Shocked beyond measure.. !!

I was reading the newspaper the other day (Yes!! I've decided to become worldly wise!!) and I came across an article which shocked me to my very core.

It was about this young couple (a Dalit boy and a Muslim girl) in Meerut, India who was murdered because they married outside their communities!! These killings are apparently termed 'honor killings', are pretty common in this part of the country. What is wrong with these people?? Marrying outside their respective castes maybe wrong, but surely, the crime isn't big enough to deserve death. Why? Why do people kill? Apparently, the locals were heard justifying their actions on television and none of the them showed even the slightest sign of remorse!!

The news article went on to say that though a few people were arrested in this regard, no legal action would be taken against them. The more shocking part is that the Panchayat in these parts do not have much control in the happenings of the village. Instead the village elders control most of what happens around and they in turn chose to ignore it or worse yet, be a part of it. Aren't we still in the 21st century or did I miss something? The article says that this is the aftereffect of decentralization, but can we really place our blame on it? Decentralization was, in the first place, provided as a means for the empowerment of these rural areas and as an answer to local problems.

Isn't it just the sheer illiteracy of people that prompts them to do such monstrosities and believe in mindless superstitions? Or do these people function on some other level which forces them to be indifferent to the basic human values? Well.. I guess we might never know!!

Arrrrrggghh....help me get outta here...!

If you've been to Kerala lately, you'd definitely notice that the people out here are in the "Let’s see whose house is the brightest!" phase. The color of their houses range from bright yellow with maroon roofs to violet with brown roofs to pink with magenta roofs to God knows what else! Why, you'd never guess the color of the building opposite to where I live. It’s a huge building which has around 40 flats and the entire thing is painted such a bright shade of orange with a few shades of yellow near the windows. No, I'm not kidding! I have to see this huge ghastly thing every time I go into the balcony of my house. I'm not making this stuff up! For solid evidence to support my claims, check out the snaps. And I'd have been really glad, had it stopped with only buildings. I mean, buildings are fine, comforting also in a weird sorta way. When your traveling in one of those state transport 'fast passenger' buses (I dunno why they call them fast passenger, anyway. Its the bus which is supposed to be fast not the passenger!!) and everything moves so fast, you just end up seeing a huge blur of colors, that it looks almost like a horizontal rainbow of sorts. But the thing about this place is the colors people end up choosing for their clothes. Oh my God, I don't even want to get started on that one. I mean, I love salwar kurtas. I think its an elegant outfit. But can u even start to comprehend wearing a violet kurta with a bright yellow salwar and a dupatta which has huge yellow flowers with a violet background. It is so wrong!! And that just happens to be the beginning. Everything is so freakin bright around here that I feel as though I stepped onto the sets of some kinda weird anime movie or something... May the Lord help these color freaks!