Born in the world, spent childhood in the Brothels, then lived in the world again!

Zana Briski’s documentary film, Born into Brothels is one of the excellent ways to portray a culture and present its reality in front of the world. The film has a personal touch to each of the character in it and that makes every viewer emotional as well as involved. The film, along with revealing the intimate details of the children’s lives, also reveals more intimate details of the surrounding lives around them. I think it fair on everyone’s side that children’s lives are kept like an open book in front of the world.

Not everyone has a chance to visit something like the Red Light area of Calcutta, and witness such a life. Capturing these lives in a film is one of the most powerful medium to bring out the inner world out. It not an easy job to portray all those miserable conditions the kids lived in. The verbal abuse, the physical harm, the mental torture was not just enough for those little kids. This doesn’t happen with every one of us, and so a documentary like this makes us learn the truth of other kids’ lives. I don’t think the kids can give consent for this.

Yes, for me the ‘ends’ definitely justify the ‘means’. The ways Zana changed those kids entire world was amazing. She was truly an angel for them. Its for sure that, neither Zana nor those kids are ever going to regret whatever they did to each other’s lives. Zana’s success can be measured by seeing where those children are today. Born into Brothels is definitely a success!

Image Resource: www.lookingcloser.org

Healthy me!

After getting familiar with the recent trends in the corporate farming, genetically modified foods, organic farming, etc, I have started thinking a lot over the food I eat daily. The things I have learned from the recent studies, have affected my diet in a positive manner. At one point, I thought that I should stop eating, all those things which are harmful either to me or the environment. However, I realized that, if I do so, I have nothing left to eat. So, I decided to balance my diet in the possible nutritious way.

It’s sad that, today the American diet is not really a balanced one. The centrality of genetically modified corn and high, high fructose corn syrups, other genetically modified or organic fruits/ vegetables and soda pops makes the American diet unwholesome.For the corporate world in America, it is all about the ‘Capital through Corn’! Companies look for the monetary benefits by modifying the food items, but they fail to realize that they are harming their customers’ future. It’s not a bad idea to try the new bio-techniques for improving the nutrition-wise quality of food, however the health related, environmental as well as economical aspects should be taken into consideration with it.

Moreover, ‘Supersize Me’ was a good evidence to prove the fast food culture of America and its side-effects. The documentary ‘The Future of Food’ and all the readings related to food and agricultural world gave us a good amount of needed knowledge as well as facts on the food we eat. So now my new aim is to try even harder to build a healthier relationship with my diet!

Image Reference: www.kidcyber.com.au

Yesha and the environment!

It is obviously unfair that Americans or the citizens of other developed countries consume more than their share of the earth’s resources. I took the Earth-Day quiz for both my countries India and the United Stated. In both the cases I observed that if I continue with the same lifestyle, we shall need all most one extra planet (Thank God Mars shows some possibilities for existence of life!)

In case of the Americans, I think that the problem is that the resources are more than the population needs. People here are used to the system of having unlimited resources for themselves, and so they don’t sometimes think of the wastage. The “American Way of Life” is all about unlimited assets and technologies. I feel Americans are moving away from the natural world and are going towards everything technologically modified, which directly or indirectly is harming the environment.

While, for a country like India, people are totally not really aware regarding the consequences of their lifestyle. India is already facing the problems due to depletion of natural resources. We have less supply of resources in comparison to its demand. Even after knowing this people waste them. Playing wit the natural ecosystems is harming the people themselves in this country. Air pollution is one of the major problems of a country like India and it is not going to help our people in any ways.

This kind of consumption definitely brings a greater responsibility to readdress the environmental consequences of this lifestyle. People should understand that by harming the environment they are harming their own future. Little steps by each individual can benefit the whole earth. For example, one can start with a really small step like not wasting the food they get! Think about the future consequences every time you deal with nature or the environment for any purpose. These kind little steps one day may lead to a healthy earth and healthier people!

For India:-

CATEGORY GLOBAL HECTARES
FOOD 0.3
MOBILITY 0.7
SHELTER 0.5
GOODS/SERVICES 0.6
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 2.1

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 0.8 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.
WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.2 PLANETS.

For United States:

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 3.2
MOBILITY 0.7
SHELTER 1.7
GOODS/SERVICES 2.2
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 8

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.
WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.8 PLANETS.

Diet Analysis!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

BREAKFAST (WINDSOR DINING COURT)
Chocolate Milk
Cheese Bread Stick

LUNCH (WINDSOR DINING COURT):
Cheese Spinach Vegetarian Pizza
Hash Brown
Gala Apple
Chocolate-vanilla Ice-cream

SNACKS (ON THE GO):
Baked Pretzels
Grandma Cookies

DINNER (DORM ROOM):
Chole Masala (Chick Peas cooked in tomato gravy with Indian Spices)
Chapatti (Unleavened bread made from wheat)

I have always been interested in knowing different facts regarding the food we eat. I was in a habit of observing the type of food I ate. However, in India I never thought about Genetically Modified Food. It’s still new there. However here in States it’s all about GM foods. While I took a note of my diet this Sunday, I observed that I ate a lot many different kinds of food.

I had milk, some cheese on my food and an ice cream in my diet, which may be considered genetically modified, if the milk giving cow was fed with genetically modified corn. I also had hash browns, which contained potatoes, which may or may not be genetically modified ones. I had pizza, which may be considered fast food, but spinach made it nutritious. I also had fruits like a gala apple which is known to come from the lands of New-Zealand and an orange, which might have come from Florida or California. Other than that I had some Indian dishes for my dinner, which for sure was not genetically modified.

I work in the Windsor dining court, and tried to find if people knew about GM of organic food. I noticed that, people rarely even think about this stuff. Organic foods being very expensive are not provided in our dining courts. I always try and have a balanced diet, as I am used to them, but thinking about the food items being something called ‘genetically modified’ was not until the last few English 106 classes.

The Spring Surprise!

Who wouldn’t need a break after those weeks full of homework, submissions and exams? At least I would need it!

I was so excited about the spring break. It was my first spring in United States. Since weeks I had been reading on the white boards of my dorm rooms that ‘--- days remaining for spring break!’ I wondered how excited those girls were about the spring break. I even heard friends talking about their plans for the spring break. At one point, I was happy that I will have some time to relax and hangout with friends, but at the other end I was jealous of those who were heading towards their home to see their parents during the spring break.

My family is in India and it’s not at all practical to take $1500 flight to India just for a week that takes 20 hours just to reach India from United States! So I had to be here in the States. My friends planned to hangout with each other for a day or two and then go to our respective relative’s place. We all had fun going out shopping and eating Indian food. On the third day everyone went to their relative’s place and I returned back to the dorm. Purdue was dead without students, but the mesmerizing weather accompanied my loneliness.

Then on March 14, I called at my home in India to wish my brother on his birthday. My dad told me to call after sometime so that I could wish two persons at the same time. I didn’t really understand what my dad meant, but then after two hours I got good news that my sister had given birth to a lovely baby boy! I was on cloud nine. At that point of time I was dying to go back to India and kiss the baby. However that was not possible so I tried and celebrated the time with myself. Just this news made my spring break the best break in my life!

I can’t stop thanking God for giving me such a wonderful Spring Surprise!

Abraham Lincoln- At his best!

The famous US historical figure who instantly strikes to me is Abraham Lincoln. It’s not only because of his contribution to the land of America but also because of his personal traits. Abraham Lincoln was a man of virtue. The way he lead the country through Civil War was really impressive to me. He opposed the expansion of slavery in United States. He adopted some best known qualities on abolition of slavery. Lincoln since his childhood had a unique life. I believe that his life taught him a lot, which was indirectly beneficial to the United States.

He made it a point to personally administer the war efforts which finally turned victorious. Though there was a bunch of people who criticized him for his refusal towards the slavery issue and few other things, he proved everyone wrong by being elected as the President of the United States after several failures. He believed in self-government and took his job as a president very seriously, and so I feel that United States was fortunate to have some one like Lincoln.

His eloquence is evident in many speeches. His speeches made public believe in him and I too think that his words described his power to win the world!

Picture cited:
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/abraham-lincoln/abraham-lincoln-pictures.htm

In the honor of the so called 'great explorer' Columbus!

In my elementary school when I was asked in quiz or something, that who founded America the only person who struck my mind was the great explorer and navigator ‘Christopher Columbus’. I don’t know from where I learned that. May be from my elder siblings or some TV show! In my country we have a famous song in our language which means, ‘Hey, Columbus, its holiday time…. Let’s go and find some new country!’ So it was obvious for teenagers like me, who heard that song, to believe that Columbus founded America. Later in my history class I learned that it was not true that Columbus discovered America!

I then came to know, what the true story behind discovery of American Land was. I learned about other few people like Amerigo Vespucci, Viking, etc who contributed for the discovery of American land. Moreover, when I read the Loewen’s ‘Lies my teacher told me’, I was kind of shocked to hear about the flaws and the brutalities of Columbus. I feel Loewen’s history version regarding Columbus is more reliable because of the details he provides with it. It’s evident that Loewen aims to bring out the true hidden facts from behind the curtains of history.

When I saw the information on the webpage by U.S. State department, I felt that the celebration of Columbus Day was not really a national one from beginning. It was something which was initially celebrated by a group of people, with whom Columbus was connected in some way; say same country or same religion! It was Columbus’s fortune which gave him so much appreciation and honor. Otherwise there are many other great people who can race with him regarding granting a National Holiday in their honor.

I personally feel that Columbus Day should just be a day for commemoration of Columbus’s achievement, and not a National holiday in US.

Image reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus