Of being on time or not

GMT/IST  

I was waiting for my pizza, at a joint named 'pizza inn' at Accra Mall. The waitress told me "12 minutes". I was sitting with my friends, waiting for the meal, my friend said ' 12 minutes!!' A man sitting opposite said, ' that's 12 Ghanaian minutes!" And we knew that very instant that the pizza will only arrive in 20 mins or so, it also made me think of the Dominos offer, if the pizza isn't delivered in the stipulated time, it's free! 

Yeah, so if one says 10 o'clock here, they are probably not going to turn up at 10, being late is not an uncommon phenomenon for Indians as well. Showing up late is probably going to get you noticed. Yeah ofcourse, but if that event is not a party, not many people are going to be pleased with your actions. Indian Stretchable Time is not popular just like that! 

Ghanians and Indians should not migrate to Japan, I was watching a special show on BBC, on Japan, and their watch industry. That country is obsessed by being on time! Yeah, the lady who was being interviewed confessed it, everything is on time, trains, buses and most importantly people! 

Hmmmm...some one please send the central railway officials to Tokyo, the cost of the trip will be worth all the time passenger save waiting for the locals. I have missed an entrance exam, because I was waiting for a fast train. hmpf. 

Also, the traffic in Accra is erratic. All of a sudden on a saturday afternoon it will take 1 hour to reach Accra Mall, which is 10 mins otherwise, and sometimes when you expect a jam, there is none, so you end up reaching early. So, yeah one probably cannot blame people here for not being punctual. 

But hey, one thing people are punctual about, their weekends! Anywhere except India, people LOVE their weekends, they even put their phones off! Yeah, in India if you put your phone off, you put your boss off, and then you may as well give that phone up.

Another thing, the traffic lights are not as high as the ones in India, so at night when you are on the road, it pierces right into your brains! Bright red, and green flashing at you, ouch! And also, there is absence of yellow on the traffic lights.

Elections and Economy

Apparently Sen.Barack Obama is associated with radicals and terrorists, is not the right man for America, and is anti-white. They also said US is a Christian state and hence Obama is not a right choice(???)

That's what the Republicans perceive him at Ohio.

Whoa, those are some seriously strong statements. I wonder who is feeding them all that? Or is it that they like to form opinions without knowing much? Whichever it is, it's a serious problem. I have seen the coverage of U.S elections before, but never have I felt so strongly about one of the Presidential candidates. I will be extremely upset if a capable man like Barack Obama is not selected for this post. But since it is not my Presidential election, I can choose to be indifferent, but the damn media does NOT leave me alone!! Obama and McCain everywhere!! I feel bad for Biden, he hasn't receieved as much coverage as Palin, but I guess he is doing good without it too!

It is not like there aren't other news stories to cover...but nowadays it is only the financial crisis or US Presidential campaign :|

Can some one bother to inform me what is happening in the REST of the WORLD???

Of African markets

Si vous pensez l'Inde est une pays bonde, regarde-la!

Yes, I was trying to show off some french, but I hope that sentence construction was correct!or else I know some smart ass will correct me!!

Anyway, I visited the local African market in Accra, called 'Makola', as my friend corrected me it's pronounced 'Ma-a-k-0-laaa'. Hmpf. Great place though, especially if you place haggling and bargaining as your virtue and hobby. The shopkeeper shall say 12 cds ( 1 Ghanaian cd = 38 Rs. approx) and then you say 8, eventually it should be settled at 10. But it is way cheaper than the retail stores, I was window shopping ( yes, shopping becomes window shopping as soon as I glance at the price tag) at the Accra Mall, at a store called ' Truworths' , I liked one shirt, saw the tag, and made a face like I had tasted rotten tomatoes, it was freaking 70 cds!! You do the math, yeah I could buy 3 items from Bandra, from a store like Globus.
I saw shoes, yes shoe shopping!!! ( people who watch Scrubs will get the drift) Sandals, stilletoes, everywhere, and at a good price.
Just be careful of the vendors, they have some aggressive marketing strategies like holding your hand and literally pulling you to see their stuff!!! Now, don't get scared, they were trying to get noticed.
And hey, another thing, I was walking on the street, it was very crowded, yes I did not miss India so much at that point of time, anyway, so I happen to step on a girl's sandal, and it came off, it was not intentional, hence I said ' sorry'. The girl was pretty miffed and said.' why did you do that brownie?" !!!!! I was referred to as a brownie. haha. I said, ' sorrryyy wooman' and walked away, she laughed and I did too.
If I didn't have a lethal migrane today, I would have emptied my dad's wallet, are you feeling happy for my dad's wallet??
Meanies.
Le prochaine fois, je vais acheter tout le monde, donc, si vous voulez un cadeau pour toi, soyez gentil.

Me and N-deal

My friend said:

"I am like the N-deal, keep postponing my plans!"

haha

Dude, I simply loved it...!

Genocides and History

The Nuremberg Laws

What were they?
They were rules, formulated in 1935 by the Nazis which formed the building blocks of the discrimination between 'Aryans' and 'Jews'. Under these laws, it was forbidden for for any Jew to marry an Aryan or vice-versa. No Aryan could be employed by the Jews as their domestic help.
You can find more details here

But what is surprising was how could people ACTUALLY think of such rules, and implement them.
Almost 6 million Jews died. It was a genocide, the word itself was coined after this massacre.

It is probably considered general knowledge to know the basics about the holocaust, as it comes under the World War II, but hey my history books never went beyond the death toll, and the dictatorship of the Nazis. Adolf Hitler, and his inhuman ways of treating Jews, his downfall, his suicide. All in brief.
We were never taught about the details or this horror. I know one can say proximity is a good reason, but World War I and II are always taught in detail, so why not the holocaust?
Yes, it was a bitter chapter in human history, but everyone needs to know what happened, maybe in 10th grade, a 15 year old has a good mind, they will not instantly judge, and the motive behind teaching this event shouldn't be to create hatred against Germans, or sympathy for Jews, but to teach what stereotypes and hatred can result into. It's an example, the entire history is an example, to make sure we do not repeat those mistakes, though that's not true and we still commit the same mistakes over and over, but kids today need to know such horrendous acts took place, they need to know it happened, and that it should not happen again. I believe it could instill some level of tolerance among them. We need people to be tolerant. Tolerant to religion, language, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality etc.
How many of us knew about the Rwandan genocide of 1994 till we saw ' Hotel Rwanda' or studied only at college about the ' CNN effect'.
How many of knew about the Cambodian genocide of 1975 under the Khmer rouge regime, which slaughtered 1.5 million people?
Very few.
And why are we only taught about the European revolutions? French Revolution is as important as Latin American revolution, or the African revolution. It would be nice to study details about Nelson Mandela's freedom struggle. How various countries got their independence from their colonial powers, some literature from those eras could do wonders.
And our great Indian revolution, it's so much more than the way it is presented in our history text books. I could be sounding a history geek right now, but the fact is we were not educated enough. If math and science are important, so are social studies, they in fact, shape your opinions, what your teacher in school teaches you, you shall always remember, because at that point of time, you are probably listening and not hearing. I wish they would pick up more history and literature from around the world, and not make it just facts and dates, history has a purpose, if it is served, it can help in creating some peace today. Probably, maintain some harmony which we desperately need.
My professor once said' History is about the victor, not the vanquished', well we need to know about the vanquished too, or else we continue to repeat history over and over and over.