The Art And Science of Commenting!

First thing first, WE ALL LOVE COMMENTS!  Some accept it, some declare it on their blogs and some remain stoic on this issue. But the fact remains that we bloggers love it when someone notices our blog, reads it patiently and leaves a comment for us. Or else, we all would be writing in our diaries!

Jokes apart, Here I am to discuss the Art and Science of Commenting !!

THE ART OF COMMENTING :

DO YOU REALLY COMMENT ?? I have often scratched my head over this question! I have seen a beeline of commentators under a very ordinary post of a young 20 something girl (an established blogger), the usual ranting "oh i have so much work to do, (read i have better work to do than blogging!) and "just not getting time to write in my blog" (as if people are dying to know what did you have in breakfast!) and "you know these meetings and this schedule is getting me crazy" ( ah! i wonder is this a post???!!). 

And you have to believe me, there were 30-40 comments saying "Oh girl, take care!" I was aghast!!! As if there were no better posts to read and comment. Why do we comment on such silly meaningless rantings? Just to make our presence felt? Just to tell the blogger, when you are fine, please come to my blog, since I commented here?

Talking about good, informative, funny and thought provoking posts. i like when people think and/or feel and write. The best way to comment there is to READ it, have your opinion, your views, your thoughts put in that comment box, instead of just saying "good post". What is the harm in showing your ignorance about a topic, ask your doubt. the blogger will love it. Disagree, a mature blogger will handle it well. Give constructive feedback, any blogger will appreciate your effort.  And do you know people always, always know when are you honest and when are you saying "pl check my blog also now since i came here" !

THE SCIENCE OF COMMENTING

CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF COMMENTS :

Now if you are a new blogger like me, there will be a strong chemical reaction in your mind and you would go gaga over the comments !

But, If you are one of those established bloggers, where people queue up to comment.... then you would say "well alright, people comment, but I would like to hear something beyond the normal (mind you, normal!) adjectives like "great thought/post", "Excellent", "amazing", "wonderful", "very beautiful" etc etc.

So it depends where are you on the number-line of the blogosphere. I call it number-line (just coined this term in this context!) because everyone has a space in this blogosphere, but the more visited and commented you are the higher is your number, and the more people line up to you! (was that funny?!)

CHEMISTRY LAB TECHNICIAN AT WORK :

(DO YOU CATCH BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS WITH GRACE?)

I have serious doubt on this issue.

Recently, I spotted a post of a blogger (which was a  weekly "pick" by a forum, which is supposed to be very interesting).  Out of curiosity, I also read it. I found absolutely NOTHING in it to laugh/smile/enjoy/ponder/think/get inspired in it. 

Since I believe in being honest (For God's sake at least be honest in the blogosphere, nobody will stop your promotion, or deduct your marks!), so I wrote a comment saying that 'I have really not found anything interesting. Moreover, the incident which is the focal point of your post is.......... '.  I cannot tell you the details here, dear reader, as it can reveal the identity of the blogger.  The comment moderation was on, so I decided to check her response the next day, and to my surprise, she conveniently deleted my comment!!  The question is- Do we have the grace, humbleness and  maturity to handle a comment which is not sugar coated??  We should have.

CELEBRITY SYNDROME CHEMICAL LOCHA

Then there are bloggers suffering from Celebrity Syndrome (another term coined by me, catching up with Sarah Palin, I guess!)

OK, you have a nice blog, people like to read it, comment about it, appreciate it, but has it not brought out the celebrity like symptoms in you? Better cure them sweatheart! 

Dear reader, two prominent symptoms of this disease is either not reply or replying to comments of all the people in one go, single stroke ...... "Hey all! thank you so much....mmuuuaahhh!"; "Hey people! thanks for your comments.... cheers!".  (There can be more, please add if you know such stuff in the comments.)

If you lack the basic courtesy of acknowledging a comment of a reader one to one, then you surely do not deserve to be commented at all.  Having said that let me say, sometimes there is a slip also, if you have commented on an older post, it might not catch the attention of the bloggers. So don't drag me there please!

THE SCIENCE OF DISCOVERING NEW COMMENTATORS : (4 new bloggers)

Ask the reader's views, opinions and thoughts about the issue. Encourage them to share their story and then reply appropriately. Blogging is about reciprocation. Do visit the blog of the commentor to know him/her better.

Make your comments setting user friendly.

Disable the Word Verification on comments in comment settings, it wastes time and is irritating for the reader.

Consider removing Comment Moderation.  You can always delete a spam, when you see it.  And it does not speak bad about you, but the spammer. The stern message that Comment Moderation gives makes a reader feel like an intruder and he/she really do not relate to the blogger.  Also, a widget or a message saying that you like/love/appreciate/value/look forward to the readers' comments gives the right environment for the reader to comment. 

I may have left out on some points, please feel free to add anything and anything related to this topic. I do not have comment moderation and word verification!

Happy Blogging!

Restless

Disclaimer : Not intended to pinpoint on a blogger specifically.

Images courtesy : Google Images

PS: Since my blogger pal advised me to have comment moderation on, as it guards against spam, I have stricken off some text about it. and now i have comment moderation on!

I Dream To Instill Dreams In Their Eyes !

This is a winning post of the Blogadda Contest

"My Dream Job"

At 10 years of age, I used to practice “seeing” the world with my hands;  closing my eyes, I used to move around in my small study room, stumbling on to the furniture, finding my way to my almirah, and then trying to feel and figure out the things placed over there, trying to tell the skirt from the scarf.  I was practicing to be BLIND.

At the tender age of 10, my mother could manage to put this in my head that with those spectacles resting on my nose (the power of which was increasing every six months), I will become blind by the time I am 18.  A high myopic and a lover of comics, I was devastated to know that one day, all I will be able to see is darkness. It rattled my young mind and I decided to practice seeing the world with my hands.

(On the lighter side : In class 9, when I read about Genetic Engineering, I thought that at least I can have babies with the corrected genes, ie, no spectacles! Sounds funny today?!  But the biggest problem my mother had with my specs was this question “meri beti ki shadi kaise hogi”?!!!  Here I was planning about my babies, and she was wondering whether I will get a suitable match or not!)

Anyways, my life went on smoothly, but the little girl in me grew up with a soft corner for the visually challenged people.  And when I read about this topic, my heart went out to the cause I had been supporting in my own little way.

MY DREAM JOB OR RATHER PROJECT IS TO RUN A SCHOOL FOR THE VISUALLY CHALLENGED

People with physical disabilities are called differently-abled. And that’s so true.  With the non- functionality of one sense organ, the rest become very sensitive and sense things in a very unique way.  When blind children are nurtured and cared for from the very beginning of their lives, they grow up to be very self reliant, independent and become a indispensable part of the society.  But, unfortunately, they are treated as a burden, as the state lacks proper amenities for them.

For running my school, “Braille” is what would like to learn to first “read” with my hands.  I would do the direction orientation training which is given to them, so that they are able to move on their own.  And, moreover, with the advent of user friendly computer software for the visually challenged, life can be a little easier for them. 

That’s my dream,  to be able to set up a state of the art school for them, where they not just learn to live in the society, but they can hone their skills of their other senses and discover the talent hidden in them.  There are a few schools in Delhi, and I had been a part of one of them, recording textbook matter in cassettes.

We dream, we want things for ourselves, but we forget about the lesser advantaged in the society.  Trying giving a little back to these sections of society in your way and you will know what happiness is!

dreaming about flowers!

I will be dishonest, if I don’t disclose here that my heart harbors another little dream….. I want to be a florist too! Flowers are as lovely as children!  This would be my part time job.  A little stall of flowers right out of my house, and I will be able to admire them each beautiful morning.

Have a great day! 

 

A RESTLESS MIND WITH

A SENSITIVE HEART !

All photographs courtesy Google images
This post is a response to the blog adda contest (powered by Pringoo) on the topic " My Dream Job"

My First IndiRank!

Got my first Indirank 70, I feel like a flower today !
But I am not alone, its we all bloggers together !

When you sprinkled the dew drops

This poem is the expression of a plant.

When a seed is nurtured well, it grows up into a beautiful plant. But when the person, who helped instill the life in that little seed wants to drift away, what does that plant, wrenching in pain, wishes to become ?

 

When you sprinkled the dew drops

you didn't know

there lied a seed buried deep

under the wraps of the soil.

When you sprinkled the dew drops,

you didn't know

that the seed - dry, dying

cocooned in its tough shell

got the moisture of the droplets

which you just let go.

As a pitcher overflowing with water,

as a heart overwhelmed with love

would shower it on anyone

that comes its way.

When you sprinkled it , you surely didn't know.

When you levelled the wet soil

you didn't know

you will fill the seed with desire -

to break free from its pea like mould,

to get a feel of the hand which gave it life.

As you sat close by, watching with tenderness

filling its heart with unexplainable joy

the plant grew and buds bloomed!

Raising its arms, and swaying in joy,

the plant stood looking at the sky

thanking for the life bestowed on it

when it thought, it was left with no more ;

thanking for the happiness showered on it

when it thought it didn't deserve any more.

While it thought, it was a serene calm

that has blessed its existence,

it was the screeching silence of

nobodyness around it.....

And the sad and limp, little plant murmered :

"As the days passed, so did the ecstasy

and suddenly, like a hasty traveller

you just got up to go past me ?"

"Or is it the sand storm that scared you?

is it the evil ways of the winds

that made you change your path?"

"But, now, I only wish I grew up as a cactus

I would have stored in me

(in my ugly stout body)

the rustle of your voice

the warmth of your breath

the sweeping touch of your eyes

the spark of your being

the frangrance of your soul

and that one fleeting moment of love.

I wish I was a cactus,

cursed to live without its life fluid

yet grounded, standing stiff, proud of itself,

with thorns all over : the branches shrunk with pain,

I wish I was a cactus

for I would have dwelled forever

on the dew drops sprinkled on me

without looking up at the sky again

as it hardly rains in desert,

as it hardly ever rains in desert.

When you sprinkled the dew drops

I am sure, you didn't know that.

A Restless Mind With
A Sensitive Heart.

Hats Off to Prof Rajendar Kachroo

(Aman Satya Kachroo with father)

This morning, when I read the newspaper, the article written by Prof Rajendar Kachroo, father of  late Aman Kachroo, brought tears in my eyes.  (Again now, when I am inserting this pic on my post, I am holding on to my tears.  After all, a child is a child, yours or mine, how does it matter.)

Prof Kachroo is a father who lost his young son, a child who was bright, intelligent, healthy, with dreams in his eyes.  A child who was beaten to death by the seniors of his college in the name of ragging in March 2009.   This man (and his family) has lived on with this killing pain on his chest.  He not just lives on but has made it his personal calling to eradicate the menace called ragging from Indian educational institutions.

Hats off to this gentleman, who, first of all, did not let his personal tragedy break him.  He decided to fight against ragging. 

Secondly, hats off to this father.  I have respect for him especially because, ordinarily such an incident makes a person wallow in self pity, it makes us kind of closed, because we know we have lost what we had. So, many of us would have believed there is no point fighting for it.  We tend to become self centred and we are, kind of, not bothered about any one's else's child.  But this man, has transcended his grief and fought the system, represented in the judiciary by starting this civil reformist  movement called Aman Movement so that our children feel safer in their colleges.  I think its a magnanimous effort from his side.  You can also join this movement. Please see amanmovement.org. 

Dear fellow blogger pals, we place advertisements on our personal blogs. But I think, we should place such widgets/social messages so that more and more people become aware.  We, as bloggers, surely can make a difference.

A Restless Mind With

A Sensitive Heart

PS: Dear readers, if any one of you is aware about a website, from where I can get a social message which can be added as a widget, do let me know.

Don’t Hit Me Teacher

It is not possible that you grew up without getting spanked or punished ever in your childhood. But in those days, we had ways to laugh it off and may be sometimes we thought we deserved it somehow, so took it lightly.

But now, with the innocence of children getting lost so early in their lives, with exposure of media, the social network bullying, with excessive stress of studies, games, extra activities, and mounting parental expectation, a child is no more the same free spirit. He not just carries the burden of his heavy bag; he also bears on his shoulders the responsibility to be a good student, a good sportsperson, a guitarist, a skating or chess enthusiast. He not just deals with (and some times succumb to the peer pressure), he also bears the brunt of a hassled, irritated and stress laden teacher.

Corporal punishment in educational institutions has been banned by Supreme Court in the year 2000. But how does that matter? Schools are still professing physical and/or mental punishments to students.

         Just to elaborate :

Physical punishment such as hitting with a scale on the palms, or with a pencil stuck between fingers and a scale hit over the hand, or caning or twisting ears or slapping or standing with hands up or a chair position or even worse the arms crossed through legs holding ears, making a child stand in the sun for hours etc.




Mental punishment like getting slapped by the opposite sex, scolding abusing and humiliating, labeling a child for misbehaviour and parading him around the school or making a child stand at the back of the class, or sit on the floor of the class are very severe but still exist. If you went to a public school or your child studies in a public school, then you might think its done in Govt schools. Partly, yes, socioeconomic status determines a lot in this.

Every other day, the newspapers are full of incidents where a child got fractured by teacher’s beatings, or committed suicide either due to insult and embarrassment meted out to him in school. As if Rouvanjit Rowla’s death was not enough, still children are being disciplined by way of physical punishments. It is unfortunate. Being a mother, it breaks my heart each time I read a news like that. It scares me.


While searching on Internet about the article, I came across two more such cases from south of India. Horrifying they were :

While searching on Internet about the article, I came across two more such cases from south of India. Horrifying they were :


      A 6 year old girl was talking in the class. And the next moment, a lungi clad male teacher barges in the class, picks up the girl, takes her to science lab and sexually assaults her, in the presence of a lady teacher, for being indisciplined in the class. Moreover, when she cries out in pain, cloth is stuffed in her mouth and she is threatened not to tell anyone.

     A 16 year old boy commits suicide after he is thrashed in the class by his teacher for missing his school on his birthday.

Now, the question is what do we do as parents? Yes, true, we all are educated, we can fight for our children. But what if, your child gets too scared to talk? Its really important to keep the communication channel open with our kids, always. Also, if the child is scared or nervous about going to school, his fears should not be laughed away.

In fact what I feel is that when we can hit back in self defense as a grown up, why can’t a child hit back, if he feels enough is enough. As it is no body, not even one’s parents have any right to hit a child, then why a teacher? (By the way, draft Prevention of Offences Against Child Bill, if passed, will ban domestic corporal punishment to a child also. I so very welcome this move!)

Who is a teacher or a principal of a staff member to take away a child’s dignity? If a teacher hits a child and thereby violating the child’s Right to Life, then a child also has the right to hit back to save himself for any further harm, and then no disciplinary action should be there against him. Because, it’s the teacher who started it all. Why do we have to believe “jo bade karte hain, woh hamare bhale ke liye hota hai” (whatever elders do is for our betterment). Its much better than another child dying first mentally, emotionally and then physically that he learns to give back to such demonish, cruel and heartless teachers.

Dear reader, what is your say about it? To some, it would be revolting, hitting one’s teacher….. whatever you think, please let me know….

A Restless Mind with
A Sensitive Heart

"You Killed Me - Maali"

Imagine the stature of a Palm tree - royal and grand as it looks, standing seven feet tall on a prominent Delhi Road, named after another grand personality - Bhishma Pitamah.

How proudly it stands, at least that is what we thought, waving its beautiful branches.  But little did we know, it had bellied a secret, it lived with a pain, a pain that was choking him.  It stood there with humility, but may be it cried in heart, for underneath the ground which held it was hidden his murderer.

The palm trees planted on the road side were planted by the MCD gardeners with the plastic wrapped on the roots as they have got it from the nursery!  How shocking is that.  How more insensitive can we be?  Its like putting a helpless little baby in his crib with a plastic bag loosely wrapped on his face.

Slowly and painfully, the palm trees died - dried up.  The political blame game has begun now.

Surprisingly, no one feels the need to punish the guys who planted a tree with plastic wrapped on  its roots, rather they are more interested in knowing,why  trees which had some life left in it (the trunk was green yet)  were uprooted (only to be revived somewhere else) because that is against the law of our land.

Huff! Law of the Land!

A Restless Mind With

A Sensitive Heart

What Does Your Profile Picture Say?

Blogosphere is an amazing world, with each blog speaking its own mind, having its own personality.  Your profile picture and your profile name is the window to the reader to your little world.  Do you give enough thought before choosing a picture ? Do you know it can have tremendous effect on the reader's decision or otherwise to check out your blog or not?

Various people choose many types of pics - self, other's,  cartoons, animals, things, slogan etc.

On the basis of my observations of profile pictures in blogs or social networking sites, I have tried to bring about a few things about what does a particular profile picture signify about the blogger.

CELEBRITY STUFF :  Either you love the celebrity too much (ideally you should find a better way to express it!). But seriously speaking, it shows non seriousness towards blog and also lack of confidence in one's own looks or personality.

LOVE- FLORA AND FAUNA :  Someone using an animal, bird or flower etc can mean two things, one that the person draws a parallel with the prominent, well known characteristics of the living being.  Like a lion, for being royal and powerful, a penguin for its innocent and sweet looks, a sparrow for its chirpiness  or its ability to fly freely and a flower for its beauty.

NATURE AND OBJECTS : Same goes for things of natural beauty, like sky, clouds, river, fire.  Here, for example,boundless sky is an expression of one's broad mindset etc. Objects like earthen lamp or light signifies hope in the time of despair or being a self made person.

PICTURES OF SELF/HUMAN FACE.  This is one sphere which needs maximum elaboration and its quite interesting.

A passport kind of a pic shows someone very serious, especially serious about one's image and one's blog and wants a proper representation of his identity on his blog.

A close up of the face of the blogger with light, smiling and pleasant expression shows the person is social, with straight forward approach towards the blog and has nothing to hide about him/herself.

A Side cut of a face, musing, thinking, shows the person either wants to partly hide his identity and secondly wants to highlight the thinking, ponderous side of his personality.  If thoughtfully chosen by the blogger, then such characteristics like deep observations and  thoughts would be visible in his/her blog too. (This one is my personal favourite!)

PICTURES WITH FACE HIDDEN (PARTIALLY)

YOU DON'T KNOW ME :Hiding the face completely means the person does not want to reveal her identity at all.  But relates to her blog hence puts her touch to the pic by darkening her pic, avoiding the exposure of face  but pics of  body parts like hands, feet may used.  It also adds an element of mystery and the pic remain very individualistic.

THE BEAUTIFUL ME : Hiding the face partially and highlighting a beautiful feature of the face, say only eyes, or the flush of a cheek, hair, only ear with earrings etc is another interesting thing that I have noticed.  It signifies that although the person does not want to be recognised or revealed but wants to draw attention to that feature, which surely he/she rates as very good.

EYES :  This is most commonly seen, one eye in close up.  (That makes me laugh always, it looks like retina scan to me!)  Its weird and that is what the blogger wants to show

NUDITY : Display of obscene gestures, nudity or showing off one's intimate body parts, even partially, is all attention seeking behaviour or else it can mean that the person is giving a window the the content of the blog.  ( can see the glee in your eyes, u guys!!)

MESSAGE FREAKS :  Some people like putting message/thought on things like a T-shirt as profile pic.  Again shows need for anonymity and telling the reader his/her attitude about a thing.  Moreover its quite imaginative  also.

GIRL IN THE CLOAK :  sometimes, in order to avoid the attention of non-serious male readers/bloggers (who are mouse-clicking happy to see a pretty face!),  girls choose profile pics which are non-descript.

ATTITUDE - HAVE IT FLAUNT IT - some profile pics show certain body language showing highhandedness, arrogance, superiority or "couldn't care less" attitude, say a pic of lower limbs of a man sitting with feet up on a working table.  Its OK if you have attitude, but then that should be the shade of your blog too.

The only point I want to make here is that its alright to have a profile picture whatsoever you choose, after all you are the best judge and its your blog, but having a profile picture, and for that matter a profile name too, congruent to your blog, the flavour, the feel of your blog is important. After all,it can affect your blog traffic, when the pic is too bland or uninteresting or repulsive.

Lastly, in no way I am saying I am an expert on this, everything above is purely my observation and my perception.

Have fun!

A Restless Mind With

A Sensitive Heart!

The Confessions Of A Hydrophobic

There I was standing in front of a pool.... completely struck by fear of water.  At that moment that pool of water (in which my friends had alrady jumped in) looked like my destiny to me.  As if telling me "jump in girl or I am gonna make your foot slip and  then you will know what I am capable of "

I was cursing myself to have come to this water park.  My friends were shouting at me, I knew I was playing a spoil sport... or may No .... may be because of me they were having a whale of a laughter.

Very nervously, I stepped into the pool and stood there holding the side wall.  This was the first time I had entered a water body so deep.... i mean so deep for me.... actually it was hardly 4 feet (!!)

Soon,  I decided to vanish from there, and go to a kids' pool. Yes, actually I did it ! Now, after achieving some confidence after sliding on "water slide" for small kids for 5-6 times, I was feeling better.  But, oops, my friends had found me ! I was embarressed but I smiled to show I was better now.

And then, came a life time experience.  I was to slide in that long and spiral slide which is covered from top and you end up landing in the pool of water.  After much encouragement and borrowing a swimsuit from my friend (God bless her!) ( I could never think of buying one... you know it now) I held my breath and adjusted myself on the top of the slide with water gushing over my head. I lied down with my arms crossed and zzzzzzzoooooooooooo I was in the tunnel with water dictating the terms.... I must say I was scared...  what if water stops flowing? what if I get stuck here in the narrow small spiral tunnel ???

But surprisingly, nothing bad happened and I was about to land in the pool. But wait, I had not thought about this ! I don't know how to swim or even stand in water ! Stupidly enough, I had not realised all this. I was dumped in water with force, with my face down, my body almost curled up like a ball, my eyes and mouth closed and breath held. I was under the water.  For the first time I heard the water gurgle.  That deep sound of water, as if saying  " follow my orders, you have stepped in my empire now".  You have to go underwater to understand that deep sound which fills up your ears and your brain too ( if u have one).

No, it was no joke, I just could not balance myself.  Somehow I managed to come to the surface of water and waved to the man standing just there, he looked at me ignorantly.  Phew... If I was out of the pool, this man would have been all eyes for me and now he just chooses to ignore me, I was angry.  But, NO, I had no time to be angry, I was drowning. Two more times, I was under the water, only to be pushed up to the surface and getting ignored by this and many more people there.  And lastly, I was noticed by the guard, he pulled me up, as if I was drunk and could not balance myself! I shouted at him, gasping for breath, coughing badly and my head banging with pain.

I was helped by my friend who was surprised how could I manage to drown in 4 feet of water?!  I knew I stood like a sore thumb there. Felt really stupid.  But I decided, I am going to tame water..... I am going to change my destiny...... I am going to learn swimming...... and I am going to write about it in this very blog !  Wish me luck!

I got a new attire!

After trying many dresses ( read templates ) at many stores ( websites) finally, I got my new attire, my new blogger template. Inititally, I was hesitant and very unsure about how to change it.  Being not at all a techie person, it was quite scary for me do it.  What if I lose out on some posts or comments ( I just love them!)?!

Finally after checking the method to change, after creating a backup of present template, I began to try new dresses.  I almost finalized on a girly template with a smart girl in white halter neck dress, stood holding a nail paint in hand! But later I felt, it was awful!

Another one, which I was close to choose was a lovely green template, with a girl swirling happily( again a girl!), but the problem was that the font and colour of comments of my dear readers was very dull and light, even I could not read them..... and so I changed that one too.

Today again, went on and on and finally, here I am, with the new template. I am loving it. Its serene and sweet too. If u have a minute, pl give your comments !

Take care,

A restless mind with

a sensitive heart!

Defending Raavana

Almost an year back, I wrote about Raavana, when there was absolutely no furore in the media about seeing Raavan's point of view.  It was Dussehra and my heart ached to see the plight of three effigies of demons, who were burnt merciless by a jubilant crowd.  Then I wrote "Raavana Is In My Soul" in my blog.

Today, after the Mani Ratnam movie 'Raavan' is the talk of the town, suddenly the guy is in limelight!  Today, articles are being written and so many books have surfaced which were written about him.

It is quite interesting to know that the grandfather of Raavan wanted a child who had the intellect of a Brahmin and the might of an 'asura' (demon), so he married off his son "Vishrava" to a demon woman, and there began the sprouting of two extreme characters in one human being (or asura?).  Raavan, the young boy was taught 'Vedas' on one hand and on the other hand was taught to hone his destructive skills.

Rest what happened is known to all.

Whenever I read about him that he was a scholar, worshipper, scientist, musician, a wise and kind leader, it kind of... makes me feel very bad about him, the way we had been seeing him getting burned each year right from our childhood, does not really justify our hatred towards the demon king.

Let me tell you here that among Mahayan Buddhists, Raavan is seen as a benign  and wise king who attained enlightened through teachings of the Buddha !!

OK, alright, yes he abducted another man's wife but did not force himself.  He fought a fair war for what he thought was right in his eyes.  After all women were used for political reasons like commodities (defeated kings offering their daughters for marriage to the winner etc).  Also, I fail to understand why Laxman is in no one's bad books for slashing the nose of a (demon) young girl, who showed interest in him ?!!  When women could be won, or lost , or earned, or whatever then why, in that era, such hue and cry for stealing a woman ?  From that point of view, what should be the punishment for raping one's own daughter ? Should THEIR effigies not burnt then?  Raavan, still, had the courage to fight, actually fight a war for that woman (how flattering is that now !!!)

Anyways, many won't agree with what I feel.  

You know why I am defending Raavan ? Because there is a Raavan in all of us.... each one of us..... its power, its money, its authority which has the capability to unleash that Raavan in us.  I am not saying we should give in to it. But, we should be able to see the man and his evil separately.  Treat the man and his evil separately.  Have consideration for the good deeds he did and the good qualities he possessed and dislike that one socially and morally bad.

I think we should rethink about our stand on Raavana.  Meanwhile, I will say again "Raavana is in my soul"!

RESTLESS