Tsunami

This has been a sad day in this region. I was sitting here in a country sheltered and hence saved by the land masses of Indonesia and Malaysia, but being totally worried about those back home. Having my parents living by the sea was of no comfort even though they were in Colombo and was totally frustrated at not being able to get through. Finally got the message passed through by a friend in Sri Lanka and only then was I able to breathe easy.
Even though my family is safe my heart goes out to all those who are suffering through this. The figures im getting here are horrific and for a small nation having such high amounts of devastation is going to be very difficult to overcome. Even after all this is over, there will be so many problems to overcome like getting clean water and shelter and things like that and starting to rebuild. Thankfully I hear that aid is on its way from a lot of countries including India which under the circumstances that its also been affected is great.
Well finally I hope that all these predictions of aftershocks will not produce further tsunamis.

Making a difference :)

Well...decide to put up this post cause one my closest friends was reading another blog where she was mentioned as someone who had made a difference in that persons life and said "If you have a blog you put my name". Haha ok well I will say "You have made a difference in mine"... wont mention names cause I dont believe in it but she knows who she is. Oh ya PS not just mentioning this cause she asked me to I truly mean what I said - I guess the most important factor is that she's opened my eyes to a lot of things and taught me a lot of things ;).

Its a rat race

Ya ok this is not the first time ive heard of life being a rat race but I'm seeing it affect kids and thats when it beomes scary. Two things brought this feeling about.
First one; Some of my class mates gave this presentation about the education system here and you know what, kids at primary 3,4 are required to take exams that put them into different streams - whats this based on maths english and mother toungue. And here itself the differentiation begins ... based on these streaming execersises they go into different streams in Secondary school (Olevels) - and if you are stuck in a "lower ability stream" then you get to sit for the normal olevels with which you can only go to polytechnics or vocational institutes!! Only those in the express/special streams go on to Alevels and university. Hmm interesting so your life is decided in class 4!!!. Seriously how many of us can say we knew what were going to do in university at that age...or even did our academics then reflect what we are today? What option does a kid in this system have, just study study study! We see a lot of kids doing the next years work one year ahead in the holidays just to keep up - when did we ever care about that.
Second incident; The lab where im doing my project suddenly had some younger people... so I decided to satisfy my curiosity - turns out they are 1st year ALevel people who have come to do projects in their decmber holidays. I go WHAT! Ok granted its an interesting thing to do and they are lucky to have the oportunity. But think about some of the knowledge required for even the simplest understanding is difficult to get even at fourth year uni level and I am trying to explain the concepts of the project that has "big words" to a student who hasn't got polarization yet - so looks like he has to spend his holidays learning things that are taught at university level at the least. (Ya I was given the task of explaining some stuff to one of them who was to be doing something similar to me.) Asked him how exactly he came to be doing this and he says he wanted to (im thinking is he normal!- ok he'll go far:))

A Most Depressing Movie

Recently went to see the film Osama. I won't bother to give an outline of the story here as it can be found on the site, Im just going to put down my impressions/interpretations of the film.
It turned out to be the most depressing movie i have seen - at least to my recollection. Though im saying its a good movie in terms of art/cinematography etc, the story and potrayal of events left a very saddening impression. The movie's potrayal of despair and helplessness was very overwhelming. It was like nothing could be done, whatever path the main character took she would end up with some horrible fate.
One particular point where she is discovered to be a girl and all the other children (boys) turn on her to help arrest her showed that the innocence of the childhood in these boys had been replaced by so much hatred - its like the hatred for her as a girl overcame their thoughts of her as a child and one of them in that sense. If these children could be so cruel then one can imagine the extent of thegrown men. Through-out the movie where the girl is in desparation she imagines/or is seen skipping rope something I guess she longed to do had all the cares had been removed from her. Another point that struck me was there didn't seem to be much options available to the women - though at some points in the movie I was longing for her to kill the man and run away, it just wasn't practical for her to do that because all the other wives would come into the situation that forced her to diguise herself in the first place. Another part which disgusted me were the potrayal of atrocious acts commited in the name of God. It seemed like a justification.
Though I know of events potrayed in the film being based on past/present reality it was still very disturbing. Those who are ignorant of these realities would probably be extreamly shocked. I have read critics who say that maybe it is propagandaish or using the film to twist the minds of people towards something, that is one opinion but mine is that it will serve as a good eye opener to some people.

Girls eat salad!!??

We had an excercise in class today where a group of guys were asked the question "If you woke up tomorrow morning and found out you were a girl what changes would you have in you behaviour?". The girls were asked the opposite, while another group of guys was told to become forty two year olds.
Of course the guys that became girls saw some obvious things like change of dressing and things you would do in your free time or with your friends but the most outlandish one was we would eat salad!! - now where did that come from? Other changes that were argued were the type of music listened to (which some people said were more subjective than a genealization) - again the guys made a funny generalization in saying that we listened to boy-bands - unfortunately for them the two boy-bands they quoted none of the girls knew about!!
The bunch who were 42 year olds made the next set of bloopers - saying that the religion would be different because those who are free thinkers would probabaly adopt a religion because they were closer to death; females of that age wouldn't wear high heels because it is "dangerous" (causing the lecturer to examine her shoes); capping it all off by saying that they would probaly be living in an old age home - at which point the lecturer asks where they are refering to forty-two or 82 year olds!
One thing we realized were that although these stereotypes were made funny in class they have serious implications because we would tend to carry them along when dealing with others thus causing potential conflict situations.

Judging by Looks

Have you ever looked at someone on the street and said, he's a creep,pickpocket or something like that, or just moved away from someone just because that person gave you bad vibes? I would like to say I haven't but that would be lying. I am angry at myself whenever I find myself making a snap judgement like that but I sometimes defend it by saying it's instinct. For some reason I find myself at unease around male strangers from my part of the world. My friends also say the same thing is it because others tend to ignore us while this category of people do exactly the opposite? Living alone I guess we prefered to take precautions rather than be sorry after trying to act on a higher moral ground.
I realised that this kind of thinking was directed toward us as well when my friend coming home one night encountered an elderly couple waiting at the lift. When she approached they moved aside and let her go up and then followed in the next lift. She was angry that people wouldn't trust her and for having encountered this kind of treatment. It was then I realized that we also met the "scary looks" criteria; were dark skinned and in our 20s (well the only thing that didn't fit the profile was that we weren't male), and our guy friends would be treated in the same manner.
I used to live in an area that was populated by migrant workers (ha they fit the profile), and many people asked whether I was unnereved by living at close proximity to them and my only answer is, others dislike living next to me too (and probably even you) but its a free country.
I try my best not to make these generalizations and snap judgements, but when I travel alone at night I can't help it.

Growing Pains...

Well having been introduced to this webblogging business let me start with something that’s on my mind right now.
Everyone sees books and articles about growing up and stuff for your teen years and adolescence but let me just say just starting my 20's has been the most confusing time ever! - Someone should seriously write a book (well my friend says that would be Sylvia Plath's Belljar - I wouldn't know I am yet to read it).
Ok what am I rambling about? Lets put my thoughts in order... certain incidents in my current university life is making me believe that what I have learnt as a child is all nothing!! We were always taught don’t cheat or lie or steal or forge or kill (among others) but well can i just say I’ve seen all but the killing done. And what is more it is encouraged!! Well not openly that is but its not discouraged or penalized! People who lie and cheat are getting all the opportunities in life and getting ahead. Hmm so what's really going on then? Is this how the adult world really works?
My friends say grow up! Well I suppose I am a bit of a dreamer looking for that perfect world so what am I supposed to do then throw away all my principles? I decided to take the advice of a friend who says well if the good things of following your principle don’t come back to you in this life well surely they will in your next (hmm a bit of religion thrown in there). If I can learn to be happy with the fact that what is do is my own effort and enjoy the fruits of my labor then that in itself is a reward right?
Hmm but I still don't get this world!