Rivaldo's (Nitin Gupta) piece on rapes in India

 

 

A satirical sketch on rapes and sex in India - very well written and presented for a subject matter so sensitive.

 

I have been through countless comments on youtube and other public forums, where "the Indian-culture-proponents" think that rapes are a direct consequence of India's exposure to the Western culture (Although I don't even believe in the existence of anything such as the "Western culture". The West is quite diverse and an amalgamation of all possible cultures). Just because they are more open about sex and don't wait for a license to have it, doesn't mean they go around raping anyone they want. Of course, you can find people gawking at/ogling you if you wear something revealing here, but they won't pounce at you just for that. It's absolutely nonsensical when people say that women are themselves responsible for sexual assaults and trust me I know many Indians who have lived in the United States for almost all of their lives and they still strongly believe in this theory. If that were true, how would you justify sex-mongers devouring two-year/two-month/two-day olds in India? And why is sex such a taboo? The Kamasutra and Khajuraho speak volumes of how sexually advanced we were in the ancient times, so what happened to us? Women are forced to wear veils in front of older men in the family; what exact point are we trying to make here - Men are perverts and you must hide yourself, even your family won't spare you, right?

 

- Eccentrica 101

Blog monetization - A fad fallen flat (At least for me!)

I have been blogging off and on for over four years now. After putting immense thought in my previous blogs and mustering up only two readers at best (myself included), I gave up on blogging. But then around a month ago, I got captivated by the idea of monetizing my blog and for that I needed a wider audience, which I couldn't even imagine with dark sketches like my Capote film review. Amid myriads of "makeup" blogs, I thought reviewing products will be quite lucrative but little did I realize that for any makeup/beauty product there will be countless reviews strewn all over the internet. My reviews don't appear even at the 5th page of Google search and after that I give up - people read only the top few search results.

 

My blog monetizing journey:

 

Currently, my blog has around 1500 views (which I think is quite good for a blog in its nascent stages but the truth is that at least a thousand of the hits are my own :P). Without further digressing from the topic: Despite adding adsense widgets on my sidebars and below my posts, I have made only 5 cents so far. To attract a wider audience a) I compromised on my writing skills b) I commented on utterly random posts (I am sure everyone can relate to this) c) I wrote about things that matter little to me (jumped into the bandwagon) and d) Compromised on my ethics as a writer (I have always wanted to write to reach out to people, not to make money and given the largess of Google, I think I will disable advertisements after a month of looking at my "blog earnings".)

 

Lesson learnt: You cannot become a Gates or Ambani with your blog. Let alone making a decent living, you cannot even buy a meal with your weekly earnings (At least if you're a novice). Blog for your love of writing. Adding random product reviews to your blog only scavenges on your time and energy if your heart doesn't lie in it.

 

- Eccentrica 101

A Day Out in Tokyo - Sumida Aquarium

Sumida Aquarium is located right inside the Tokyo Skytree complex. It's home to many exotic marine species but what sweeps you off your feet are the penguins. They look so cute swimming in the tank and they're so tiny, you feel like stealing them. In addition to the penguins are jelly fish, numerous species of eel (garden eels look a little freaky but are super cool!), sharks, manta rays, seals, giant crabs, etc. Tickets are 2000 yen per person, well worth it if you're a wildlife enthusiast.

 

Here are some pictures and videos. Enjoy!

 

Penguins

 

Spotted and "Splendid" Garden Eels (That's what they're called :P)

 

Swimming penguins (So darn cute!)

 

Jelly fish 1



Jelly fish 2



Manta rays





Giant Crab

© criticalramble.blogspot.com

These videos are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Japan Trip - Tokyo Skytree

Ahh...The mighty, majestic Tokyo Skytree!

 

Built for broadcasting, Tokyo Skytree is the second tallest structure in the world - second to Burj Khalifa. Located in Tokyo, it is connected through Asakusa and Hanzomon lines and is right at the Oshiage station - which makes it very accessible to tourists!

 

There are two main observatories - one at 350 m and the other at 450 m. Although you have to pay 1000 yen extra to make it to 450 m, you won't regret it one bit - The view is AMAZING. You feel like a master controlling a video game - everything else looks so tiny from there.

 

At night, the tower seems to illuminate the whole sky. We went there two nights - one time it was blue and white, the other night it was purple and white. It's jawdropping gorgeous!

 

Here are some pictures taken:

Tokyo Skytree during daytime 1

Tokyo Skytree during daytime 2

Observatory at 450 m (Picture taken during daytime)

Observatory at 450 m (Picture taken past 5 PM)

View from 450 m - 1

View from 450 m - 2

Observatory at 450 m

Tokyo Skytree at night

- Eccentrica 101

© criticalramble.blogspot.com

Japan Trip 2013

Ahh...Back from Japan and I am absolutely in LOVE with it! Really miss it...People are extremely hospitable - very warm and welcoming; they want to help you out in every way possible despite the language barrier (people barely speak English there but that doesn't hamper their willingness to help you out!) - The first night when we couldn't locate out hotel, a gentleman walked over half a mile past 9 PM to help us find it. The public transport is excellent - the trains descend almost four floors - run in intricate networks connecting almost the entire country (I live in Miami and you cannot survive without a car here!). People are unbelievably honest - our professor at Kochi told us how one of her postdocs recovered her purse full of money after two days of losing it.

 

We visited three cities - Kochi, Osaka and Tokyo. Kochi is relatively smaller than the latter two but surrounded with mountains all over, it's majorly scenic - you will run out of memory taking pictures. Osaka and Tokyo are big cities - very developed and the subway system is amazing! The trains connect almost every nook and corner of the cities. Although roads in Osaka get deserted almost at dusk, Tokyo never sleeps. You can spot people everywhere even at the wee-est hours and the best part is that you feel safe walking on the roads even at 2 in the morning.

 

As for the weather, it was sweltering - made Miami look cooler. ;) We didn't expect it to be that hot but that didn't stop us from exploring the "Land of the rising sun". Sun is out at 5 in the morning and wakes you up instantly - reminds you to get up early and get going, not to waste any bit of the beautiful day!

Will upload pictures very soon!

 

- Eccentrica 101

 

 

Off to Japan...

Dear readers (despite the number :P),

Thanks for stumbling over this venture of mine. :) I am going to Japan for ten days. Will be back soon and write more!

Love,

Eccentrica 101

Meerut girl Razia Sultan receives first UN Malala Award (Rediff News)

Click here for the link.

Razia Sultan (Image source)

How very inspiring! 

A former child laborer is now fighting against the menace of Child Labor by door-to-door campaigning and spreading the importance of child education. She has marched not only in her region, but across different parts of the country as well as Nepal.
 

A native of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, the fifteen year old Razia Sultan will be awarded the first UN Malala award to commemorate Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai's contributions towards protesting against Taliban's ban on women's education. She has already changed the lives of 48 children by admitting them into schools.

It's a commendable feat - emerging from the shackles of child labor yourself and being a proponent of child education that too at such a young age!

 

Go Razia! We're vey proud of you.

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I would like to thank my brother for bringing my attention to this article.