Rwanda

I meant for this to go on the last post, but I conveniently forgot to write it. I saw the movie “ Hotel Rwanda” yesterday and was in the verge of crying. It is such a sad movie, but the reality has been depicted very thoroughly.

Since I was just in NY, protesting for "Genocide" in Darfur, watching this movie made me realize how imperative it was for the government to take action against such killings.



The movie is about the rival between the HUTU and the TUSIS group.

Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered.

The protagonist of the movie is Don Cheadle. He plays as a house manger in a Hotel in Rwanda. When he sees that the world will not intervene in the massacre of Tutsi, he summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages. With the rabid militia at the gates, he has only wits and words to keep the refugees alive another hour, another day…………

The most heartbreaking part was to see the little kids who had to be victim of the HUTUS militia. They wanted to wipe out the "second" generations Tutsis by killing the little kids. It is a must see movie to understand the world and the HUMAN RIGHTS!

Wyclef Jean sings for this movie and one of the prominent line is “ Why cannot AFRICA be united as United States and United Kingdom.”

This movie also brought down my attention to the current Maoist situation in Nepal. We might be not aware, but exactly same thing is happening in Nepal. People are being brutally murdered, Innocent people being looted, and children becoming orphans. This needs to stop. The Maoist have expressed dissatisfaction over the reinstatement of the King. Hopefully, the new parliament will help solve this on-going issue.

See this movie as a reminder not to be indifferent. “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope, is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.” - Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wisel

Weather wise, it is beautiful in Boston = )

Amnesty International

The Semester is almost over…

Walking around campus this time of year is always a treat. There's a lot of stress, obviously, as finals come bearing down on everybody but a few annoying miscreants. But that's combined with an excitement to be done with the semester and an appreciation for the warmer weather =)

I have a big Accounting Paper waiting for me on my class tomorrow. As I have mentioned in my previous blog, I have been bit occupied with my school projects.

Here is my quick update on what has been the exciting news… These events need a special blog, but it is worth mentioning on this one as well.

I was in New York last Friday for THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’s Human Rights demonstration. The main issues for this year was:

· Genocide in Darfur, Sudan
· Political Repression in Ethopia
· Femicide in Guatemala
· Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China.

Our venue was:

· UN building
· Sudanese Consulate
· Ethiopian Consulate
· Guatemalan Embassy
· Chinese Embassy

It would have been fun to see President Hu’s reaction but I believe he was in DC with President Bush.

What a great day it was!!!!

This was my Second Demonstration for Amnesty. The first one was at Copley with the Amnesty for “ Child Labor” in Nepal.

This is all I am going to write for now, but I will be writing my experience in detail. It was indeed a lifetime experience for me.

Good news for Nepal. The King reinstated the dissolved Parliament and the people are celebrating the victory rallies. Hopefully everything will be stable now. However, with the Maoist demanding the unconditional constituent assembly election, we actually cannot be sure of anything.

- Try finding me in the picture above =)

So long for now!

Musical Weekend

This weekend has been A “ MUSICAL FIESTA” for me. Attending from two days of Music Conference and istening from the great ustads and Pundits has been an extravagant experience.

We ended our great weekends with the concert from “Jagit Singh.”

However much I would like to go in detail, I cannot at the moment because of my assignments. I am in midst of making a “Cash flow” analysis and I need to urgently get back to my work before I get drifted into the whole addictive internet surfing world.

Today is the PATRIOTS day and the BOSTON MARATHON. I just took a quick peep outside the window... people are gathered in the road and getting ready for the PARADE :)

I will be posting the details...promise!

I would also like to update the fact that the garden of blogging will be dry for a while. Must finish a MASSIVE assignment, along with attempting to write up.So, I may have random snippets up here, or various dazed thoughts; most likely not a whole lot for the next 3 weeks-1month.Just FYI...this garden is temporarily experiencing a drought.

weekend rundown

Ah. Well, it's been quite a week. I've had lots of good snippets of conversations about deep, and not-so-deep ;) things. I'll probably leave it at that…

I will give you a run-down of a few interesting events:

Friday was bit relaxing. Since it was Friday, I really had no mood to study; however to free myself from the so–called guilt situation, I did manage to study for a good 2 hours. In the evening we made a quick drive to the "Barnes and Nobel" and enjoyed the company of white chocolate mocha along with some lonely planet books.

Saturday was an OK day weather wise. Was fairly a gloomy day. However, we made an effort to go outside and enjoyed the not- so- lovely looking day. For few hours, we hid ourselves in the secluded area of The Tang Center at MIT and enjoyed the soothing view of Charles River.

Evening was a nice one. We had a small get together are Bhawesh dai and milu’s place. The food was excellent and it was nice meeting with everyone after a long time. I also feel proud on the fact that I drove all the way to SALEM :) back and forth

Sunday, we made a so-called brief stop at the mall.

MALL--- this is my depiction

The mall. A horrific place, to be sure. Full of unimaginable terrors and blood-curling sights, things that will drive even the best mankind has to offer to insanity. I'm being generous, of course, the reality is actually much much worse. At least to my mind. See, I, being shopophobic tend to be very goal-oriented when in a shopping center. Go in, get what you need, and go out. The long line and the crowd intimidate me. Efficiency is key. Stragglers will be shot. This is no place for mercy. Once in a while is fine with me, but if this becomes a regular routine… I cannot handle it.It is a torture

For whatever reasons, shoe shopping is one of the chief horrors in my life. The smell is so horrific. Then you have to do the whole process of finding the right size. You find the right color and choice, but then there is no size. Finally, you find the right size and the colour and then, of course, there's the whole business of trying them on. Etiquette has it that you can only try one on, so you wind up walking around like an idiot with two different shoes on trying to determine how well the new one fits.

In summary, I have to say, we bravely ventured onto the pavement of that notorious pedestrian Mecca, the Crazy wrantham Mall. =)

Called home on Saturday. Situation in Nepal is getting worse everyone was saying. No one knows what will happen next. Civilians are raged against the ongoing violence, curfews and the monarchy. This time the situation looks serious. Will Nepal become a republic nation? Hopefully, something good will happen soon. It is about time, the whole chaos needs a complete FULL stop… for good!

I was reading the article titled " Hats off to the pre-democracy activists," by Krishna poudyal. Very nicely written and very encouraging one.

They have a special two hours “Apprentice” tonight and I have to miss it cause I have a group study. I guess I cannot compromise since I have the class.. if it was something else there was no way I was going to miss it. Sigh! I wish..

Katie Couric

Contrary to what many of you may expect, I was actually somewhat glad to hear that Meredith Vieira was going to be replacing Katie Couric for the NBC’s “Todays” Show.
Wow, I was quite amazed by the amount of publicity the news got.

Yeah, yeah… Katie turned down the 20 million dollar deal for the new role at CBC, which was estimated to be about 15 million. It is sad that she is leaving the show after 15 years, but hey, calm down!! We can still see her at “60 minute” and the “CBS Evening News,” What's up with all these chaos?

Anyways, Let me reflect back to this week, which astonishingly passed by quite swiftly I must say.

Weather wise.. It was quite sunny today. I went to the gym and did the usual routine.. , ran for about 2 miles, did the elliptical machine for 25 min and did some weights. Did not feel like doing the Yoga. I did quite a bit of studying.. my head still hurts! Too much staring at the computer I suppose or too many crunching of numbers.

I am just flipping through channels right now. I am waiting for Seinfield… not really sure what channel it actually comes on at.

Hmm…. Whatelse...

A lot has been done and a lot has been said in this world that amazes normal people like you and me because of the audacity of the doer or sayer to do or say things that are just contrary to common good sense and courtesy and are extreme in their philosophy and intent.

If you live under the sincere conviction that people can only hurt you when you allow them to, you will suffer far less emotional injury in your lifetime. I guess I just confused myself.. I have no idea where this topic popped out from. It popped out like the can of worms and suddenly it entered my vein forcing my hand to type it.

Well You out there.. be careful with those DOERS AND SAYERS!!

My bike needs some air in the tyre. That is on the to-do list for the weekend. I see people biking down the bike trail. I cannot wait to do it myself…

Weekend.. Nothing special is planned as of yet.. Again! It is going to be a CARPE DIEM one..=)

Crazy weather..

What did I tell you about the weather? I had said anything, I mean absolutely anything could happen in BOSTON and it did. From the utmost 70s, it dropped to the low 30s today along with a rain and we are supposed to have an inch of snow tonight.

I do not know what the weather holds tomorrow. There are days when the sun hides. It is gone for so long, you are not sure you will see it again.

Global warming everyone says!

The weather moves around the globe, but humans move around their environments too. We will ebb and wane, and flow, and regress. Some days we will be moody, and some days muddy. Some humans are sunny ten days a week, some see snow as their daily forecast. But all humans will change one day or another. It’s worth it to give a 70%-chance-of-rain person a chance where for that one-day they become temperate and beautiful. =)

It is worth it to see that your sunny friend may hit a period of intense cloud cover and moisture city. We talk about the weather changing as a matter of social discourse. We feel our own weather in ways much deeper.

What does the weather vane in your own heart sa y?

On the side note.. Weekend was nice. The weather made it even nicer.

Dining at "Dali" was fun. =)

Dream

Passing the Dream

She sat on the bench, feeding the birds.
Just throwing crumbs, not saying a word.
I sat down with my beads and braids,
Proclaiming what a mess her generation had made.
I spoke of poverty, and the war in Vietnam.
What is the use of going on?
She replied softly:
"All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream.
You can make a difference, with the small things you do.
The future is entirely left to you.
If things go wrong and you feel down,
Open your eyes and look around.
Don’t look for someone to blame.
Search for an inspiration, to rise again.
The changes you make may not always be seen.
But perhaps you can give a child the chance to dream.
So get to work, and maybe find
A small solution to help humankind.
All my life, I have worked for change.
Today I give you my dream."
Today I decided to take a walk.
I passed a teen loudly playing his boom box.
He turned his music down low.
And we chatted for a minute or so.
He spoke of the homeless, and the streets filled with crime.
Couldn’t my generation have found the time
To ease some of this discord
By feeding the hungry, and housing the poor?
I replied softly:
"All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream.
I hope you make our world a better place.
But you must work diligently; just keep pace
With the changes and dreams of the generation to come.
But with a little luck, a small battle may be won.
Someday, we will merge. And in them you will be
The older generation looking back to see
How you have answered all these questions you ask.
Fixing tomorrow is now your task.
All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream."
Penny Caldwell