Chp 253. The Hidden Advertisement?

My weekly ritual: Read TEHELKA.



But as I quickly flipped through this week’s edition of TEHELKA, the advertisement on the cover page definitely caught my eye!




The caption boldly reads: “There are 22 reasons why.”

22 reasons? But sirji, I swear I count only 20!

Unless of course the great Prannoy Roy is counted twice, and once more after that. Because… he is the great. Urrmmm…

Kinda ironic isn’t it? A prominent financial news agency that gets its numbers wrong

As a copywriter, I fail to see the logic behind this caption… is there a hidden message? Is it a metaphor? Am I missing a clue somewhere that only people who scream out “hedge funds” and “equity derivatives” in ecstasy during (sen)sex can see, and not us mere mortals?

Pray, do tell me. If they were focusing on the word profit, so that 20 people grew to 22 (I know, that is extremely twisted, but let’s open all possibilities here) hence a profit of 2 is generated, therefore… *drum roll* 22! Urrmmm… but why just 2 then? Why not 4, 6, 10? Aren’t those… err… bigger profit margins? I’m sorry, but I am so lost when it comes to figures outside the range of 36-24-36.



And If the line “Experts in the field. Integrity you can trust.” are supposed to be the two additional points, then it doesn’t quite deliver because now it simply means that the 20 people featured above aren’t experts and possibly untrustworthy. That’s the only way it can add up to 22

Pretty much a catch 22 situation, aye? Pun unintended, of course

Or somebody screwed up somewhere and either missed out on two photographs (or those two people didn’t accept the designer’s friend request on Facebook) or somebody wrote the wrong copy and nobody proofread it. And of course the fun started in office. Told my designer friends that their designer screwed up. They immediately retorted that it was the stupid copywriter’s fault. Interesting, how birds of feather always defend each other, even across different Ad agencies

All in all, there may be nothing wrong with this Ad too, if 22 signify something. But the problem is, most of us fail to see what it signifies. The only thing this Ad probably achieve is the attention it receive due to the caption (like for example, me blogging about it and you reading about me blogging about it).



The main headline too, in a funny way, sounds like “When it’s important, India turns to the Americans”, but then again, it may be just me. That’s negligible.

But you wanna know what I really hate? Visit the NDTV Profit homepage and their embedded video plays immediately! Aaaaaaarrgh. EPIC FAIL.

*Click*       Thank you Adblock. Goodbye NDTV Profit.


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Updated: Guess I’m not the only one who noticed this and blogged about it!

Check out sans serif where one commenter jovially suggested that “NDTV” and “PROFIT” could be the two other reasons that sum it up to 22. lolz!

Cheers everyone!


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Update 2:

Will NDTV sue me for writing about this Ad? Is this the end of Mizohican?

Chp 252. Sunday Post: Understanding Satanism.

[A Christian-centric Post]

Once again, the recent “Satanic activity” [news is in Mizo language] in Mizoram made much noise and furor.

A 17 years old so called “Satan worshipper” entered a Presbyterian Church and tore a few Bibles and broke the Church pews etc. She (yes, a she!) is now booked under IPC Sec 295A - Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious sentiments.

(Question to my visitors: Can a minor be booked under Sec 295A?)

Anyway, the Church cried out, “Blasphemyyyy!” and the loyal patrons wept and prayed to the Good Lord. “How can anyone defile the Holy place?” they exclaimed, and spent their whole nights praying and asking God to redeem the sinner, some devotees trying to be louder than the others, denouncing Satan and assuring the followers that Satan will not succeed.

But what most people fail to understand is that most (if not all) so called “Satanic activity” we see in Mizoram are cheaply imitated by wannabes, who have no idea what real Satanism means. Their perception of Satanism is purely derived from the glamorized and often exaggerated version depicted in Hollywood flicks and a few Metal bands.

That ain’t Satanism at all! Anybody can construct a theatrical scene, make it dark, bring in smoke, play haunting music in the background, burn a couple of torches, construct an altar, cover yourselves in robes, let all the female characters be seductive and provocatively dressed, bring in a fair virgin for sacrifice, reach for that short crooked dagger, amidst lightning and thunder effect in the background. Tah dah! A satanic ritual!

Anton Szandor LaVey must be turning in his grave when he sees such acts! He is the founder of the Church of Satan, an officially registered religion in the USA. His book, “The Satanic Bible” has been accepted as the primary text by most Satanists around the World.

Here is the big big problem when people don’t understand Satanism. Some confuse it with paganism. Some confuse it with anything that is bad or unchristian. Some use it as a tool and exploit it to gain their own advantage – like excommunicating somebody you don’t like by simply labeling him as Satanist etc.

As Robert Lang, member of the Church of Satan said, “I am so sick of having my religion blamed for criminal behavior. We do not feel the least bit responsible for those who would commit crimes and call themselves Satanists. It’s about time people started placing responsibility on the criminal rather than on the book they read, the music they listened to, or the upbringing they had. Satanism stands for ‘responsibility to the responsible’.”

His thoughts echoed the incidents in America circa 1980s about the SRA – Satanic Ritual Abuse, described as “the psychological, sexual, and/or physical assault forced on an unwilling human victim, and committed by one or more Satanists according to a prescribed ritual, the primary aim of which is to fulfill the need to worship the Christian devil, Satan.” [source]

I am not going to talk about this movement here, as we are starting to deviate a little bit from the topic. The SRA issue is controversial as there is still no clear proof linking the SRA to Satanism, in spite of the panic that spread across America and Canada in the 80s, 90s.

Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA): An Introduction (Part 1)

Joining the SRA movement during the early 1980's were many police officers, who were concerned that Satanists were literally getting away with murder. It soon became obvious to them that no hard evidence had ever been found which pointed to a Satanic conspiracy. There were "no bodies, no bones, no bloodstains, nothing".

By the year 2002, SRA lives on mainly in court cases, in an inverted form. Victims of experimental, suggestive counseling techniques are now suing their therapists for having induced false memories of SRA. Multi-million dollar settlements have been reached in some cases.

The Church of Satan also stated:

Satanists not associated with the Church of Satan, however, have been under attack since the publication of Michelle Remembers (1980), which details the supposed Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) suffered by the co-author, Michelle Smith. She describes the five years of her childhood when she was raised in a Satanic cult. The alleged cultists inflicted horrendous sexual and physical violations; she also claims they practised human sacrifice and cannibalism. Her book triggered a North American-wide frenzy called Satanic Panic, where similar stories shot up across the Western world, while the media fuelled the public’s perception that their children were at risk of being sacrificed to Satan by such groups.

Therefore, SRA is a prime example of the difficulty of discussing the topic of Satanism. Which story should the public believe? It was proven that many of the stories written in Michelle Remembers were false, yet can every single SRA story—which “prove” the existence of deviant intergenerational Satanism—be completely false? Kent thinks stories do have validity, albeit one that is difficult to prove scientifically.

So with that, I will stop talking about the SRA and focus back to Mizoram. Back to the so called act of Satanism, which I believe is nothing but an act of vandalism by a misguided youth.

One of the 11 Satanic Commandments clearly stated: “Do not harm little children”.

And yet, most of these so called satanic groups plan to abduct little children for sacrifice to the Dark Lord. Bwahaha! Seriously, even if you plan to become a Satanist, you must stop watching cheap B-Grade movies if it’s going to affect your intellectuality and sense of reason.

I really feel the Church should not brand such people as Satanists. Because, by doing so, it is bringing that sense of excitement among the rebellious youth of today. Remember, the forbidden fruit always taste sweeter. Even outside Mizoram where alcohol is permitted, I know many people who hardly drink. But on dry days (when alcohol is prohibited), mannn, there is always that huge uncontrollable sudden urge to drink! It is human nature to want something that is illegal.

Likewise, by calling it Satanism, the nonconformist is definitely going to find it enticing, and even mimic it, without actually knowing what Satanism is all about. Hence I sincerely believe that the Church should tell its followers what actual Satanism means, and the ritual and dedication and devotion involved. Once the people know all these, they will definitely be turned off by Satanism. Because, after all, we are a lazy lot. And the one true reason why we stray from the path is not because we have evil intentions, but simply because we are too damn lazy to follow what is right.

I’ve been branded a Satanist before too. Lolz. One is because I have tattoos all over my arm. Little did they know that the tattoo on my right arm is an Angel. It is like my personal guardian Angel, protecting me from all that is evil. And the message below the Angel reads “Never Again” which will remind me for eternity never to go down that dark path I once went.

Likewise, they say I am a Satanist because I listen to Goth metal and bands like Lordi! People can talk all they want for all I care, as long as I know I am not one. By the way, Lordi dresses up like monsters, because it is their signature style. But they’re the only “Anti-Satan” group I know till today. Lordi challenges Satan to a fight! The song “The Devil is a loser and he’s my bitch” is a message to everybody not to be afraid of Satan and that we can easily crush him if we want.



All in all, we should be very careful about accusing anybody as a Satanist. Remember that it is our Father who will do the judging on Judgment Day, and not us mere mortals. Because the moment we fallible men start doing God’s work, all anarchy breaks loose. Remember the Inquisition? Remember the Salem Witch Hunt? How much more do you want to stain the name of Christianity?

Anybody can exploit this situation and call anybody Satanic. Some Mizos even call those pop celebrities in our community who sing non-gospel songs [read: romantic love songs] as Satanic! In case you didn’t know, the way we Mizos sing gospel songs in our Churches with drums (and guitars, pianos, trumpets etc) and dance is also considered to be a Satanic ritual by the more conservative pro-Gregorian chants Christian groups!

Yes the way we Mizos worship in our Churches is considered Satanic by many Christians. The drum beat is said to evoke carnal pleasure triggering a mental rhythm which is not spiritual in nature. Hence the urge to sway to the beat and rhythm is from a materialistic source. How are you going to answer to that, my friends? Do you think it is fair to say, what they say about us is false but what we say about them is true? Penny for your thought, my friends. Think.

Basically, in the end it boils down to the individual. Anybody claiming to be Satanist need not be a real Satanist, just like how anybody claiming to be a Christian is definitely not a Christian. If this 17 years old girl can be called a Satanist, then so can the politicians and officers who accept bribes, the devoted follower who go to Church but gossip about her neighbors, the cheating husband, the son who is slave to alcohol and women, we are all Satanists. All of us.

Chp 251. Is China really bad? A Chinese argument.

Definitely one of the more in-depth and narrative feedbacks I have received regarding my post. A Chinese visitor – Jason Cheng - wrote me this long mail, touching various issues from China’s communism history to the defamation of China by Western and Indian media, and finally about Tibet.

I’ve always been a “Free Tibet” supporter. One of my good blog friends Aqua is an ardent pro-Tibet activist. I’ve actually never liked China (mind you, I’m talking about the Government, NOT the people). Hence I stood by Tibet because:

1. China is oppressing the Tibetan people.
   
2. China is brutally occupying a small and weak community.
   
3. There is no freedom in Tibet or China.
   
4. Chinese Government lies about everything.
   
5. China invaded India and claimed Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of China.
   
6. The last Wong Fei Hung movie was released way back in 1997! 10+ years have gone by and still no Wong Fei Hung! We want Wong Fei Hung!

On a serious note, I guess it’s hard not to sympathize with my Tibetan friends. What we read every day in the papers or around the blogosphere can more or less be categorized as mainly anti-China. Hence the reason why I feel this way, when in fact I’ve never even been to Tibet or China (although I’ve been jeered at as a “Chinese” many times here in India). I observe. And like most of you, I form my opinions from what I gather, because if only those who have first-hand experiences are allowed to have opinions, many of us would die opinion-less. (Can you imagine how peaceful the online World would be then?)

And like how blogger Sujai has aptly stated “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. These are my opinions. They don’t matter much because they do not bring any change. People live as ever.” I too have my own opinion about various issues, from Tibet to reservations to racism to religion to homosexuality. But those are just my opinions. Likewise, I can point Jason Cheng to many of the sites which report atrocities committed by the Chinese Government and argue with him. Or we can all spend some time listening to what he has to say.

Listening may not hurt, right?

After all, we are fed everywhere that China is the big bad dragon. Read the papers, magazines, articles, columns, blogs, everywhere. We all see China as the epitome of evil. Anybody who shows sympathy to China is either branded as undemocratic or a communist (which actually isn’t bad here in India as we have communist parties coming to power during elections, though not much in the most recent poll, and a lot less overzealous than the McCarthyism communist witch-hunt of America, circa 1940).

The mail I got the other day from Jason Cheng said a lot about things I never knew. I even spent a considerable amount of time researching (read: Googling) about the facts that he mentioned, and they all turned out to be quite reliable.

And so I asked him if I could reproduce his mail for my friends here in India to read, (with a few formatting changes and rewording/restructuring) and he was kind enough to say yes. Therefore, here it is, the mail that Jason Cheng wrote.

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Dear Mr. Kima,

I am a Chinese who happened to come across your blog. I guess this is pretty unusual, since most Chinese have quite limited English skills to surf in English-medium internet world. It is very interesting to learn about India from a North-Eastern’s view. However, I am very much hurt by your comment about China in one of your articles, in which you called China “the big bad China”.

I am writing to you to show you the long covered facts and evidence that China is actually not a bad country as portrayed and well accepted in Western countries and India.


1. Historical behavior:

India had always claimed (proudly) that she had never invaded any other country in the past 1000 years. This is the same with China. India had been a rather weak and fragmented country then. It actually had little military strength to invade any countries before the British came. China had been a relatively strong country compared to many neighbors in the last 1000 years, yet it did not initiate any war to invade or occupy other countries. China occupied Xinjiang as a result of a war initiated by the west Mongols. I will talk about Tibet later in this letter.


2. China and communism:

There is a long covered fact (by all parts involved) about China and communism. Chinese communism was created with the help of Soviet Union, and to a large degree controlled by Soviet Union until 1959. After the Second World War, Soviet Union secretly supplied Chinese communist troops with captured Japanese weapons (enough for about 1 million elite Japanese troops—the Guangdong Army), including 2700 artilleries, and produced ammunitions and weapons for communists in Russia-occupied China’s north-east. Chinese nationalist government troops were poorly equipped with little artilleries, even less ammunitions. USA refused to give any heavy weapons after the Second World War to Chinese anti-communist government.

The US and the West had supported many countries to fight communist troops after the Second World War, such as Greece, Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Angola. China was the only exception. USA considered it to be their advantage when China was overtaken by communists supported by the Soviet Union, and then began to isolate china. The US knew that communism would not work and that it would ruin the country. Americans were absolutely correct. All communist countries failed economically, including China.

After the death of Chairman Mao, the new Chinese leader realized that it was a grave mistake. He (Kima’s note: “He” referred to here is Chairman Hua Guofeng, who ousted the Gang of Four from power) launched reforms which brought a new life to China. The present Chinese ruling party is still called a “communist party”; However, communism is neither practiced nor believed in China anymore, although socialism and social welfare still have their place. The name-- “communist party” is retained, just to make sure the transformation would be stable and smooth under a hostile international environment. Chinese communist party openly recognized that China needed to build a more democratic country. What is in question is the kind of democracy, and how to achieve it. China obviously wanted to copy what South Korea and Taiwan did: develop first (so that people will be sufficiently educated), and then followed by democratic reforms.

Building a well functioning democracy (functioning to the society) is not easy. In many Westerners’ opinion, India is still not a well functioning democratic country even now. China preferred to do it carefully rather than quickly. Democratic election was introduced and practiced in rural village levels so that the least educated people could practice a functioning democracy, before it spread to higher levels.


3. Present China:

I am a pro-democratic person and attended the 1989 democratic movement. However, it has to be pointed out that most of the articles and news written (or broadcasted) by Western media and Indian media about present China is extremely biased or untrue.

Western and Indian media smeared China, and this smear campaign will continue or get worse even though Chinese people feel their country is improving rapidly from almost every point of view. After giving up communism ideology from 1979, China’s government had turned into a secular government focused on economical development and letting people enjoy life.

In present China, people have sufficient personal freedom, actually much more personal freedom (except for voting) than that in India. Religion beliefs are fully respected as long as religious people do not get involved into politics, as done by Falungong. The only two things that India media reported truthfully about China are that: Chinese cannot vote and they cannot challenge the government’s authority at present stage. But believe me, this will change. In China, we definitely can criticize government’s policy as long as we are not challenging the government’s authority. Actually, people are encouraged by government to give positive suggestions or opinions, and good suggestions are usually quickly implemented by the government.


4. Tibet issue:

4.1. Was Tibet an independent country before 1912?

Tibet was an independent country before 1246. From 1373 to 1578, Tibet rulers paid tribute to Chinese Ming dynasty government many times. In 1642, Dalai Lama invited a Mongol tribe’s troops to come into Tibet to fight other opposite Tibetan groups. Tibet was then controlled by this Mongol tribe. This Mongol tribe voluntarily submitted to the Chinese Qing dynasty in 1653 for Chinese support to defend against west Mongols. In 1705, Chinese emperor abolished the 6th Dalai Lama for his violation of Buddhist obligation, and ordered him to be arrested and sent to Beijing for punishment. He died on the way.

Since 18th century, Dalai Lama had kneed down towards Chinese emperor’s picture many times during ceremonies. China posted a garrison in Lhasa from 1751. Tibet respected Chinese government’s sovereignty, which is typically shown in the selection of the 10th Dalai Lama in 1822. Britain and Russia recognized Tibet as a part of China in 1906. China ruled Tibet directly from 1910 to 1911. Since Manchu are Chinese citizens and support China’s claim on Tibet, Chinese regarded China after Qing as a legal successor of Qing dynasty. (In fact, Western countries made sure China became the successor of Qing dynasty, so that China could continue to pay the huge ransom owed by Qing to the West countries after it was defeated in 1900.)

4.2. Was Tibet an independent country between 1912 and 1950?

After the collapse of China’s Qing dynasty in 1912, China witnessed a lot of civil wars and warlordism until 1949, but did not denounce its claim on Tibet. Tibet never declared independence towards China or other countries during this period. (The 13th Dalai Lama himself denied (to the British) that he had ever authorized the Russian subject--Agvan Dorjiev, to sign a treaty with Mongolians on behalf of Tibet. So, that 1913 treaty is not valid.) USA officially recognized Tibet as a part of China in 1943, way before communist China existed.

No country in the world recognizes Tibet as an independent country, or officially regard Tibet as not a part of china, or officially regard Tibet as occupied by China. (Kima: So where exactly does Tibet stand then, in terms of World’s view? Just another No man’s land?)

4.3. Why Tibetans rebelled in 1959?

Before 1956, most Tibetans were serfs, and most lands were owned by noblemen and monasteries. The part of Tibet (central) ruled by Dalai Lama enjoyed very high autonomy within China from 1950-1959. China launched land reforms in the Chinese directly ruled (east) Tibetan areas in 1956, taking land from noblemen and monasteries and distributing them to the serfs. Rebellion led by noblemen and monasteries broke out in east Tibet in 1956, with independence as the slogan to get support from serfs, and spread to Lhasa in 1959, encouraged and supported by the CIA.

4.4. Does China repress Tibetans and practice cultural genocide?

Although everybody in the western world believes China is repressing Tibetans, no valid example has been given on exactly and specifically how Tibetans are repressed (except for democracy or those involved in Tibet independence movement, such as showing Dalai Lama’s image in public for political purpose, which is not a Tibetan tradition). Can anybody give a specific example of Chinese repressive policy towards ethnic Tibetans and their culture, when it is not related with Tibet’s independence movement?

Foreign tourists are allowed to visit Tibet freely and talk to Tibetans privately, freely. Why are they not able to find ONE evidence showing China’s repressive policy towards the Tibetans? In my home city (Jinan city), there is a Tibetan middle school (Tibetan middle school students live and study in that school.) I know how well teachers and other people treat those students, although they still want independence. I fully respect their desire to seek independence. However, Tibetans desiring independence does not necessarily prove that they are ill-treated by Chinese. Specific evidence needs to be shown. What happened now is that some Tibetans took part in violent actions for independence, and the Chinese government had to respond, and then they use these crack downs as the reason to appeal for their cause in the international community. This does not make any sense. Only those evidences of repression while they were not involved in the independence movement can be used as the reason for asking for independence. However, they have shown none till now.

5. China and India’s 1962 war.

Since 1959, Nehru used his “advancing policy” to order Indian troops to advance across the McMahon line (a line China never recognized, and claimed and established by India before 1951 as India’s border) towards north and deep into Chinese controlled territories, attacked, captured and passed Chinese post stations, and deep into further north. China and India had been at war status since 1959. China had only very few troops fighting Indian troops from 1959 to 1962, since they were dealing with the rebellious Tibetans. Do people think that China has no rights to counterattack in 1962, if India can initiate the war with China and advanced deeply beyond the McMahon line and into Chinese controlled territory?


Reference book:

1. “The snow lion and the dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama”, Author: Melvyn. C. Goldstein, Director of Tibet Center, Case Western Univ. U.S.A.
2. “India’s China war” author: Neville Maxwell


I really encourage you to come and visit China, to see with your own eyes and to talk with people in person, and then you will discover that the real China and real Chinese is WAY different from what is being portrayed by Western countries and India.


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And so that was the mail from Jason Cheng. I have many friends who support the Tibet movement, and this post does not mean I no longer support Tibet. I still do. Politics is complicated and sometimes we have to let our heart make a decision for us, regardless of whether it is reasonable or not. Practicality takes a back seat when it comes to emotions.

However, it never hurts to read about things you don’t believe in, or don’t want to believe in.

This post has been an eye-opener to me on some issues. At one end, some may label Jason Cheng as a hardcore Han patriot, similar to the fanatical Christian extremists, Hindu extremists, Muslim extremists, regional and ethnic zealots etc that we find here in India, who see only the good that they do and the bad that others do unto them, and not vice-versa, passionately jumping into the defense of anything that dares to attack their sentiments and beliefs.

But at the same time, we can also treat this as the personal opinion of somebody who is from “the other side” and his perspective on many of the China-bashing articles that you find on the net. It is his prerogative to defend his own culture, just like how it is our duty to defend our country, our integrity, our culture, our religion.

Like I mentioned before, I can argue with a hundred points that he made, and he can do the same back. There is no end to such online discussions relating to invasion/occupation, especially when the very origin of any of us is obscure. Thank you Jason Cheng for allowing me to share your viewpoints with my readers. 2600 words and counting, so I don’t expect much response. But no matter what kind of debate or argument or even racial abuses this post may generate, let us all remember Bertrand Russell’s famous quote: “War does not determine who is right – only who is left.”

Peace.

Chp 250. Music Monday: Boomarang - Stellar

Like I mentioned last week, for this week's "Music Monday", I am sharing a song by a Mizo band known as “Boomarang”, for my blog friends around the globe to listen, and feel. This song is called “Stellar”, and it is in English. Do you like it? Your honest feedback would be truly appreciated.

Mizoram, one of the states of India, has a LOT of extremely talented musicians. It is in the blood of every Mizo to have that inherent passion for music, regardless of style, genre or instrument. There is a popular saying in our Mizo culture that, if you’re a Mizo and you don’t know how to play the guitar, then it is better that you die of shame and let vultures and hyenas feed on your intestine.

Ok I just made that up But the part about “Mizo + Music = Passion” is very much true.

Here you go, dear friends from India and South East Asia and other countries and even constellations across the Universe, I give you “Stellar” by Boomarang.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.






I can’t believe this is a back-to-back “Music Monday” post I'm making! I guess I have been extremely busy during the past few days to write any new post. First, there’s work. Lots and lots of work. Apart from the usual, a couple of my concepts got the green light from clients, so they will be moving to production soon. Yay!

I was also working on the design, layout and structure of my homepage www.kima.in. There’s nothing in it now, and I was fiddling with the stuff that I wanted to put in that site. Of course it’s going to be mainly a professional site, with my portfolio, clientele list, etc. But it may also have featured posts from my blog (selective) and other Industry related news (social media, digital advertising, networking etc). I was also thinking about the tag-line… should I go for something corny and cheesy like “kima.in – The doctor is In” or bring in the Mizo factor, because “in” in Mizo means house. So it can be something like “kima.in – Welcome to Kima’s pad” or “The house of Kim”, something like that… anyhoo… I’ll try to figure out something. Don’t wanna take any more of your precious time. Do enjoy this song once again. Cheers everyone!



Oh, and just one last thing – how do you like the new twitter background I designed?

Chp 249. MM: Krypteria – The Night all Angels cry

To celebrate this week’s glorious Monday by taking part in Lady Java’s “Monday Music”, I give you Krypteria, one of the lesser known symphonic gothic bands, but nevertheless, one of my favorites.

As we all know, symphonic gothic is no longer a Scandinavian domain. Sirenia’s latest frontwoman Ailyn is Spanish, Battlelore’s vocalist Kaisa is from Indonesia, Dremora’s vocalist Julian is from Brazil and there are loads of symph-goth bands emerging out of Japan, Australia and even Turkey.

Likewise, what sets this band Krypteria apart from many of the other symph-goth bands in Europe is that although the band members are from Germany, their vocalist is of Korean origin! And man is she hot!

I would like to dedicate two songs of Krypteria for this week’s Monday Music – “The Night all Angels cry” and “Lost”. Love them lots!

There are no music videos yet, so I am embedding just the youtube music links. But hey, look at the bright side – the files will load much faster on your slow connection as its only music! Hence you do not have any excuse for skipping them. Please do spend just 5 minutes of your precious time listening to them. I assure you, you’ll love them!


Krypteria - The Night all Angels cry




Krypteria – Lost




And a few pics of Krypteria to brighten up your Monday Blues!

[ The oh so beautiful Ji-In Cho ]


[ Ji-In Cho in action – Stunning stage performance ]




[ The Band Krypteria ]


[ One more time – Ji-In Cho in action ]


[ The Grand Finale ]



So this is my post for Monday Music. It’s just my second MM, but now I am planning to do this regularly and share some of my favorite symph-goth music. This is also a great platform to promote some of the absolutely amazing Mizo songs to the rest of the world! Next MM will definitely be a song by some of our talented Mizo artists. Watch this space, all my dear blog friends from S.E.Asia to S.Africa to the rest of the world, and get ready to be amazed at what these unsung artists can do!

Cheers. Monday rocks!

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Chp 248. The story behind your (online) name.

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Chp 247. Blog Cemetery

Pinggggggg!!!

The sound echoed spookily across the silent bedroom. Mathew’s heart skipped a beat. It was the chat alert notifier. At two in the morning, Mathew wasn’t expecting anybody to come online and chat with him, especially since he had set his status as invisible.

“Maybe somebody took a wild guess to see if I am online or not,” he thought. So saying, he quickly saved his ongoing AOE-III campaign and minimized the game window. He clicked on the blinking Yahoo messenger to see who was trying to chat with him at such a strange hour in the morning.

It was Bobby.

Mathew raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had known Bobby since elementary school and they had been inseparable right through college. And then suddenly, ever since that fateful night at “Jalwaa Dhaba”, they had never spoken to each other again. Bobby still blamed him for Pooja’s death, even though he was never involved directly in her gruesome murder. Pooja… Bobby’s girlfriend and fiancée… raped and murdered… Bobby of course knew that his best friend Mathew was innocent, but he also knew that Mathew’s hands weren’t entirely clean either…

The chat transcript showed,

“Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;”

Mathew’s eyes widened. Bobby continued to type…

“The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.”

Mathew thought for a few seconds and then smiled. He punched in the words quickly.

“All things will die, by Lord Alfred Tennyson.”

Mathew used to play this game with Bobby back in College. They would suddenly quote lines from a poem and ask the other to guess the name of the poem and poet. Mathew found it strange that Bobby would break the ice after nearly 2 years of silence this way, but quickly brushed it aside with the thought, “Ah, it’s just Bobby”.

Bobby continued typing the same poem, “All things were born. Ye will come never more, for all things must die.”

Mathew stared at the chat transcript for some more time, and then finally replied.

“So, bro. How have you been???? Where the hell are you now?”

No reply.

Mathew waited for a few more minutes, and then finally typed, “You there????”

Still no reply.

A chilled air suddenly blew across the bedroom and Mathew immediately got a few goose bumps. He looked around his bed nervously. Then he stared at the chat console once more and the message appeared, “Bobby is now offline”.

Mathew sat motionless for a few more seconds and then quickly shut-downed his system. He dove into bed immediately and feebly muttered, “That’s weird,” before falling off to sleep.

------------------------------------------

A week later, Mathew had almost forgotten that strange incident, when he checked his mail and saw a new mail from feedburner. It was an update notification from Bobby’s blog feed that he had subscribed to a long time ago!

“Whoah,” he exclaimed.

Mathew immediately clicked on the link. He landed on Bobby’s blog, surprised to see that it was the first update after 2 years!

“Damn Bobby, you lazy old fart,” Mathew smiled.

Bobby’s new post was a poem…

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.


Mathew read it slowly and carefully. His eyes lit up as he was familiar with the poem. Finally, he clicked on the comment section and typed, “A Poison Tree, by William Blake.” He clicked on “Publish your comment”.

And then he thought for a moment and wrote another comment.

“Dudeeee. You spooked me a little bit that night. Did you get disconnected or something like that? Catch me on chat tonight, 11’ish pm. We have soooo much to catch up on.”

He clicked on “Publish your comment” again and his comment appeared for the second time on Bobby’s new post.

Suddenly the monitor flickered and the electricity in his apartment went off.

“Crap,” Mathew cursed.

------------------------------------------

Another week went by and still no word from Bobby. Mathew was starting to worry a bit. Bobby had never treated him this way before. But then again, considering the way Bobby had partially blamed him for Pooja’s death, he was not surprised.

And then, one fine day, two burly men came knocking on his door.

Mathew opened the door.

“Yes, may I help you?”

“Mr. Mathew Jacob?”

“Yes?”

“May we come in please?”

“Urmmm… who are you?”

“We’re from the CID…”

“Oh! Crime Investigation Department?”

“Criminal Investigation Department.”

“Ok”.

Mathew led them inside and as they all sat down, one of them got to the point immediately.

“Mr. Mathew. I believe you know a certain Mr. Ajay Poonawalla and Mr. Sebastian Chandy.”

Dark memories flooded Mathew immediately. He blurted out… “AJ and Sebby… Yes, I know them… I mean… I knew them. Haven’t spoken to them in almost… 2 years now I think.”

The two men looked at each other, and the leaner man with the spectacles spoke, “We know that. We’ve been checking on your online activities at orkut, facebook and twitter. You have not followed them back on Twitter in spite of them following you, and you have not added them as a friend in orkut or facebook, even though you guys have so many common friends on your lists.”

Blood rushed to Mathew’s face immediately.

“What???? You’ve been checking up on me? Invading my privacy? On what grounds??? How dare you…”

“Relax,” the burlier man assured calmly. “I am Inspector Verma from CID Crime Branch and this is Inspector Rana from CID cyber cell. We are working together on this case.”

“What case?”

“Well… five years ago, you were involved in the death of a certain Miss Pooja Dhania, right?”

Mathew’s eyes popped wide open.

“I was acquitted. I was never there at that time of the night!”

“Right. You were acquitted. But your friends Ajay Poonawalla and Sebastian Chandy…”

“They are NOT my friends!”

“They raped her, right?”

Mathew’s mouth trembled in anger. He screamed, “Yes! They bloody raped her, those bastardssss!”

“And what happened at the trial?”

Mathew hung his head down… and slowly whispered, “They were acquitted too. Lack of evidence, the Court said. They had their own alibi, just because Ajay’s father is a fucking Minister.”

The burlier Inspector now spoke in an empathizing tone.

“And to this day you blame yourself because…”

“Because,” tears flowed down Mathew’s cheeks. “Because I was the one who took her to the party but had to leave suddenly due to my uncle’s heart attack. I left her alone! Goddammit, I left her alone for those animals to rape herrr….”

Mathew broke down.

Inspector Rana got up from his chair and sat right next to Mathew. He kept his hands on Mathew’s shoulder and said, “Mr. Mathew. We need your help on our case…”

A teary eyed Mathew finally looked up and tried his best to maintain his composure, “What case is this?”

“A few days ago, Ajay and Sebastian were brutally murdered.”

Mathew was now sitting up straight and attentively listening. If there was any thought of exuberance, he did not show it.

“Murdered?”

“Yes. Both were killed at the same time, in the same fashion, even though they were miles apart from each other. Strangulated while sitting in front of their respective computers.”

Inspector Verma joined in, “The weird thing is, the postmortem revealed that they were strangled from the inside, with finger marks INSIDE their throats.”

“How is that possible?” Mathew asked in surprise.

“We are not sure. But our cyber cell has discovered that they were killed at the same time you left a comment on your friend Bobby’s blog.”

“What? Oh no… that’s not possible… I mean it could be a coincidence. You mean the exact same time?”

“Not exactly exact,” Inspector Rana corrected. “They were killed at the exact time a new post was published on Bobby’s blog. You commented a few minutes after that.”

Mathew now laughed nervously.

“See… like I said, it could be a coincidence… And I am sure Bobby is not the type to take vengeance, even though he still blamed me for Pooja’s death… I can vouch for Bobby’s innocence…”

“His innocence is confirmed, Mr. Mathew… Bobby... passed away, two weeks ago in a bus accident in Kashmir. They fell off a gorge at around 2 in the morning…”

Mathew froze. His face became as white as sheet.

Now it was the two inspectors’ turn to be worried.

“What’s the matter? Are you alright?” Inspector Verma asked.

“Two weeks ago… at around 2 in the morning… Bobby came online and chatted with me on yahoo messenger…” Mathew blurted out.

A long dead silence followed, with none of the three knowing what to say next.

Finally, Mathew nervously said something to break the awkward and deafening silence.

“That is why… the cyber cell is involved? You think this may be the work of some hacker or prankster with a sick twisted mentality, right? Right?”

He was trying hard to convince himself that this was not what it sounded like.

“Well... we have traced the ip address of the person who wrote that post on Bobby’s blog. We thought it would be rerouted or the ip scrambled, but it was a pretty much direct access.”

“Who was it?” Mathew asked, still trying to come to terms with the fact that one of his closest friends had been dead for 2 weeks and he never knew about it.

“We’re not sure. The ip address shows it is coming from somewhere near Wichita in Texas, America. Yet when we contacted the police there, they said that the place has been deserted for years.”

Inspector Rana opened his laptop and showed Mathew the location of the ip address.



“Interpol has also confirmed that this has been a deserted farmhouse for many years now.”

And then, Mathew looked at the ip address… something was familiar about it… extremely familiar… and then it hit him. He froze as if he had just seen the ghost of his dead friend.

Inspector Verma shook him hard, “Mathew, Mathew, are you alright son?”

With a trembling voice, Mathew lifted his fingers slowly and shakily pointed at the ip address…

“That ip address… 214.80.07.52. That's 21st April ’80, 7:52am. That is the exact date and time Bobby was born.”


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Chp 246. Ahhhh. Online Life!

Whenever I go home, I try to meet as many people as I can, apart from relatives and old friends. I’m talking about online friends here. The internet has become the most effective “social event” for someone to meet new people, especially for those who don’t socialize much in real life, like moi.

Mom still can’t get used to the fact that I know so many people so well without actually “knowing them”. She doesn’t understand this whole “online socializing” trend due to her generation. (*My folks are the types who have to know my friend's background. Extremely irritating but that's just how they are.) A typical evening conversation at home usually goes like this…

“Mom, don’t make dinner for me. A friend invited me over for dinner.”

“Ok. Where?”

“I am not sure… I’ll ask him as I leave…”

“You don’t KNOW his locality??? Who are his parents?”

“I don’t know…”

“You idiot… And what’s his name?”

“I don’t know…”

“What??? How long have you known him!!!???”

“For around 5 years now!”

“Huh???”

“You see, I know him by his online nick only, and I call him just by that name. I know his profession, I know what kinda music he likes, I know his birth-date, I know which political party he supports, I know the names of his ex-girlfriends and the exact dates they dumped him, I know whether he drinks or not and whether he supports the Total Prohibition Act or not, I know the level of his spirituality when it comes to religion, I know the websites and chat channels he regularly haunts, I even know the license plate number of his bike. But for the love of God, please don’t ask me his name because I… DON’T… KNOW!”



lolz, online life! No wonder some of the older folks in our society can never understand this, because to them, socializing starts from meeting that person in person, followed by names, to folk’s names, locality etc and from there they move to other personal details like the ones mentioned above. In the online world, things are quite the opposite! hehe.

And the funny thing about online friends is that, if we haven’t met him/her before and yet know that person so well online, then we usually start assuming that he or she is something he/she actually isn’t in real life! We picture that person in our head, solely based on the way he or she writes. And of course the shock we get when we finally get to meet that person, sometimes is quite disappointing, but most of the time it is funny.



Those who haven’t met me or spoken to me on the phone before, mostly assume I have this deep, masculine, baritone-like voice of James Coburn or Sean Connery. Lolz. I am flattered but noooooo… I have the voice of an 8 year old boy. And yeah, thank you all for sooo sensitively saying it right up to my face, “Whoah! Your voice isn’t something I was expecting at all!!! I imagined it to be a lot deeper, huskier, more masculine etc etc.” Yes, it doesn’t hurt me AT ALL. *sarcasm*

Some even go an extra mile over the phone, “Hi.. oh you must be Kima’s sister. Can I please speak to Kima?”

Ouch!

Why don’t I have a deep masculine voice? Probably because I use words like “ouch” in my blog.

But seriously, I don’t know why my voice is not deep. You can ask my genealogist. And, errr... mind you, that is genealogist, NOT gynaecologist.

My friends told me they assumed my voice would be a lot more masculine because I write a lot about social issues, football analysis and other sports, Heavy metal and Gothic music, and occasionally about male stereotypes and humorous sexist articles. I write about discs, pubs and parties because I love living my life in the fast lane. Hence I guess all that probably stereotyped me as the alpha-male, which is so not true in reality. I even met online friends who thought I would this short, portly, loud-mouthed, big-headed nerd who talks non-stop and argues with everybody in the room.

In real life, yes I have an abnormally large head (after all, I am a Mizo ) but I am NOT short (at least for a Mizo), extremely shy and introvertish, hardly talks, eccentric to some degree, with the voice of an 8 year old cherub. There you go. That is me. Though it is quite an honor for somebody to picture me as something so… macho, I just don’t want to burst your bubble.

And I guess that is what online life is all about. Either we become a different person from our real life avatar (role playing) or we assume others to be somebody they are not. There is still no substitute for a personal one-to-one physical contact, but online socializing comes pretty close.

Role playing is fun, but I think that should be restricted to MMORPGs like Tribal Wars, Travian, Ikariam, Neopets etc. Such games demand that you have an alter-ego online, and that you should talk and act just like that online avatar. But when you are socializing, say at blogs or social network sites, things will work out best for you and your friend if you don’t put on a façade. Likewise, here is me warning all my wonderful friends out there – Chances of your online friend turning out to be exactly like the person you have pictured in your head is extremely slim. That’s Life. The Online life.

Cheers!