Ahoy all you OSS users! Please welcome the newest newbie! (I guess you must be getting a lot of us lately, since Ubuntu) Really, I am very impressed with the result of a collective effort on the command-shell and on ubuntu as a GUI. Also, the help groups and the skin groups are very helpful and fun. Am really enjoying my first few days as an ubuntero!
Well, these things always come with a price. Sadly. If I have to get the internet connection in my room (which sadly is something Ubuntu cannot live without) then, I'll have drag my 3 kilo laptop for three kilometers to their dingy 'internet provider' dugout. (Strangely I had a feeling that any place with computers was supposed to be porche!)
Well, as a matter of confession, the main reason why I am using linux instead of windows is because my ageing P4 is behaving like a P2! So, I decided to load a lighter OS. There is a slight improvement now. And since the computers at the Sociology Centre have decent internet and don't block Ubuntu sites, I don't have much of a problem yet :)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
I fill up space: Therefore, I am
Here is a write-up that tries to be self-reflective and inspiring. All readers are warned that the following lines are NOT self-reflective and inspiring. Well, in my eyes, it's plain bull-shit. Just a lot of huge words put together in a salad.
If JNU has done any good to me these last years, it has made me think. People around here love to talk about issues that make you realize how bad this world is, and how fortunate I should consider myself for being born in an upper-class family. It made me realize how fortunate I was to not worry about my next meal, or my safety. I realize now, how difficult it would have been for me to laugh at the silly jokes we still crack if I lived in a refugee camp or as a dalit woman in an Indian village.
Well, selfish that I am, I have thought much about how fortunate I am! I have occasionally felt extremely angry at myself, and extremely guilty for my being so careless with my stuff. It occasionally even hurts when I waste my food. What have I ever done for those who need my help? All I have done is help people of my own class. (Obviously with the hope that the person will return the favor) I occasionally even think about all the not-so-well-off friends in college I rarely talk to.
I'm again in one of those 'occasional' thinking moods. Just yesterday, I saw the movie 'Freedom Writers', and I was impressed, mainly because a movie with such a cliched name didn't really draw high expectations on my side. But I was really 'touched' by the movie. Mainly because of two things. The life 14, 15 and 16 year old kids in the streets are so tough, that if I was in their place, I really don't know what could have made me go to school! Also, the teacher in the movie had the will-power and the guts of someone larger than life. (I always wish I had that 'Never say Die' attitude in me, especially when I realize that I have not done most of what I wanted to do because I either 'just didn't have the mood', or because 'I had more important work to do'. (the catch was, I never find myself in the mood, and I rarely attempt the 'other important work' during that time!
Well, I think almost everybody is blessed with a vision, a purpose or a burden in life. It is up to us to do something about it. We will be faced with resistance from the very start. But by God's grace, it is up to us to push on.
If JNU has done any good to me these last years, it has made me think. People around here love to talk about issues that make you realize how bad this world is, and how fortunate I should consider myself for being born in an upper-class family. It made me realize how fortunate I was to not worry about my next meal, or my safety. I realize now, how difficult it would have been for me to laugh at the silly jokes we still crack if I lived in a refugee camp or as a dalit woman in an Indian village.
Well, selfish that I am, I have thought much about how fortunate I am! I have occasionally felt extremely angry at myself, and extremely guilty for my being so careless with my stuff. It occasionally even hurts when I waste my food. What have I ever done for those who need my help? All I have done is help people of my own class. (Obviously with the hope that the person will return the favor) I occasionally even think about all the not-so-well-off friends in college I rarely talk to.
I'm again in one of those 'occasional' thinking moods. Just yesterday, I saw the movie 'Freedom Writers', and I was impressed, mainly because a movie with such a cliched name didn't really draw high expectations on my side. But I was really 'touched' by the movie. Mainly because of two things. The life 14, 15 and 16 year old kids in the streets are so tough, that if I was in their place, I really don't know what could have made me go to school! Also, the teacher in the movie had the will-power and the guts of someone larger than life. (I always wish I had that 'Never say Die' attitude in me, especially when I realize that I have not done most of what I wanted to do because I either 'just didn't have the mood', or because 'I had more important work to do'. (the catch was, I never find myself in the mood, and I rarely attempt the 'other important work' during that time!
Well, I think almost everybody is blessed with a vision, a purpose or a burden in life. It is up to us to do something about it. We will be faced with resistance from the very start. But by God's grace, it is up to us to push on.
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