Silent

Ready to go out

Tie my shoes and take my car keys

I shout “L, I am going out”

You smile and say “Drive Safely”

Now I make the same shout

No response, you are silent

What language is your silence?

Our car comes out of garage

Garage door closes via the remote

I shout “L, saathyaach saathyaach”*

You smile and say “I heard you”.

Now I make the same shout

No response, you are silent

What language is your silence?

I come home excited

Put my feet on the coffee table

I shout “L, you know what happened today”

You drop everything and say “Give me a 3 beer version”**

Now I make the same shout

No response, you are silent

What language is your silence?

PS:

*”Saathyaach” means “closed” in Tamil.

**”3 beer version” means “very detailed description”.

Apostasy

I never heard of a word called “apostasy” until now. When I first read that word, I thought it is something similar to apostrophe. But in that article I was reading, apostasy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. I thought they are cruel.

 

While studying in school, I was taught apostrophe is a punctuation mark. How can they give such a big punishment to someone for using/not using/not properly using apostrophe. My English teacher, Arunachalam Iyer, was strict but not that strict.

 

I realized something was wrong in my thinking. So I googled that word.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary says apostasy is either renunciation of a religious faith OR abandonment of a previous loyalty (Defection).

 

I like the idea of some punishment for apostasy when it comes to abandonment of a previous loyalty (Defection).

 

What kind of punishment should be given for people who abandon their citizenship of a country and get citizenship of another country?

 

Punishment for people who abandon their political party affiliation? This is apostasy, right?

 

Punishment for people who abandon their loyalty to a particular cricket team? True apostasy.

 

People who change their homes after living there for a minimum of 10 years. Must be punished.

 

Same goes for jobs also. Change jobs after 10 years with the same company. It is pure apostasy. But if the company fires you, it is not apostasy.

 

I am not even going to talk about people changing their spouses after a long married life.

 

What if someone marries/keeps more than one spouse (without divorcing the first spouse)? In Tamil, they call it "Chinna Veedu" (the small house).  Is it apostasy? We need some big name lawyers mentioned in Renu’s post.

 

What do you think?

 

PS: This is a tongue-in-cheek attempted humor post. Not for any serious discussion.

Disgusting

I love the San Francisco 49ers. They are the American Football team based in San Francisco. I do not love them just because they won 5 Super Bowls (Championship), I loved them even when they were 1 win and 15 losses.

 

But things are not going good for them nowadays. They have a Quarterback. He is the team leader. His name is Colin Kaepernick. All of a sudden it dawn on him that there is racial oppression in USA.

 

So what is he going to do about it? Before the start of every game, the national anthem will be played. Colin decided not to stand up when national anthem is played. He said he will sit down in the bench. Actually during last week’s game, he was kneeling (when everyone else is standing with their right hand over to their heart).

 

 

He made the following statement:

 

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

 

The 49er management said: We recognize the right of an individual to choose to participate, or not, in our celebration of national anthem.

 

President Obama said Kaepernick is exercising his constitutional right on National Anthem.

 

This is disgusting.

 

Just a request for Kaepernick. I respect your opinion but don’t disrespect the flag.

 

Another request for Kaepernick. If you don’t like it here, then move where you like. No one is stopping you.