Double Standards- Animal Cruelty

A little earlier this year, there was a festival in Yulin, Guangxi ie. the Yulin Meat Festival. The internet, being weird as it is was suddenly brought notice to this and went psycho because they were eating dog meat. We all know that the Chinese eat dog meat. So why go nuts, right?
The dogs were tortured and pet dogs were snatched from their homes just to meet demand. They were allegedly skinned alived, cramped up in small cages, tied together and whatnot.

I am a vegetarian and for the past few months have been trying to go fully vegan ( unfortunately, due to the lack of vegan products in my locality, considering the food lover that I am, I wasn't able to keep up with my 'vegan word'). I have always loved animals, more than humans if I may say so.  But the thing is, the people being loco are mad because dog meat is being eaten.

When I heard about this whole thing ie. When my Instagram was being filled with posts saying 'Stop Yulin 2015', I rolled my eyes so much a bowling ball was jealous. Why you ask? I have a list of reasons.

1. Posting something on Instagram is going to bring awareness towards whatever issue you want it to if a large number of people collectively seeing and repost.  But beyond that, if you really truly want some change, it makes more sense to sign a petition or write an open letter to the people concerned. 

2. Jesus Christ! For the sake of all that's good in this world. YULIN IS A GODDAMN PLACE. I mean, HOW and WHY does it make sense to 'Stop Yulin'. If a million people (number of times the hashtag was shared) are so hellbent on stopping a place, can't it be Guantanamo bay?! 

.... This is the part where the white girls say ' What's that? I can't even....' 

Who am I kidding, nobody reads my blog. Let alone white girls. 

3. Who are you as a person from a different country to dictate another country's culture. We look at dogs as friends or companions and its none of our business if some others don't think that way and choose to treat them as any other mammal. Unless of course, if you are against the consumption of all animals in general like me

Sure, dogs are adorable and dogs are a man's friend. But it is important to both understand and respect the fact that such is not the case for some people. For some people, dogs are best when fried and served with curry. If it is okay to consume animals with the same or higher level of emotional intellect as/ than dogs, then it is nothing but hypocritical to impose your stupid morals on other countries.

Take a scenario for example, wherein another country worships chicken and considers chicken as pets and friendly companions. Then suddenly, because white girls on Instagram start squealing 'ho my gahd, I can't evunn' you are made to feel ashamed of a food preference and forced to stop eating whatever  unhealthy fried chicken dish you non vegetarians eat..... Wings!.. Yes wings.

I was watching an interview with Sadhguru the other day and he answered a question non vegetarians have been asking vegetarians and vegans for years.
"but Sammie, you're killing plants, what's the difference?" Sadhguru says that eating something is like integrating it with yourself. So if you eat a cow, the cow becomes a part of you and if you eat a mango, the mango becomes a part of you too. Cows however, are more complex creatures with emotions similar to that of humans.
He (and I) believe that since humans are capable of life without the consumption of meat, it would be responsible and considerate if humans avoided eating anything with emotion and intellect.
He says that killing plants is cruelty, but it is a necessary cruelty for survival and it is important to minimize this cruelty as much as we can, if we care about flora and/or fauna.

Coming back to the topic I started with, the only thing that I really find valid in the argument posed by Yulin hating Instagram chicks is that they torture the animals and slaughter them in a very inhumane manner.

I know vegetarianism and veganism are very very far fetched and one day the future is actually going to be like it is in the novel the time machine where we evolve into fruit eating pixies.. So if there is something reasonable we can start working towards changing in the society, we should start with animal cruelty, these animals, if they are to be killed should be done in a relatively humane manner such that it feels no pain and isn't tortured to/before death.

Fair & Lovely

Here's an excerpt from my PRESCRIBED II PUC ENGLISH TEXTBOOK.

ROMEO:

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

As a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear- 

Beauty too rich for use, for Earth too dear.

So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows

As yonder lady o'er her fellow shows.

The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,

And touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.

Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight,

For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

(Act-1 Scene-5)

JULIET:

Come night, come Romeo; come, thou day in night,

For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.

Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night,

Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun.

OKAY, now wait for a few seconds. Take all of that in slowly.
Forget the fact that this is what our board of education has approved and chosen for us to study in the 21st century. This play 'Romeo and Juliet', is arguably one of the best pieces of literature ever penned down.

First of all, Romeo is like the biggest hoe I've ever seen. However, that is not what I want to address here. It reeks of white supremacy and racism.
'Jewel on an Ethopian's ear'
'White dove amidst crows'
'Like snow on a Raven's back'
I find these lines in the poem no less than irritating.

Initially, I found it amusing and I was proud of how much we have progressed as a society. But as I kept reading it, I was flabbergasted by the metaphors used and genuinely appalled by Shakespeare's mindset which was obviously accepted widely by the society at the time. I also seem to have found a modern equivalent of shaming on the basis of skin color.

Shaming doesn't necessarily have to mean putting someone down directly. You can put someone down by telling them that something they are not is more desirable than what they are.
A less vague way to say this can be achieved by giving an example of the country which I belong to, India.
As the name suggests, I am referring to 'fair and lovely' an extremely popular cream sold in India which is supposed to make you fairer. I have no problem with the fact that some people want to change their complexion from lighter to darker or darker to lighter depending on what suits them. Unfortunately though, the advertisements and campaigns for the fairness cream market here in India (which, by the way is vast) is beyond disgraceful. They shamelessly and successfully propagate the mindset that if your skin is not pearly white, you are ugly, you have no friends, no one will take you seriously and boys will never pay attention to you.

This is seen indirectly as well. A striking majority of influential people in the media such as actors, musicians etc. are light skinned. As harsh as it is, I find it necessary to point out the fact that dark skinned Indians in shows and commercials are usually generic goofy South Indian characters or a servant of sorts. It shames me as a citizen of India to see how disgusting the media is because I can imagine the people in charge turning down candidates due to the fact that they don't blend in with the off white walls. 

I was on YouTube when a Vaseline 'healthy white' advertisement came up. Since I was so interested and curious to know what an MNC had to say about fairness, I listened to what they were saying. After a bit of rambling on about how desirable pearly white skin is, they said it has 'healing power'. Now you'd think this healing power protects you from sunburn or improves your dry skin. But no. Vaseline's healing power makes you 2 tones lighter in JUST 2 weeks so you can feel beautiful and wanted. 

In the States, they have an opposite culture which glorifies tanned skin. But here's the difference, they don't shame people who don't have a tan. Moreover, white people (among whom tanning is popular) are all born light skinned.

Here in India, we are born with a much more diverse range of skin tones, which in my opinion is beautiful and I find it sad that we aren't embracing the same and loving our skin. I wasn't going to write this, but I personally prefer dusky skin as I feel that the bright colours I love look more rich and beautiful on dusky skin tones and I wish I could carry off colours like yellow, peach and sea green.  

I strongly suggest that the media should stop glorifying light skin and show the rest of the society that any complexion related beauty standard is ridiculous. Beauty standards were initially based on health, so if anything the people with more melanin should be worshipped (I think I just suggested reverse racism). 

In conclusion, I would like to say that fair and handsome gave me one more reason to want to break Shahrukh Khan's face.   

Changes Part I

You know how sometimes you decide to stalk yourself on certain social networking sites or in my case, your blog (Don't lie, you do it) and then you find yourself looking at posts and pictures that are several years old and get disappointed at how lame you were.. I never fail to fall down laughing at myself when I do so.
For example, recently I found a picture from 2009 which I took from what I remember was a MacBook. And in this selfie, I look more serious than my mom when she realises I've stolen her cosmetics. Not to mention the fact that I dunked my face in a bucket of white foundation.
And cause the picture by itself wasn't embarrassing enough, I had to abash myself in the comments as well where my aunt asked me why I looked 'sad' and I replied with...
Wait for it..
Brace yourself...
'It's the punk thing'

Which brings me to my point..
It's been about 6 months since I've blogged, and I've learned so much about the world since then. So much about people and their behavioural tendencies. My opinions on so many things have either been supported with facts or contradicted.. with other facts on the basis of which I've strengthened and moulded the way I percieve situations.

Whether we accept it or not, change is inevitable. We as humans, are constantly acquiring more knowledge, changing our opinions on life in general and hence, individually evolving into 'ourselves'. And during this process, we are also discovering ourselves more and more each day.

And I know I've changed, because I'm already embarrassed by my old blogs. But there's one thing I can say for a fact, and that is 'I'm still me and I've held on to my unique characteristics which made and still make me who I am' and that is something that I am exceedingly proud of.

So here I am, back to blogging.. Because I still feel the need to express my views and opinions on a public platform.

Welcome to 17 Unparalleled and idiosyncratic Chainz!


Also, here's a music recommendation for the day

Enough Sins.

You ever have that moment when you’re listening to some sad song, or even a happy song. And then you feel your soul burning, because it reminds you of something you used to have? You feel a knot in your throat, nostalgia in your heart, your brain is hurting and your eyes are wet and sticky.

I don’t know if it’s just me who feels that way most of the time. But, in this article.. I’m not asking for sympathy or forgiveness.. I am merely giving you facts. Infact, I’m going to be a little selfish in this article and talk about myself. When I say that, I think it’s time for me to confess.

This article is about sins, it’s about everything we’ve done wrong and not taken into consideration. Forget stealing, thuggery, drinking, doing drugs which are eventually going to affect you. The biggest sin is being an ass to those who matter to you.

I can assure you, I’m the biggest ass to ever exist (no pun intended). I’ve hurt so many people I can barely count. Hell! I don’t remember how many people I’ve hurt this week.

Every time you lie, every time you insult someone, every single bloody time you pretend to be somebody’s friend. Think about what you are doing.

I’m trying to add witty humour into this article, but I just can’t. Because I’m so unbelievably serious. People matter.  And every time you succumb to any of these evils, you’re letting go of your own dignity and you’re screwing somebody over.

I need you to take just one minute, and think about the people that you actually care about. Now keep them close to you, never let them go and take care of them. You never know when they’re going to leave you in life. And if you continue acting like a prick to them, you can be damn sure that ‘when’ is soon. If you have treated anyone badly, then apologise. Forgiveness will not nullify what you have done, but that’s the most you can do-  show how sorry you are.

Say it with me.. ‘I’m done being a douche’ .

And I’m sorry for the level of seriousness in this article, but I find it crucial to share this with my readers. I don’t want you to feel as regretful as I do and I definitely don’t want you to end up hating yourself as much as I do for what you’ve done.

Nostalgia, A poem (On a relatively serious note)

I studied in the Deens Academy for 5 years from the 6th to 10th. This is the longest I've been in one school by a large margin. And I've always loved change since I was a kid. When I was little, I used to beg to sleepover at my parents' colleagues houses for a change in environment (and to avoid my parents). As others felt all nostalgic and sad that they were leaving school, I mocked them as usual for being wussies. But now I see.

I used to compare myself to a Chameleon
Cause I was used to change all the time.
But now that I find myself reminiscing
I feel the need to express feelings through this rhyme.

I can still hear Aditya S Raj shouting
And Ansh making Hyena-like sounds in class.
I see Sidharth and I laughing like drunkards on the back bench
And I still wonder how we managed to pass.

Subashri's still making tiki heads out of Chalk
And Saniya's giving people recipes for cake.
Subha's telling people how to live their lives
Because success ain't easy to make.

Manvi's screeching old Hindi songs
Shraddha's updating us with new gossip from T-Zed.
Shikhar's telling us about his true love for Drake.
And Kristina's talking a lot, but she's doing it inside her head.

Sourish is spreading his immense knowledge of subjects
And Pranati's making that usual surprised face.
Cause she just heard some new gossip that everyone already knows
And Mahima, as usual .. is just being a nutcase.

Sparsh is authoring stories
And Rakshanda's being a general nerd.
Kiara's doing tourism advertisement for Delhi
Karthik is always just one out of two love birds.

Jha's doing a star act with different characters in front of different people
And Sahana's asking Manali and I to solve her problems in the hall.
Varun is stalking another girl or bullying Ishqi.
And Nikhil is bragging about how he's relatively tall.

Who could forget Sudarshan,
He's trying to convince us that Eminem is better than all our legends of Rock.
It pains me to think all of this is gone
This nostalgia's giving me a mental block.

Rebellion And Love. (It's not what you think it means)

The ways of this world have always confused me. I'm not sure if that makes me a great thinker, about to start a wave of Renaissance or a crazy teenager on the brink of insanity. I don't know what it is that makes me question day to day practices and try and refuse to do what everybody else does. Well, this is my official confession, where I confess to the fact that I don't listen to many written and unwritten rules and also try to do things differently, because I want to be the one to change ways of life.

I never asked for an instruction manual or a guidebook as to what to do in life. Why must we all listen to pre-written rules laid down for us by other people. Are they any wiser than us? Are they 'gods' ? Oh wait, yes.. it is 'god' who tells us what to do through other people. -_- (I apologise for making use of an emoticon in my article, but it was required)

I'm being very general here though. There are two sides to this. On one side, there are practices that genuinely wrong like thievery, drug abuse etc. And I'm not saying I don't believe stuff like that is bad and out of order. But one must realise that it's only the society that perceives thievery is wrong which is why it's technically bad and punishable by law. To practical idealists.. this sentence might seem like Latin.

To simplify things (or not), let me take the example of an alien planet. Maybe society on this alien planet thinks differently and drug abuse is a good thing as it makes you die sooner. And dying sooner is something that is desirable. 

And this is where you  say 'WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT IN THE BLUDDDDYYY HELL ARE YOU SAYING??'

Anyway, there's another side to it as well. There are some practices through autocratic governments where certain sections of societies are denied rights and even in Democracies like India, there are laws passed denying gay people .. well, mere existence.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't see why we have to listen and follow the perception of old and even dead guys who were allowed to have their own opinions. But nowadays, we have to follow the already laid down ideals of what is right and what is wrong. WHY?

Another stupid thing is affection. I don't know where to start with this. I can't deny that I succumb to love and affection myself and that I love several people- my family, my friends.But why is that emotion even there? Why did 'god' or whatever make us humans 'fools for love'. I mean, seriously.. I don't want to live without love but what is the point of it.

This brings me to our purpose on Earth. Why do we keep taking things so seriously, and thinking about trivial nonsense like money, when we're gonna die like dogs anyway. For future generations? Future generations who are gonna die too. I want to know why humans were given life? What's the reason and what's our actual job?

        (the above is a reference to the ending of battlestar galactica where the humans sort of find purpose)

When you think about that, professions like being a doctor or an engineer just sounds like stupid sh**. Because, I swear to god! I'm so confused and everything seems so petty and trivial to me. Anyway, thankyou so much for reading this. I'm sorry for torturing you through the medium of writing.

Safety Of Women... Why?!

Who would’ve thought that this is what I’d write about.  In the minds of several people, I am the most insensitive female when it comes to this topic. That fact stings a little bit, because being a female myself, I don’t want to be ‘unsafe’ (if that’s a word).

Earlier, throughout the world women were perceived as docile, fragile, submissive and inferior. Even ‘the great Gandhi' felt women belonged at home and should take care of the family and do chores. But when the society decided to let that perception go, why do we still think women need to be spoiled  and given extra protection.

What I’m trying to say is, we should stop thinking about taking measures for the safety of women and start thinking about women empowerment. If women are equal to men, why can’t we take care of ourselves? Why is it that no matter what happens, even if we preach equality- We can’t let a woman be independent and take care of her own security and well-being.

Men need to know that women aren’t objects and they will not be taken for a ride. They need to know that men and women are equal in population and if you insult a woman, then she has the capability to beat the crap out of you.

The main problem that the society is dealing with here lies in perception and the visualisation of women as fragile and inferior. I say, women let go of being little princesses because Monarchies barely exist nowadays and things don’t run that way no more.