Some people have a lot of time in their hands and they spend those times to chat endlessly, without realizing that time is flying. I am not talking about friends chatting with the friends they know and meet in person. I am talking about people who chat with strangers on the web. This is such a temptation at first to chat with people, anyone is ok to chat with, as long as they are of the opposite sex! 

I too have had such a temptation to chat with strangers and I have logged into some online chat forums, met some people on social networking sites and added them on google chat, etc. It was nice to have an online friend. But out of the 10 friends I made online, only two or three of them I still keep in touch with. Having such online friends have also come in handy at times. One of my online friends is staying in Sydney where I will be going to in July for further studies. So this has actually benefited me as I have someone I know living in Sydney (FYI: It is a woman, happily married with two kids.).

All this is on one side of the online friends world. But then there is another side for the internet chatting world, and it is pretty dangerous. Some of the extreme cases have ended up in crimes committed. Some of the normal cases have ended up in a guilty conscience. Why take such risks when you know there is so much at stake? Meeting a person online is different from having to meet them in person!

I usually go to this site to watch drama series online. In that blog site, they have a live chat room widget and anyone can use it to chat with the people viewing the site. It was really funny to watch two strangers saying "hi" to each other and asking "how r u?" so caringly as if they both know each other for a long time in their lives! And the guys only talk to the girls and vice versa! 

Take a look at this print screen of a chat I was observing while I visited the site. Initially this woman was talking with a guy called "Sekar", after which he left. Then came along another guy called "har". 

Gosh! This is what is happening all over!! I couldn't stand it one day when things went out of hand in a public forum site. I and a few others interfered and chased away some people who were creating the rackus! This is where our world is heading to... Hell!

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There are some secrets that are best if remained as secrets. Once they are out, your whole outlook in life changes. Many times this week I've felt like this world is going nowhere good. This feeling has not decreased but keeps increasing everyday.


First time in my life, I don't feel proud at all. I feel deeply disgusted. My whole body is shrivelling with shame. It is not a nice feeling to hear such blatant truths about a person whom you have respected all along in your life. It is simply disgusting!! I hope that person gets what he deserves!!

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Sri Lanka's Killing Field

It would be the end of the world as we know it. That is what it feels like when we come to know about the Sri Lanka's civil war. It happened in 2009 but we only get to know the full picture now. It is very disturbing and heart wrenching. Just by watching the video footages of the sufferings of the Tamils, makes me cry. If I can feel like that, imagine what must be going on in the minds of the people directly affected by it. 


The government has conducted an unjust war and have caused many civilian casualties to result. Nobody is ready to take the blame. Nobody is ready to admit that they have been unjust. Nobody is ready to apologise sincerely. The government people had been cunning and have deviously planned the "genocide". They supposedly announced a "no-fire zone", made the Tamils move to that area, and then started shelling that place! This is atrocious!


There are many allegations on the Sri Lankan government. This was what BBC had to say:

"Killing of civilians through widespread shelling; (ii) Shelling of hospitals and humanitarian objects; (iii) Denial of humanitarian assistance; (iv) Human rights violations suffered by victims and survivors of the conflict, including both IDPs and suspected LTTE cadre; and (v) Human rights violations outside the conflict zone, including against the media and other critics of the Government," the report said.

The news article further goes on to say that, "The UNHRC's attempts to pass a resolution against Sri Lanka have been unsuccessful after Sri Lanka lobbied the support from India, China and Russia among others." It is really saddening that India is going along with the way the civil war was conducted and ended. There might be really good reasons to kill the LTTE, I do not know fully about it. But killing innocent civilians is just not the way to do it! 


I sincerely pray for the Tamils who are left alive in Sri Lanka, that they live a better life at least from now on! Let this war end and let humanity win. There is not even an ounce of compassion left in this world, I think. Man, we are the worst species in this world!! We eat up the world, we heat up the world, we put a hole in the ozone, we cut down oxygen-giving trees, we burn lots of fuels, we have basically emptied the earth of most of its fossil fuels! The other species do none of these! But we do. We don't need the God to come back on the judgement day. We ourselves will will lead this world to destruction!


There is no point in setting out to reform the world, because it will never get reformed. If you do set out to "change the world", then you must go to Jupiter only. The best way to bring change in this world is to change yourself first. I believe strongly in this. We have the power to change the world by changing ourselves for the better. Lets just do our prescribed duties, including charity. We shall pray and help the world as much as we can and hope for the best in the future. Let us all be peace-loving people.

Sarveshaam svastir bhavatu; Sarveshaam shaantir bhavatu; Sarveshaam purnam bhavatu; Sarveshaam mangalam bhavatu; Sarve bhavantu sukhinah; Sarve santu niraamayaa' Sarve bhadraani pashyantu; Maa kashcid duhkha bhaag bhavet; Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti;

May auspiciousness be unto all
May peace be unto all
May fullness be unto all
May prosperity be unto all
May all be happy
May all be free from disabilities
May all behold what is auspicious
May none suffer from sorrow
Om Peace(within) Peace(environment) Peace(universe)

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Free Will? Destiny?

The idea of destiny working to bring you to a particular place at a particular time is really amazing. Although at first thought it seems like impossible, one's experience itself teaches one that there is such a thing as fate/destiny/something that is pre-determined. It is beautiful and yet scary too. 


From the moment we are born, the environment we grow up in determines our circle of free will. This circle of free will is as big as the amount of knowledge we acquire about the different choices in life. If lets say in all the colours we only know about yellow, red, blue and green, then our choice is limited to only these four colours. Whereas the more colours we know the more choices we have. Therefore, there is always a limit to the circle of free will we have. Most of the time our circle of free will is pre-determined by the limitations in the environment we grow up in. Therefore, free will is really a misnomer!


Such being the case, our choices in life are really pre-determined. It "seems" as though we are making a choice out of our free will, but our choices itself are limited in a certain way. Many things we do in our lives, our likes and dislikes, our temperament, our natural tendencies have all been pre-determined. Nothing can really happen with our own choice. We cannot even determine when we will fall asleep. All we can do is ready the bed and lie on it. Sleep will come but we cannot control when and how it comes. Such is our life. Life is nothing but realizing this grand truth, that things are not always in our hands or in our control! 


This idea, which at first seemed very romantic and beautiful, now seems to be daunting. It makes us think that we cannot change our future at all. Though our choices are limited and pre-determined, we still have that "free will" with which we can still make a choice between what is good and bad or right and wrong! But many times we are pushed to make a choice that is agreeable to all, but not in alignment with our innate temperament or nature. For example, a woman whose talent and interest lies in dancing has to "choose" to forego her dream in completing a degree in fine arts in order to attain a degree in engineering. A degree in engineering will "secure" her future compared to a degree in fine arts which will not yield financially. Now where is the choice in that? Seems like something pre-determined right?


Krishna in Bhagavad Gita says in Chapter 2, Verse 47: You have the right to perform your actions but not to the results of your actions. How very true! This verse does not tell you that you should not expect any results at all. It only tells you that the results cannot be influenced by you. This is just like sleeping. You can only make your bed and lie on it. The result (i.e. sleeping) is not in your control. You cannot say that 10 seconds from the moment you lie on your bed you will fall asleep with certainty. The result is not in our hands. But the action is. 

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