Tampere - September 2008

Its been a pretty hectic trip - I was in 4 cities over a 5 day period and the daily travel was demanding but I didn't feel the physical strain of it thanks to awesome Finnair, and VR for making all those rides feel comfy.


Tampere is the 3rd largest city in Finland.
Its not exceedingly pretty or a world class city by any stretch of imagination. The entire city has the pulse of say - Kormangala in Bangalore [okay maybe just 1st block].
I love walking around the place though - with its well manicured roads, walkways and greenery all around even in September.
The temperature is down to 8 degrees even on most days, but its bearable without the chilly nippy wind, and ice-cold rain.




Its about that time of year - Fall Colors as they used to call it back in North Carolina - leaves are a-changing, to brilliant hues of yellow, and violet. I heard the Laplands are a must-visit at this time of the year to witness the beautiful color changes, but alas I am a little pressed for time on this trip - Perhaps some other time?



I sit across the embankment - to the left of this picture - there are a few trees and park benches - to just sit and watch the water fall across a 20-foot cascade. The wild life consists of a bunch of ducks swimming around. There are a few kids who fish too - although I haven't seen anyone catch anything.


Shopping has been a dissapointment though - I head to the local flea-markets, supermarkets, malls - with an open mind to buy anything which would be considered a souvenir to take back home - I haven't been rewarded yet - today is my last weekend in this place, so let me see if I can scope something out to take back home. All I have left is my memories [ and there aren't a lot of them ;-) ]

Blast in

So another day another blast.
A kid got killed, twenty-odd people injured.
The government's reaction - boo-fuc#ing-hoo.
The opposition's reaction - screw the government over
The people's reaction - am I okay? Now let's move the fuc% on
Terrorists reaction - soft targets, they are worse than pussies....

Time to reflect on what is and what has been, the Indian government's policy on security and value for human life - ZILCH.
The following institutions in my mind are responsible for the security of the country
1. Police
2. Armed Forces
3. Intelligence

The less said about cops the better - they are not equipped to handle a house break-in, what will they do deciphering emails and cryptic messages. Fat pouty corrupt bastards all of them, if they ever get time from lining their obese pockets and making out with the political top brass, they would get off their fat asses and do something about it.
The armed forces are devoid of motivation - the top brass is a piece of crap without the balls for surgical strikes and are stifled with myopic vision. The junior cadres are more interested in raping the locals after being away from family for just 2-3 months [heck there are millions of IT professionals who do this, you don't see them raping americans while they are onsite!], and the officers are busy pushing into more lucrative careers prospects in the public sector and who can blame them?
The intelligence setup in india is set up from cops, and well, the iterative venom I spewed on cops basically applies here too.

There is no respite for you, the common indian from this - there are good chances, that you the reader is one of the victims some time in the future. As for your fight/effort to get rid of the scourge of terrorism, look no further - the people who are supposed to be doing their jobs are out screwing the country. Take a good look around, there is no one to save soft targets like you - you and this country are fuc$ed.

Poverty is terrorism

I saw a beemer go on the road yesterday while I was driving my "fuel efficient" Suzuki around. The inside of me just threw up a little bit. How dare, would one on account of his shameless display of capitalist leanings drive around in a vehicle so expensive and so unique, whilst I, the white collared pseudo-IT coolie be so harshly delegated to the banal annals of auto-uncool-dom?
Then I went home and switched on NDTV - a channel so red with its dazzling display-color and political hue, that I got hooked on to it like Fardeen Khan on smack. They had a variety of people on it - but mostly Human Rights activists with a penchant for barking - Infact I named one female the "Rottweiler", and the other minority loving fur-bucket as "Bulldog". So Rottie and Bulldog seem to be saying India's collective failure in providing for its citizens meant home-grown terrorism would come and bite the nation in its proverbial-ass. We are a poor country, they whined at high frequency, so high that only other dogs could hear. We are poor, and hence we cannot provide for our citizens. I see, so if somehow with the flick of a switch we were as rich as the Luxemborg-ians, we wouldn't have this problem, me thinks. But the time was not for a practical solution. Rottie and Bulldog were on song, one of those loud long howls which canines let out when they look at the moon - oooooh this as must watch TV. These folks had been saying what I was thinking all along - if you don't get what you want, its not just because you didn't try - it was becasue THE MAN wouldn't let you have it - free market capitalism without government intervention not bringing you out of poverty? Blame the Government! But India isn't a socialist economy you croak? WRONG! Thou shalst not turn away from your Nehruvian socialist roots, lest thou be banished to the dark recesses of political oblivion.
So I reflected back on that middle aged man with the beemer the other day - I don't have what he has not because I wasn't trying to get rich. And I knew how to get there - Terrorism. For when all else fails, taking lives of other people for money helps get you up the class ladder. Thank you NDTV, I am towards getting myself a 7 series.