Not FYI but TOI

Back to the Times of India, since you may be missing these entries when I'm back. Okay, I know that's highly unlikely, I know, it's my own little strange obsession, this newspaper. Between this and the Bollywood movies, I hardly know where to go for help when I get home and start experiencing withdrawl. The food won't be such an issue as I'm still rice and banana lassying it- if you can believe it. I went salad-mad yesterday, fruit, Nicoise, Israeli, and my body said "No salad for you!"

May I just say here, it's a weird and at times morbid obsession - it ain't pretty. I found one article on a support group for women suffering from depression, and that's been worth the search. But in terms of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, sometimes I feel like it's all just ugly, and this is why I dislike newspapers in general. Particularly fear-mongering, conservative newpapers. I know, picky, picky. And I go on some tangents, I know, you're shocked. These are some other items I found, just excerpts:

From an article about an accident where a young man on a motorbike was killed
"From the oral and documentary evidence on record, it can be reasonably deduced on the probabilities of the case that the accident occurred because of the negligence on the part of the driver of the bus, who admits that he used to drive the bus involved in the accident."

From an obit for a 25 year old man: Always smiling innocent and lovely child was snatched away by the cruel hands of Destiny on 16.4.2005 vacuum cremated is filled with our Tears.

This falls under the category, some one needed to research this? Because why?
Experts: Violence at home affects health
New Delhi: Being beaten up at home could be making Indian women and children frail and undernourished. In an interesting research, a team of social scientists from Harvard School of Public Health has for the fist time found a strong association between domestion violence and chronic malnutrition among Indian women and children.

The most disturbing thing for me is there's no place where it says "If you know someone who is being abused, this is where they can go for help" or even "Call this helpline number." I feel very touchy on this subject- as in stay away from it, don't touch it. I feel as though I'm walking on molten lava. Do I call up Harvard and say "What do you geniuses do for an encore? Tell me, is there a correlation between drought and famine?"

Now this is something else we're talking about: violence, extreme violence, accepted as a part of every day life. When you see this news in the West, here's the part that's same same no different: Violence against women as if it's an understandable given. As if a crime of murdering or raping your girlfriend/wife/woman you couldn't possess is a result of an 'understandable' act of passion rather than a loathsome crime by a cave-dwelling neandrathal who should be blinded and kept on the rack for 15 years, at least. Do not even think of talking to me about compassion until in the common language we recognise this is unacceptable violence (and let's be clear, I was raised in a home where somehow, even with a progressive father, the belief was women were asking for trouble, so I'm just as much talking about undoing my brainwashing) Just like I will not tolerate the Catholic Church telling me I'm a sinner when they have a history of protecting pedophile priests. [NOTE: I know the Pope will be really upset with me for saying this, especially when he's the number one visitor to my blogsite - but you know what Benedict? The truth hurts. Get with this millennia, wouldja?]


Enough.

My Last TOI post:
Gere's Kiss: Insane Courage
Actor Richard Gere, who until recently faced obsecnity charges for publicly kissing Shilpa Shetty, has called his troubles "a badge of courage". Gere made headlines when he kissed Shilpa, winner of the British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, several times on the cheek at an anti-AIDS ahow in Delhi last year. "It's a badge of somewhat insane courage," he told reporters during a visit to San Francisco recently, saying others had also been charged with similar offences in the past. "It is a very complex society," Gere said about India. It may be recalled that last month, the Supreme Court suspended the legal proceedings and granted Gere permission to again travel to and from India. Gere was visting San Francisco to attend a pro-Tibet rally.

And we're done. Full stop.