera Bharat MahaaannnMAAAA TUJHEEE SALAAMMMMMMMM

with love,

your crusader Praveen

Champions Of Peace

Yes, they are fighting for us. They are waging a war on terror for the well being of humanity. Hail Israel , u are doing us a great service. Hail USA too, for providing them with ample support, both in the form of arms and moral support. Hail UK, for being the ultimate sychophant of the US. Last, but not the least, Hail UN, for being ineffective and for sometimes turning itself into a second US. Now, what remains....

Well, I forgot one small arabic country in West Asia named 'Lebanon'..I forgot a few thousands of small children, whose lives are of no consequence to the 'peace loving' Israelis and Americans. I forgot their parents and loved ones, who are terrorists to my eyes. All I know is that Lebanon is a mountanious region, where all the terrorists of the world reside, at present. 3 years back, their residence was in Iraq. In 2001, they lived in the Afghan mountains. Its indeed a pleasure to have all the terrorists at one place because we can bomb them all to hell. Maybe, that water gun totting 2 year old kid is the next Bin Laden. So, we'll kill him too. Or that 1 year kid crawling to his mother is being trained to be a guerilla warrior. So lets kill him and his trainer, his mother. So, to me, all those living things in Lebanon are terrorists. So, u might be wondering, who am I? U might be praising me for being so impartial, for being a champion of the world peace operations. Well, if u want to know, am CNN.

And then, i got an ally in BBC, which is always at his majesty[blair]'s secret service. We both are now the torch bearers of the world peace and anti terrorist campaign in the media world. We make it a point to bring to you exclusive[that is, excluding certain pictures that are against the interests of US, UK and Israel] pictures and news from the battlefield. Its our common policy to show only the destruction to some buildings or some stray bomb falling in some uninhabited place. And we do sometimes show those happy children running alongside the fallen structures. That is to show you that we are not harming any children or civilians. We want only terrorists. Some of those images of the poor Israeli and US soldiers sweating it out in the battlefield may appear a little cruel. So, viewer dicretion is recommended.... once more , Hail US, Hail Israel, Hail UK....this is Mr. George dickless signing off for CNN news...

So, what u just saw above is a brief intro from CNN to those uninitiated souls on the ways of the Western world. The crusader wrote this after seeing some shocking and gruesome pictures in a Lebanese website. What I saw there really left me in a state of disbelief and pain. Its a shame to the modern civilised world that small innocent kids are slaughtered in this way. The irony of the whole thing is that, a country which is supposed to be the most modern of them all is supporting the cruelty of such magnitude of which even stoneage men would be ashamed of. So citizens of the civilised world[hope there would be some civilised soul from USA and Israel], please sign this petition to save the innocent Lebanese citizens.

Visit- http://epetitions.net/julywar/index.php to sign the petition. U may think that these kind of petitions are irrelevant at these times when even the UN itself couldn't do anything. But, this is better than doing nothing...so please sign...

Chkout this site http://209.67.212.138/~lebanon/ to see more gruesome pictures of absolute cruelty.....

with pain and anger, your crusader Praveen

Corporate 

CORPORATE

Corporate..Until today, that word conveyed to me pictures of men clad in Raymond suitings sitting around an oval conference table discussing incomprehensible things. But today, after watching the movie of the same name, I know that there's something more to it than the outward glamour. Not even in my wildest dreams could have I imagined that the real corporate world is something like this. A murky world where money and power is all that matters, where love and friendship doesn't even come to the picture.

Madhur Bhandarkar is certainly one of the finest among the new age bollywood filmakers, who are not bothered about the usual song and dance bollywood melodramas. We need these kind of films, which have more than a touch of realism in it. And for the kind of reserach that he has done for the making of this film, he has to be given a pat. This is evident in every small scene in the film. His hard hitting approach really strikes a chord with the audience. He has cleverly taken a jab at some of the corporate giants, most notably the venerable pesticide producer 'Coca Cola'. And, we should never forget that these are the times when Coca Cola is the main sponsor of many big releases and major stars themselves star in their ad campaigns.

The story revolves around 2 corporate giants, Sehgal Group of Industries and Marwah Industries. What i liked the most in the film is both the MDs of this organisations are shown as corrupt and power hungry. In a normal bollywood film, you would have seen an ultra decent man as the head of one and a man with the worst possible qualities as the head of the other. But here, both of the men outdo the other in treachery. The only thing that is in their mind is profit. For that, they are prepared to go to any extent. Even using a bollywood actress to seduce a minister and make him sign a deal in their favour. To imagine all these happens in India, really makes me hang my head in shame.

Kay Kay Menon is intensity personified on screen. This guy is the next big thing in hindi filmdom. Bipasha Basu delivers a controlled performance. I would rate this as the best performance of her career. This kind of roles suit her more than those umpteen skimpy dress clad ones. With this film, I was able to see her emote for the first time on screen.At the start, Rajath Kapoor gave an impression of a righteous person, but beneath that calm persona is a monster who loves money more than anything. Raj Babbar also played his part as a god fearing yet cunning man. Also worth mentioning are the guest appearances from ad guru Prahlad Kakkar and master lyricist Javed Akhthar.

So, all in all, Corporate is an enjoyable realistic film, from an industry notorious for its mushy love stories and reduntant themes. Way to go, Bhandarkar........

with love,

your crusader Praveen

THE MUSIC TAG
Tagging is back..this time rockus is the one who tagged me....what i gotta do is to open winamp and start listening to music in shuffle mode....and thus find the answer to some 15 questions.....god, please do provide me a good shuffle......so let me start the musical journey of self discovery.....

1. How does the world see you?
kreator's enemy unseen

***
This is the end of all life's suffering
This is the end of all life's pain
Fear, destruction, greed, exists no longer
Nothings left now nothing can remain
It's getting closer
Follow my friend
Endorama is crushing you
This the end
Expect no mercy
Just understand
Endorama comes for you
This is the end
*****
hmm...the world sees me as the end of it all....the enemy that u'll never see in ur life....bad start 4 the tag.....

2. Will I have a happy life?
''yeh dosti'' from sholay

yeah...thts true...my friends will always be there to make me happy.,..and i'll be thr 4 them tooo....

3. What do my friends think of me?
''chura liya hai tumneeee jo dilko''

o god....thts gr8...i stole every friend's heart...cool....but i wud've preffered the question to be something like- ' What do girls think of me?'

4. Do people secretly lust after me?

MJ's ''they don't care about us''

hooo....tht question is too hot to handle....but happy to know tht nobody is there 4 to lust after me....hmmm

5. How can I make myself happy?

Bon Jovi's bad medicine
Your love is like bad madicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Shake it up, just like bad madicine
There ain't no doctor that can
Cure my disease
****
oh..tht means i should fall in love to make myself happy...shud i? well..thts 4 the gals to decide....

6. What should I do with my life?
creed's hide
************
To what do I owe this gift my friend?
My life, my love, my soul?
I've been dancing with the devil way too long
And it's making me grow old
Let's leave...oh let's get away
Get lost in time
Where there's no reason left to hide
Run in fields of time
Where there's no reason left to hide
No reason to hide
*******
No reason to hidee.....i'll always be myself...i don't like putting on masks to satisfy others....

7. Will I ever have children?
Black Label Soceity's Life / Birth / Blood / Doom
***************
I walk through fire, i feel no pain
fields of war which fuel my veins
in the end, son, i was once like you
cut me child, you'll see i bleed
scars of black which help me see
in the end, son, i was once like you
life, birth, blood, doom
the hole in the ground is comin' round soon

Fields of death, the rotted womb
hatred, chainsaw, the blessed doom
in the end, son, i was once like you
The ashes that fly, the skin which burns
Kill all you can, refuse to learn
in the end, son, i was once like you
***********************
gr8...I wud've a son who's just like me....thts bad news to the world, already fed up of the antics of one mr. Praveen.....and the words ''son, i was once like you'' means that i may change in the future....but i don't think sooo...

8. What is some good advice for me?
''Kannai Katti Kollathe'' from Iruvar
************
Kannai Katti Kollathe
Kandathu ellam Nambathe
Kakkai Kuiyilai Aakathe Thozha
*********
what an advice....hooo.....don't believe everything u see...thts true...There's much more than the outward appearance...we can neva be sure what a man smiling at us is thinking...he may be plotting to kill you the next second...so bewareeee....

9. How will I be remembered?
metallica-holier than thou
**************
No more
The crap rolls out your mouth again
Haven't changed, your brain is still gelatin
Little whispers circle around your head
Why don't you worry about yourself instead?
Who are you? Where ya been? Where ya from?
Gossip burning on the tip of your tongue
You lie so much you believe yourself
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself
Holier than thou
You are
Holier than thou
*****************
thts a gr8 way to be remembered by others.....

10. What's my signature dancing song?
Linkin Park- Somewhere I Belong
******************
And I’ve got nothing to say
I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face
(I was confused)
Looking everywhere only to find
That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
(So what am I)What do I have but negativity
’Cause I can’t justify the way,
everyone is looking at me(Nothing to lose)
Nothing to gain/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
*******************
those lines really tells the whole story of my dancing adventures. Am such a bad dancer that the whole dancefloor crowd would stop dancing and would stare at me.

11. What's my current theme song?
Aerosmith's Livin' on the edge
**********************
There's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes
We're seein' things in a different way
And God knows it ain't his
It sure ain't no surprise
Livin' on the edge
Livin' on the edge
***********************
yeah, my life's really on the edge. BUT there's
Something right with the world today
And everybody knows it's me......

12.What do others think is my current themesong?
Bon Jovi- Have a nice day
**************
Ohhh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
That gets me through the night.
I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,
I'm gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, I show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,I say,
Have A Nice Day.
Have A Nice Day
***************
thts somewhat right..i try to keep a smiling face to those who gets in my face.... well, u can't attack with your face...so smile and hit....then sing..''have a nice day...in the hospital''....

13.What shall they play at my funeral?
The offspring- Can't Repeat
****************
Memories are bittersweet
The good times we can't repeat
Those days are gone and we can never get them back
Now we must move ahead (woah)
Despite our fear and dread (woah)
We're all just wishing we could stop,
but Life goes on
Come of age Can't hold on
Turn the page Time rolls on
Wipe your eyes Yesterday laughs Tomorrow cries
******************
no way this is gonna happen.....they would be playing ...''don't repeat'' as a request to god.....

14. What type of men/women do I like?
Megadeath's Something I Am Not
*******************
It makes me sad to hear you say you love me
I know you only love what I can do for you
If you were the one that was leading a charge
Would you notice if I missed a day or two
*********************
hmm....I don't like these kinda people....who don't love you from your heart...so the shuffler got it wrong

15. How's my love life?
mission impossible theme

why this injustice to me? i expected something sweet atleast in this question...but being the optimist that i am, i do hope that i can make it mission possible in true ethan hunt style....

so thts the end of an eventful journey...hope u enjoyed it...

now my tag victims are
Akhil
Shyam
Swapna
Meenu
Indu

with love, your crusader Praveen

BLOCKED 

CENSORED...
Hello citizens of democratic free india,

SHAME ON THE India GOVERNMENTT.......IS THIS THE SAME DEMOCRATIC INDIA WE WERE ONCE PROUD OF?

The Indian Govt has issued a directive to all service providers to block access to certain sites which they consider is a serious threat to the nation's security. And the list of site includes all the millions of blogs. being hosted by various sites like blogger.com. Did u hear the Govt's explanation for this bloody directive? They are saying that some blogs are used by terrorist organisations to communicate their secret messages. he hee....even though am seething with anger at this extreme step from our govt, i couldn't help laughing at this truly wonderful logic. Imagine this.. 2 lashkar terrorists starting a blog... 1st terrorist posts a message on their next operation.. 2nd terrorist accesses the blog, reads the post and go to the comments section and reply.... all this in a site, which can be accessed by any person who has an internet connection.. Does the Indian govt think that these terrorists are some characters of some doordarshan soap to be so brainless? And mind you, this is a day when terrorists are sending messages encrypted in pictures, which would appear normal to anyone who looks into it. Would any person in his right mind think of passing messages through such a public domain? Maybe, he may think, if that person is a member of parliament or one of the Hon. ministers in the UPA govt.

The decision for ban is said to have been taken after the Mumbai blasts last week. But did the govt forget that it was a blog named mumbaihelp, which came as a reliable source for information about the missing persons. It also co-ordinated the relief activities at the various centres. All this was made possible because some good samaritans with similar thinking came together in blogosphere. Why did the govt. fail to see the good side of it all? Instead it cooked up a dark side, which is non existent at best. Blogs like IndiaUncut are contributing more creative thoughts on the future of India than all those elected representatives in parliament, who are being paid exhorbitant salaries for the same thing.

This directive is a direct attack on freedom of expression, of the kind seen in such countries as Pakistan and China. Do we want to be in the same black list with those countries? Does India want to earn name as a country which keeps the free thinking of its citizens in chains? India is slowly on this path going by recent developments. The 'da vinci code' saga is another case in point. SHAME ON U..UPA.... SHAME ON U.... GOVT OF INDIA....

U cannot keep our mouths shut forever. The free gateway http://www.pkblogs.com/ is our answer to you... Mind u, the internet is not your party's treasure and u have no right to deny us.... we'll strike back with vengeance......so all the bloggers of the world... unite... clear up your thoughts ...log on to blogger...and start fighting....we will fight till the end......

with love, your crusader, Praveen

acces the blocked blogs usinggg http://www.pkblogs.com/

Crusader turns 1

Its been one year since the crusader started his journey in blogosphere...1 year and 4 days, to be precise...It was on July 5 2005 that I started blogging with an anti-bush poem...Since then, its been an incredible one year in which I wrote about subjects ranging from Dan Brown to reservation. And, am proud to say that blogging has helped me to grow as a person. I learned to view all the problems from various perspectives. This has kept me in good stead when facing real life problems...

Blogging gave me many new friends, like Akhil, Rockus, Sushma, Arvind, Shyam...and many more.......and a few haters too(sorry, not gonna mention them..ok, if u insist, i wud reveal one name..one guy called George.W.Bush).

And what more, I could perform well in 2 job interviews because of my blog..In both interviews, I blabbered atleast 10 minutes on various issues I've written here. Thankyou, my dear blog 4 all this.....U changed my life......On this occasion, I would like to thank all who have encouraged me at various points of writing this blog. Hope u'll continue to do so in the future....and also hope that i could write a thank you for you on the 50th anniversary of crusadertvm....So lemme go and blow that single candle burning there on top of that delicious 1st birthday cake.... its party timeeeeeeee.....

with love, your crusader Praveen

UN..or US 

Prove that N=S

U might be thinking the crusader has gone crazy, after reading this title. But, I couldn't help saying this after coming to know about one of the decisions taken by the UN some weeks back. They decided to declare the US invasion of Iraq as a fight against terrorism. The whole world knows what actually happened in Iraq. The search for a non- existent WMD and the bloody attack that followed are one of the worst happenings in human history. Even the villian Mr. Bush himself admitted his folly. In that scenario such a declaration coming from an organisation boasting of 191 member countries, is absurd to say the least. The UN has got a tradition of bending its back to US interests. But this is just going too far. Do we need such an organisation, when it becomes hard to differentiate between the US national policy and the UN policy? And what are the other 190 members doing there?Are the oblivious to what is happening inside UN?I don't have much knowledge of what are the actual processes that goes into it before a decision is made, but still I wonder why none of these countries reacted to this news. This is what made me write the titile of this post because the line that divided UN from US has now blurred more than at anytime in history. So now the equation is UN=US...obviously,N=S..afterall a nation is sometimes referred to as a state, so what difference does it make.

In this scenario, Shashi Tharoor's candidacy to the post of UN Secretary General assumes very much importance. If he is elected he has to either bend his back to the demands of US or shoulder the blame that he's at UN just for the sake of India. Also, his candidacy puts a question mark over a permanent membership for India in the UN. But, now who cares for a permanent membership in an organisation slowly on the path of extinction.......

with love, your crusader Praveen

Music all the way 

WORLD MUSIC DAY- A journey.....

Today is the world music day...It could better be called a day specially for die hard music fans like me...My day started with the soothing strains of guitar from the song 'Vellai Pookkal' by A.R.Rahman. A song for world peace, this one could be called one of India's best exports to world music. So, a perfect start to the day.
Then I came to Deep Forest's 'Forest Hymn', which gave me a feeling of being inside some dense African forest with the tribal singers all around me. Truely, a 'Jungli' xperience.
Now its time to escape from the jungle to the Carribean Islands. Hmm...I could hear Bob Marley's classic 'Buffallo Soldier' from a distance. Somehow, that reminded me of our own Marley, Jassie gift. Its time for some tabla with the maestro Zakir Hussain and Dasgupta on Sarod. It was part of a 1989 concert in Canada. Heavenly.....Man, what is this?Where are your favorite rock songs...bingo...here it comes...Oasis's' Wonderwall', voted as one of the best songs played on guitar. Then came Metallica's 'The outlaw torn', not a very famous song, but i like this very much for that pumping rhythm. Back to another softie..Damien Rice's 'Cannonball'...cool guitar work and amazing romantic lyrics...ha..got me into dreamworld...

Now some jazz with Norah Jones's 'Come Away with me'..can any be song be softer than this?, I was wondering....
What music without some of our own great Raveendran Master's song...I played my favs...'Pramadhavanam'...'Harimuraleeravam'......The unmistakable classical touch in film songs...i bow my head to the legend...
Now some sufi stuff...Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the first and last stop...and the sufi inspired 'chaiyya chaiyya' of ARR came next....
Back to rock...Guns N Roses's 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and 'Estranged'....
Now some death...Slipknot's 'duality' sounds great and visuals.... aaah...Goryyyyy
What about some old rock n roll classic...yeah...BEATLES...'love me do', 'hey Jude' and 'Let it be'....a nod to the swinging 60s....
back to some soothing instrumentals with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and his Mohana veena in raag Sarang from his grammy award winning album 'The lure of desert'...then U.Srinivas playing 'Endaro mahanobhaavulu' in his mandolin...2 of my all time favorites...
Now its the time to disco with some dance music from venga boys...i played the song for the socccer season...'Brazilllllllll'.....I ended the listening session with A.R.Rahman's 'Golden age' from 'warriors of Heaven and earth'...

Now time to get out and celebrate the day...me and my friends went to the museum auditorium in the evening for the world music day celebrations by alliance de francaise...It featured many artists from in and around kerala playing music ranging from classical to blues....a great way to end a music filled day...

Now am back at my home ready for another musical ride...This time the artist and listener is the same person....myself on guitar...playing 4 me....he hee....

Yours musically, Crusader Praveen

GOALLLLLLLLLLL 

ARGENTINAAAA

The guys from the land of the 'hand of the god' goal had a goal fest against Serbia and Montenegro. 6 goals in a world cup match that too from one side, that doesn't happen everyday. And mind you, Serbia was not at all a weak team. Full marks to Argentina for such a classy and clinical display that made the Serbians mute speactators. Still, its not the number of goals that matters, its the way in which it was scored that really made me jump up from my seat and applaud them. The 2nd goal scored by Cambiasso would easily become the goal of this world cup or maybe one among the top 3 of alltime. I would rather attribute that goal to each of the 9 men who participated in that wonderful display of passing. Would u believe it- 24 passes....o godd...here's a list of how it went....

Requilme-Ayala-Requilme-Rodriguez-Sorin-Crespo-Requilme-Rodriguez-Burdisso-Rodriguez-Crespo-Requilme-Sorin-Requilme-Mascherano-Requilme-Sorin-Requilme-Sorin-Saviola-Requilme-Saviola-Cambiasso-Crespo-CambiassoGOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

If viewed from the air, this whole passage of play would've looked something like Raja Ravi Varma's brushes running along in a canvas. U never know what it would look like in the end...and the finished thing would be the most extraordinary looking thing in thw world....Yes, this one was....comparable to the painting of Shakunthala......a grand salute to the team that did it for us, the soccer fans of the world....

Teves scored a goal of sheer individual brilliance. Messi proved his worth by setting up a goal and scoring one, all in 16 minutes...Is he, the next Maradona in the making, as the Diego would have us believe? And oh...god...I 4got the God of Argentina, who was in the stands, dancing up and down with joy, like a kid. I consider him as the single biggest inspiration behind this Argentine performance. DIEGO MARADONA.....any footballer will be charged up, when u see him rooting for u and chanting for you in the stands, more so if he is an Argentine. Maradona is an exception among those former champions, who sit in the special gallery in coats and suits. He sat there[sorry...danced out there] with the other fans ,wearing the Argentine jersey with pride.....Hats off to u....MARADONAAAA....

But, i still have doubt whether Argentinians have peaked a little too early in the world cup. lets ..wait and see....

NB- Inspite of whatever is written here, am still a Brazil supporter and strongly believe that they are gonna win the cup.....

Courtesy- The mathrubhoomi newspaper for the list of the players involved in that wonderful 2nd goal.

I dedicate this post to the Argentine fans worldwide, who are in a rocking mood right now...hope that mood remains till they meet Brazil in the final.....

with luv, ur crusader Praveen

RO RO BRAZIL..HEXACAMPIOS