5. Terrorism with the capital T - I

POST TYPE : Thought-------------MOOD : Have No Idea
LISTENING TO -> Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Yesterday's blasts in Malegaon, near Nasik, Maharashtra.

Usually, it would just be another event, another 38 people dead, all without a well-defined crime or perpretrator in sight.

We have even managed to accord terror crimes a special place in our minds...Somehow, 'Terrorism' doesn't quite roll off the tongue like 'muurrr-der' or 'rrraype' (I know , I overdo that pronunciation part...lol put it in the comments anyway if u feel like it)..None of the contempt or hint of disgust, as when these words bounce out our mouths..almost spat out of us, as if that action rids us of the tendency to have the same insanity and urges that cause these crimes. But no...'Terrorism' is in fact said with as much awe and silent ambience as the word 'God' itself...which incidentally, is the reason for the success of the terrorist method. Look at me, for instance...There's something that makes me want to write the word with a capital T, almost like we write His name with a capital letter.

The Mumbai blasts came when everyone had their eyes trained on Kashmir and peace talks, the last Mumbai blasts were in 1993...and that was history already, wasn't it?

This one came when everybody had their eyes trained on Mumbai, and especially BARC, the place where I live. Now we're thinking...Nasik? Malegaon? Now where ARE these places on a terror-map? All that detailed news analysis of "The Terrorist Mind" and 'probable-next-hits' got nowhere near this. The place has a high Muslim proportion in its population, and quite a history of communal feuds. So? I'm still not quite clear. There are a couple of conspiracy theories knocking outside my mind-door...But I have no facts, my dear Watson.

Maybe it was something that would've happened anyway, irrespective of the red and orange alerts.
Maybe it was made to happen out of turn, to throw the explosive-detector scents off the trail.
Maybe it is what we suspect it to be.

THAT is how Terror works the mind. The book "Conversations with God" talks of Love and Fear being "sponsoring emotions"...they indirectly lead to every other emotion...Just think about it - Jealousy for example, is "Fear of losing someone you Love, to someone they Love". Terror takes a lot of both...though, in literal translation..its just Fear. Now I'm starting to see why I capitalize the first letter of the word.

Terrorism works by taking apart some of the most basic tenets we have assumed about the human mind. Such as the desire to live. The spirit with which these crimes are carried out has been the Holy Grail of spirituals and religions, the world over. The concept of complete dedication to the task at hand...the essence of meditation and the sense of devotion.
Which is also why we Fear it, are awed by its method. Ofcourse deep beneath the surface...a terrorist is in most probability, someone who seeks to 'reclaim' his life from his 'sins'...with a single act of self-sacrifice..who has turned to religion, instead of God, to find purpose...his desire is commendable, but the path goes awry grows in nations where ambition, making it big in life...being successful, don't come with the general agenda. Nations where even enough money can't buy your freedom from the society that rules you.

A terrorist is primarily concerned with the death of his targets...He has no fixed number, he only seeks to maximise his kill...and his own death does not just add 1 to the body count, he believes his death takes him to salvation. The ones that don't die...on the other hand, are making millions off the mass-murdering business. But the terrorist we've learnt to loathe, but in a way, also respect...is the one who blows himself up in the streets of Iraq and Kashmir and Bali.

People who saw RangDeBasanti would identify the mental state I'm talking about. Nothing except the goal matters. The torchbearer is simply a device...the torch is paramount. And that state of mind, far as I am from it, not resilience, not numbness, is patriotism.

I think I've answered my first critical comment. :) right Archana?


LISTENING TO -> Rang De Basanti - Khoon Chala

4. Forced Sabbatical - Story of A Euphemism - I

POST TYPE : DIARY ---- MOOD : KINDA
LISTENING TO -> KANK - Mitwa

My internet hours wound up on me, so I ended up in the lurch for a week, not able to update, connect, contact, communicate.
Thats the word for it. Forced Sabbatical. Means a holiday I didn't want to take.
My friends in AITEC (my college, for the uninitiated) would know what I'm talking about. We used to call flunked papers "Compulsory Improvements". As you all know, I have more than a handful (literally , if you think 5, as in 5 fingers, is a handful) of those.

Euphemisms surround us. They're all around us, because we, ^normal^ human beings can't take the truth. I can't face the music if it ain't my genre. Hell, I couldn't take it if it was anything other than what I expected, or if it came at a time I didn't expect it to.
We somehow, believe that truth is like those bitter pills you have to take sometimes. The kind that almost make you imagine a smirk of sadistic satisfaction on your doctor's face as he prescribes them...AND on the chemist's as he walks in to get the strip of evil medicine. That's what we think the reality of life is.

That all we have to do is take it with a glass of water, and forget about the taste. The medicine would go in and do its work as required of it...anyway. Right?
Not quite.

Truths in life have a bad way of working as medicine only if you feel the taste, which, more often than not, is bitter. Explains in a way why people like to believe in love. People with a sweeet trooth ;).

I was just reading my friend Mahadevan's blog out here, his vent against the medi ...

Do read the comments to know what It was about before Imessed with it.

3. A Day at a time

POST TYPE : DIARY ---- MOOD : OKAY
LISTENING TO -> Linkin Park - My December

I'm back.

I forgot to tell you who I am, despite that longer-than-average intro post.
I'm HKT, Computer engineering graduate(?) from Amrita Institute of Tech n Science, Kollam, Kerala University, title to more than a dozen marksheets, with "passed" and "failed" finding equal representation in the result column, privileged with unmentionables in percentage terms, and a new-found confidence in life, bordering on insanity.
Am in the process of preparing for CAT(Common Admission Test for MBA) and mailing umpteen copies of my resume to companies who're looking for a company mascot, along the lines of the Michelin man :).
Bottomline - If failure was the stepping stone to success, I'm rrrrrrready for some actio...erm..Success NOW.

But thats history, and will be dealt with (fortunately) rather briefly in my posts. When you've had as much experience with ~trying to attain~ success as I have, you tend to pay as little attention to the unpalatable topic as possible.
Besides that, I have a rather conspicuous affinity to The Matrix trilogy among films, superhero flicks/kungfu fight-fests/cheesy love stories/Jim carrey or Adam Sandler comedies, and other thought-provoking/tear-jerking/rib-tickling stuff *hehe* in general. Books - restricted to spiritual or soothing/disturbing stuff. Richard Bach. The Sidney Sheldon-Jeffrey Archer brand of "thriller" usually puts me off. I like authors who are insightful, not manipulative. No offence to people who swear by Sidney's ilk...I'd pick one of those up too...on a desperate day though ;)

Now to the matter at hand. I'm thinking what to write today.
Words can be a pain when grappling with a new idea and a not-so-extensive vocabulary at the same time.
But thankfully, I have NO new idea to share today.Isn't that a relief (its a relief I'm not writing this blog for money) .
When the blue moon comes out, I'll definitely let you guys know.

So right now I'm stuck to wrestling with my vocabulary, which might be a strange sentence to hear me say for quite a few people who know me. Vocabulary has never been counted among my startlingly high number of Achilles' heels. But I've been attending these CAT classes, for a week and some more now, and I've proved, inevitably, that I ain't Mr.Words after all.
For someone who's done his degree course as royally as ^THAT^, it was undeniably SOME comfort to hear a good word or two. Fool's or not, paradise is paradise, after all.

So the vocabulary class stripped me of that medal of honor, but it was rather comforting in a different way. Its good to know I've got stuff to learn, and that I'm actually interested in it for a change. I wouldn't dream of writing a diary entry, let alone a blog post on studying, a year or two back.
So I'm back to boot camp, and its a kinda-good feeling.

I've got an 'article post' coming up next, so beware. Lol just kidding...Its a thought I had in the last three days. See what you think of it. If I tell you what its about, you'll run away cuz
1. I'm not very good at describing stuff
2. Its not a topic you'd start talking about on any given rainy day, but you've thought about it, atleast at the very back of your mind.

QUOTE : Never think twice. Your opponent might get third time lucky.

PS : One of my friends hinted to me that I shouldn't blog for popularity. But believe me, I'm prepared for all those side-effects. ;)

2. Intro

Hi. I'm HKT.
This is my space (No I wasn't paid by myspace to say that, please.) N its going to be updated with information and thoughts.

Info on who, thoughts about what, is not something I'm entirely sure of. This is not going to be autobiographical,but at the same time, don't worry about me being in abstract universes for too long (BTW , I define "how long is too long" here ;)).
I'm a *play-to-the-audience type of blogger*, unless I'm not in a great mood, which is again, a 50-50 chance. There. I've tried to make my blog resemble "life" as much as I can, within circumstantial limits. You might've also noticed by now that I have a HUGE thing for big, though not always accurate, words, and long sentences.

Just cuz I write a long sentence does not mean, however, that I know how to do it. I might end up using inappropriate and inaccurate words and constructing really long sentences, cuz I hate putting a full stop on a thought process. The same
justification applies to what you might consider "inappropriate", "inaccurate" or "politically incorrect" views that I write here, and "long" discourses on topics that do not, in your estimation, merit more than a few lines. Which brings me back to the core concept. Its My Space.
But again , the * in this post must be remembered...that I play to my audience, and whether its inaccurate or unagreeable-to, I will try my best to make it readable, and fun.

PS : I will be using the * a lot, cuz I hate re-typing stuff. Plain lazy. hehe. AND a slow typer. So, follow the *star* ;)

I haven't read many blogs, and I have little idea what a blog ought to be like. I just know that this is how I do it.
My way. Or the Info superhighway. 0:)
In other words, if you like or agree with something I wrote, let me know in the comments, and if u feel like discussing on it, I'm up for that too.
If you don't like something I wrote, put that in the comments, with reason. On the other hand, if you need a swear-stage...well...remember, you have the highway option. The address bar goes nowhere...its exactly where u left it on the browser window. Feel free to leave. No offence both ways.

Big HI to my friends, and other mortals.
Take Care..till I get back.

1. HI

This is me saying Hi. so say Hi back. thats what the comments are for. ;)