A Leap Of Faith

Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge was an idea Mark Lester from UK came up with to raise money for the Railway Children. 

Two weeks. On the Indian Trains. From Mumbai - Dwarka - Amritsar - Udhampur - Dhemaji - Ledo/Tipong - Delhi - Darjeeling - Kolkata - Chennai - Kanyakumari - Rameshwaram - Mumbai.

Among the massive amounts of people and the unpredictable trains, 30 odd people from around the world are gonna get together on this epic train journey, all for the above cause. The event begins on Feb 18th 2011 and ends Mar 5th 2011. 

So, being one of the many 30 who are gonna attempt this helluva ride, I request you guys to check out the site and perhaps drop a donation? ;-) No worries it's just a suggestion or you can also join the facebook group that advocates the cause and the trip.

Thank you in advance.

Road to Hell

Before:

Three year old. Sitting in the back seat of a car. Metal Pipe.

Assumed:

Three year old. Gun.

Aftermath:
Dead Three year old. Mistaken Policeman.

The toddler was seated at the back seat of a car. The policeman went up to the car and fired through the window. The next thing he knew, he had mistaken a pipe for a gun. Though, CNN reports read no pipe or weapon was found at the crime scene. Another officer jumped out of the police van, grabbed the victim's uncle nearby pushed him to the ground and called him a suspect of a crime that had yet to be mentioned throughout the ordeal. The dead boy was later removed from the seat placed on the ground beside the ground waiting for a morgue van to arrive. The body laid there for 6 hours and the mother was not allowed to go near while the @%#^&^ police officer was sucking on a lollipop. The police must have been so frightened by the presence of the toddler and his life threatening device!

This is certainly not the change people, both Africans and the rest of the world, are looking forward to. Apparently this is not the first since the policy was implemented. A man and his mother were shot and this gets worse, the police were actually called in to settle a domestic fight!! A domestic fight! They killed the man and the mother was wounded. Police do not mean safety anymore. On another occasion a 30 year old female died in a van that was shot at 13 times cos the officials assumed it was hijacked! Many of these random killings were based on ASSUMPTIONS! And their instincts just suck! Africa is infamous for its crime rates and with such a law in place, it certainly does not make an outsider feel any safer in that country.

South Africa's Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation this to say: 

These incidents are not random events but reflect an overall breakdown of control over the use of lethal force within the SAPS [South Africa Police Service]. It is reasonable to believe that this breakdown of control is due to a climate of confusion which has been created by statements which have been made over the last year, and particularly in the last couple of months, by senior politicians and police leaders.

South Africa's government has implemented a Shoot to Kill Policy whereby the Police is allowed to kill suspected criminals without further interrogation. The top officer who suggested it and later got it approved by the government claims it is to ensure a safe South Africa for the 2010 Word Cup.

What the statistics have proven is the other way round. Compared to 51 people dying daily in South Africa its now 81!!  Instead of the existing criminals, it this random killing that is gonna keep tourism away from the nation. And the shootings are legal! Sighs!

While reading about Africa, I realised that perhaps Africa and Russia belong to the same damned boat after all. Similar to Africa's Shoot to Kill policy, Russia's secret security services in the name of "investigation" to root out rebels lay their hands on innocent victims. Many Russian families (especially from the area Ingushtia) have lost their young sons to such brutal behavior by the "secret" police. They barge into houses in the wee hours, they refuse to produce identification and instead demand you to produce a passport, drag the supposed suspect away together with his passport, he goes through a hell of a time and is later left to die.

Each week, according to Mutsolgov, young men are taken by the security services: 

They can be taken on suspicion of being a rebel, knowing a rebel or just having been seen with a suspected rebel." He adds that men are also taken in for appearing too overtly Muslim.

Mutsolgov works for a human rights Organisation called Mashr. According to Mashr's statistics: Since 2002, ever since the Russian forces took over the Southern Russian Area of Ingushetia, 1000 Russians have died and 175 have been missing.

Since, the killings are by authorised secret services called FSB, relations of victims are unable to make appeals or request for further investigation into the matter. In the attempt at trying to eradicate the nation of extremists, the Russian secret services have indirectly paved the way for grieving relations to join existing rebellions just to take revenge on the FSB.

Both these nations are need to revamp their policies. It is just not the right way to eliminate crime rates. I honestly do not see a difference between genocide and the current policies these countries have recently undertaken. Humans have gone berserk and Human Rights is down the drain.

DO NOT mess with kids!

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher was saying how it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human given its small throat. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, "When I go to heaven, I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, "What if he went to hell?". The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children as they were drawing. She approached one girl who was working diligently. She asked the girl what she was drawing. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God". The teacher paused and said "But no one knows how God looks like". Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her 5 and 6 year olds. After explaining the commandment to 'honor' thy Father and thy Mother, she asked "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat brothers and sisters?" One little boy (the oldest of the family) answered, "Thou shall not kill".

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer she's a lawyer', or 'Thats Michael, he's a doctor'." A small voice at the back of the room said, "And there's the teacher and she is dead".

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now class, if I stood on my head, the blood will rush into and my face will turn red." "Yes", the class agreed. "Then why is it that when I am standing in an ordinary position, the blood doesn't rush to my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cos your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up at the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the tables was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note and pasted it on the apple tray: 'Take only ONE. God is watching'. Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end was a large tray of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note that read: 'Take all you want. God is watching the apples.'

Opium is cheaper than bottled water in Afghan?!

Is it because Opium is easily accessible?

Is it because taking opium has been cultivated among the family?

The situation seems to have taken a toll on young children, who are now addicts to opium. With the youngest being only 2 years old!

Before I came across the video, I never knew the existence of opium in Afghan or its usage amongst the citizens. Never did I thought that mothers would use opium on their children just so they could do their chores. Some of them do regret their actions (as mentioned in the video when they came to know of addiction to opium. Its funny how they were not aware of the addiction earlier; being users themselves.)

One of the things I heard about opium and Afghanistan is that in certain areas the profit from all that opium sales are used to fund terrorist groups. (Well the funding bit I don't know how true the information is)